Technological innovation plays a major role in the process of long-term economic growth and competitiveness. Innovation is primarily an economic process for which the existence of economic incentives is necessary, that is, the existence of an effective demand for new technologies.
This is precisely why great effort is being made to create opportunities for young innovators to make significant changes in their area and improve society as a whole.
One such opportunity is the competition for the best technological innovation, which promotes an entrepreneurial way of thinking and behavior, and provides participants with financial and educational support. This competition has been held since 2005 and, from its beginnings, was conceived as a school of high-tech entrepreneurship much more than an instrument to determine who is the most successful. This is the reason why new and more interesting trainings are organized every year, through which the skills that researchers often lack are acquired.
Some of the topics are: how to attract investors, how to adapt to the customer, how to creatively solve a problem, how to describe, present, sell, and protect your product.
On Monday, April 3, 2023, from 12:00, STP Niš will host the promotion of the competition in the Conference Hall, where you will be able to get informed about all the most important information on the competition for the best technological innovation, how it is organized, what are the conditions for participation, and what results the participating teams have achieved so far.
This is an opportunity to get to know this program better, and maybe this is exactly the way you will be able to transform your idea into a successful and profitable product or service.
Since November 2022 and the emergence of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, the talks about artificial intelligence and its wide application have not calmed down. ChatGPT made it possible for the first time for someone to test artificial intelligence through a browser and to talk to a chat, and the chat to talk with them. It has been nicknamed the “Google Killer” for its ability to offer rounded answers instead of links. This is exactly what led Google and Microsoft to make a decision at the beginning of this year to introduce artificial intelligence into their own browsers.
Because of all this, artificial intelligence has been a hot topic all over the world for the last few months, and we have organized an event where you will be able to learn more about this topic and get an answer to the question “Do we really understand ChatGPT and artificial intelligence – What is hidden under the hood and where is our chance with it?”.
On Monday, March 27, at 11 a.m., at STP Niš, we will host Borislav Agapiev, a researcher and entrepreneur in the field of artificial intelligence. He is the founder and CEO of two startups: Qaagi.com and Yottaanwers.com for reasoning and factual direct answers on a very small scale with the goal of achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Borislav had previously founded Wowd, a distributed social search engine with the goal of disrupting Google (which was acquired by Facebook in 2012, and Google acquired the key patents). Before that, he had founded Vast.com, the largest vertical search engine for cars and real estate in the US market (acquired by Vroom in 2021).
Dr. Agapiev’s current interests are artificial general intelligence, quantum computers and quantum-inspired artificial intelligence, search engines and their application in finance, and he will be happy to share his knowledge and experience with you through a talk and a lecture next week.
We invite you to join us and hear the observations of one of the greatest experts from our area in the field of artificial intelligence.
Everyone interested in launching or improving their innovative companies or in the digital business transformation has the opportunity to hear all about the StarTech support contest at the upcoming StarTech Info Day in the Science and Technology Park Niš, which will be held on Friday, March 17 at 12:00.
You will be able to hear important information about this program at the event at the end of this week, where the conditions of the contest, how to apply, and what activities are expected of the applicants will be discussed.
We remind you that within the StarTech program, from March 3 to May 3, 2023, the third annual contest for supporting innovation and digital business transformation was opened. Registered teams that have innovative business ideas or want to develop their companies will have the opportunity to receive financial support and win funds in the amount of $15,000 up to $100,000. In addition to financial resources, the selected teams will receive up to 1,000 hours of expert support for business plan development, marketing, and other aspects of business.
The goal of every one of us should be to make Serbia a factory of innovations in the field of health.
Through the Serbia Innovates project, with the support of ICT Hub and USAID, The pilot supercluster “Health Tech Lab” is organizing a Hackathon&Makeathon on the topic of “Personalized Medicine” precisely in order to support this development path of our country.
On March 18 and 19, In the premises of the Science and Technology Park Niš, we will welcome registered teams and individuals who will have the opportunity to attend workshops (business canvas, lean startup, finance, pitch, and others) where they will work on strengthening the teams and familiarizing themselves with essential terms and methods necessary for successful business.
Applications for participation in the Hackathon&Makeathon competition are open until February 28, 2023 at 11:59 p.m., and you can find the application form at the link.
The best teams will receive non-monetary prizes, which include:
- Business mentorship with experts in the field of personalized medicine
- Participation in the acceleration program
- Help with applying for funding programs
- Help with company registration
- Supercluster membership
- Access to other partner programs
Other prizes will be announced by the end of February 2023.
The formation of multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral cooperation of relevant industries in healthcare should create a platform for the exchange of knowledge and technologies; the creation and presentation of ideas at such programs opens the chance for significant networking among innovators in the field of medicine.
This year, the National Employment Service (NES) announced 13 contests that will provide direct financial support to employers and unemployed persons, which you can see HERE. For these purposes, the plan is to allocate 6.3 billion dinars and 550 million dinars for people with disabilities.
In order to familiarize you with the currently announced contests and answer all your questions and dilemmas, we invite you to join us on March 1 from 11 a.m. at the Meet our Community Members: How to Acquire Quality Staff event with the help of the NES program that we are organizing in partnership with the National Employment Service Niš branch.
At the upcoming event, we will talk with the director and deputy director of the NES Niš branch, Boban Matić and Vanja Stojković, on the topic of current programs and active employment policy measures planned for 2023.
We also announce that, as part of this event, you will have the opportunity afterwards to hear about the successful ideas and stories of the Southern and Eastern Serbia Region innovation community members, as well as our member companies and partners, who will inspire and motivate everyone who is still waiting to step into the world of innovation by sharing their experience and providing support.
The goal of this event is the promotion of technological entrepreneurship, novelties in the field of advanced technologies, as well as the presentation of contests and public calls for support for startups and technological development companies. This cycle of events should also create a motivational network, a network of experiences, knowledge, and support that is the key to successful entrepreneurship.
