The concept of the first Innovation District, which is of great importance for the further development of digitization and the innovation ecosystem in the Republic of Serbia, was presented by the Minister of Information and Telecommunications, Mihailo Jovanović, at the Serbian investment forum within the 23rd International Investment and Trade Fair - CIFIT, in the Chinese city of Xiamen.
The Innovation District will be located in Kragujevac, only 140 km from Belgrade, a city that in a short period of time has developed from the back of technological development into the Serbian Silicon Valley and an important technological and innovative center, said Minister Jovanović, and added that the Innovation District represents a unique complex of IT, innovative, creative and digital activities in Serbia and in the region.
He said that the Innovation District will spread over 56,000m2 and that it is conceived as a creative-innovative, digital center with entertainment and sports content, where members of the IT community will be able to socialize and work, and that it will be distinguished by the fact that it will be open to citizens and visitors.
Within this facility, there will be separate areas for IT business - incubators, startups, a part for the application of artificial intelligence, which will house a center for the development of robotics, a smart city center for the development of smart energy systems, networking of smart infrastructure, research laboratories, a center for the promotion of digitization, a section for bioinformatics and bioengineering with a space for research and laboratories. There will also be an educational center for student training - small startup spaces, a hackathon for high school students, workshops for younger students, a center for the promotion of science and many other areas that are important for the advancement of scientific and technological achievements. The 5th science and technology park in Serbia will be built in the Innovation District, which means more new jobs for engineers, IT people, the citizens of Kragujevac and the surrounding area," said Jovanović.
At the Serbian investment forum in Xiamen, in addition to the Innovation District in Kragujevac, three more projects of the Republic of Serbia were presented - the Expo 2027 exhibition, the BIO4 campus in Belgrade and the Investment Map for the UN Sustainable Development Goals for Serbia, which was jointly prepared by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Office of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Serbia.
