Agrounik

Science Devoted to Nature

Minister of Innovation and Technological Development Nenad Popović, Assistant Minister for Education, Science and Technological Development Saša Stojanović and Director of the Innovation Fund Ivan Rakonjac visited the company Agrounik in Šimanovci today, supported by the Fund through its funding programmes.

They visited the production facility and spoke with the company’s professional staff. Agrounik deals with the production and sale of microbiological products for agriculture in Serbia and the region, and has been awarded prizes several times for its work. It is one of the most successful examples of how to market a sustainable innovation. The owner of the company Agrounik spoke about their business and results. “We have succeeded in gathering young people to work on our projects and in placing our products on the markets of Serbia and the whole region, and we are planning to export to Russia and the East,” said Professor Djordjević. She pointed out that thanks to the funds received from the Innovation Fund and the Ministry of Education of Science and Technological Development, they have developed laboratories for microbiology, agro chemistry and molecular genetics.

Students of the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade have had an excellent opportunity this time to find out through the example of Agrounik how innovations are brought to market, and how the Innovation Fund encourages innovators to commercialize their ideas, as the Fund’s director Ivan Rakonjac explained.

Minister Popović expressed his satisfaction in visiting the company Agrounik and emphasized that the Government of the Republic of Serbia had allocated RSD 90 million from its budget as part of a competition for innovative projects for natural and legal persons. In this way, the government wants to speed up the cooperation of science and business, motivating companies and individuals to cooperate more closely with faculties, institutions and scientific research organizations.

Assistant Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Saša Stojanović said that the call for a new competition for innovation projects is on the Ministry’s website, where all necessary information and application forms can be found.