Innovation Fund and the World Bank Launch Innovation Serbia Project


06.12.2011

The first call for proposals of the Mini Grants Program announced today by the Innovation Fund presents a unique opportunity for budding Serbian entrepreneurs and high-tech startups. The Mini Grants program will finance up to 85 percent of project costs for activities such as development of the proof of concept, prototyping, and business plan preparation, up to €80,000. Companies with early stage projects of up to one year in duration are encouraged to apply for financing for their innovative projects by January 31, 2012.

“The Mini Grants program, launched today, is just one of three components under the EU-funded Innovation Serbia Project. This is the first ever project approved under the European Union Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) 2011 funds that supports the national innovation system. We are delighted to entrust/engage with the World Bank with/in the design and administration of this project, which will be implemented by the Serbian Innovation Fund. ”, said Ambassador Degert, EU Delegation Serbia.

“The World Bank is excited to be a part of this capacity building initiative and looks forward to supporting the Innovation Fund of Serbia as it attracts global expertise to introduce transparent merit based selection procedures and develops a strong entrepreneurship practice,” said Mr. Loup Brefort, World Bank Serbia Country Manager.

The project provides Serbia with 8.4 million EUR to develop institutional capacity to stimulate innovative activities in the enterprise sector. In addition to capacity building and the introduction of new financial instruments, technical assistance on technology transfer and commercialization will be provided by the World Bank to select interested Research and Development Institutes, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Science. The project will address critical missing elements of the Serbian innovation system that are vital for improving competitiveness and ensuring Serbia’s longer term sustainable economic growth prospects. In addition,

“The contribution to Serbia’s effort to build an innovation-driven economy is significant”, said Mr. Djelic, Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration, “We expect that this initiative will lead to additional Innovation Fund financing instruments, including equity instruments and stronger participation of private sector in financing innovation. Furthermore, this EU funded project is completely in line with the European Innovation Union flagship initiative, which puts knowledge at the forefront of Europe’s future development.”