Bjelo Polje, (MINA-BUSINESS) – Minister of Science Biljana Scepanovic has said that innovations should be seen as a great development opportunity, especially for the northern region, in order to make the best use of its competitive advantages and potentials.

“Innovations offer an opportunity for development and are seen as a key transformation driver for less developed economies everywhere, serving as the engine of their competitiveness and progress,” Scepanovic said at the Bijelo Polje Business Forum.

Talking about new opportunities for knowledge-based development and innovations, she said that innovations were something that was given, not imposed.

Scepanovic presented the Smart Specialization Strategy and its four priority areas – sustainable agriculture and the food value chain, energy and sustainable environment, and sustainable and medical tourism.

She added that development based on inherent potentials was the essence of smart specialization.

Executive Director of the Innovation Fund Bojana Femic Radosavovic stated that the Fund was a young institution that provided exceptionally good support to innovative companies.

She argued that there was no excuse not to work on innovative projects as there was an increasing amount of funding available, and there was also a great interest in such support programmes.

In his speech, Executive Director of IPC Tehnopolis Djordje Malovic focused on the development of the Montenegrin innovation ecosystem and business based on new, innovative ideas and technologies.

He stated that Tehnopolis was a symbol of Niksic, having emerged as a precursor to all subsequent infrastructure segments in Montenegro’s innovation ecosystem.

According to him, as one of the key players in creating and reshaping the Montenegrin innovation ecosystem, Tehnopolis offers a range of infrastructure and support measures that enable the establishment of new companies and the development of businesses based on new, innovative ideas, and technologies.