Innovation at Work for Europe Day


07.05.2015

At the traditional reception on the occassion of Europe Day, the Innovation Fund team and 7 of its Awarded companies, with strong support from the EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia, presented the results achieved under the Innovation Serbia Project to the European Commissioner Johannes Hahn and highest Serbian officials at the Assembly of the City of Belgrade. The €8.4 million Innovation Serbia Project is financed through the EU Instrument of Pre-Accession (IPA 2011) funds and is being implemented in cooperation with the World Bank.

Distinguished guests had the opportunity to meet successful teams of educated entrepreneurs, dedicated to developing innovations in various fields of science and technology (ICT, agriculture and food industry, robotics and electronics, biomedical engineering, energy efficiency) through projects supported by the Innovation Fund Programs. Representatives of the companies Coprix Media, Ekofungi, Morena Engineering, Eipix Entertainment, Desing, mBrainTrain and Strawberry Energy presented their innovative products and services and demonstrated Serbia’s considerable innovation potential. In this way, the Fund has once again confirmed that investing in innovation is the key to developing a competitive Serbian economy, able to successfully seek prize in the global market.

“The EU’s support to Serbia’s innovation sector through the Innovation Serbia Project has shown visible results.” said Michael Davenport, Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia. He added: “I am very pleased that today, on Europe Day, we can conclude that Serbia has high innovation potential, because innovation is important for Serbia’s economic progress. We have shown that Serbia has companies that are at the same level of competitiveness and innovation as companies in the EU countries.”

“The Innovation Fund has proved to be the leading institutional support for innovation and innovative companies in Serbia. The financial support of the European Union and the World Bank’s expertise are essential in achieving the Innovation Fund’s mission.”, said Marko Atanasovski, Interim Managing Director of the Innovation Fund.

One of the companies financed under the Innovation Fund’s Matching Grants Program, Morena Inženjering from Niš, introduced its smart robot “Cassius”. Company Director Nikola Petrović shared his experience on the Project “Cassius – Tennis Clay Court Robot”: “Named after the most famous boxer player Clay, Cassius has enabled Morena Inženjering to become the only company in the Balkans which was accepted into the association of European robot producers „euRobotics“. Through this association, we’ll have the chance to contribute to EU policy in the field of robotics. Also, we got the opportunity to design and develop dedicated robots for American and German investors, as well as several invitations to participate in international consortia competing for Horizon 2020 projects.”

In order to bring Europe closer to citizens, Europe Day is celebrated every year to remind us of the Schuman Declaration, which 57 years ago marked the beginning of the European integration process.