Economic Conference – Montenegro 2017: Minister takes part in the “Science as a driver of economic development” panel

Regional Economic Conference – Montenegro 2017, organized by the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro in cooperation with the Ministry of Science was opened on 2 November in hotel Splendid in Budva. The theme of the gathering that brought together about 500 representatives of governments, the business community, scientific and professional public from the Balkans and beyond is “Challenges on the Road to the European Union”.

This year’s two-day conference emphasizes the inextricable link of economy and science so its participants included distinguished scientists originating from our country who have developed their professional careers working abroad in the most prestigious world institutes, universities and companies. The introductory addresses were given by the President of the Chamber of Economy Velimir Mijušković and the Prime Minister of Montenegro Duško Marković.

Minister of Science Dr. Sanja Damjanović took part in the panel entitled “Science as a driver of economic development”, moderated by professor Gordana Đurović, along with the following panelists: Shpati Kolgega (Albania), Alma Hasanović (BiH), Besim Begaj (Kosovo) and Renata Trepeska Deskoska (Macedonia).

It was jointly concluded that economic prosperity could be provided only with the active investment in science and innovation, and that there was a long way to go for the countries of the Region, but that with the smart conduct of scientific policies it was possible to achieve the set goals.

In recent years, the Ministry of Science has undertaken a number of activities in order to stimulate innovative activities. As Minister Damjanović emphasized, legal and strategic frameworks were established for the field of innovative activities; in 2016, the Strategy of Innovative Activities was adopted, and by the end of the year the Strategy of Scientific Research Activity would be adopted.

The Strategy envisages measures and instruments that will lead to better research, access to modern technologies, large infrastructures and, most importantly, encouraging a more competitive knowledge economy, Minister Damjanović explained during the panel discussion.

Within the framework of the Strategy, three key objectives have been identified: human resources and research capacities development, capacity building through research, and providing synergies between science and the economy.

The Minister reminded the attendees that Montenegro joined the full membership of the CMS experiment, one of the largest LHC experiments in CERN, and that by the end of the year the country would become a member of the largest international scientific organizations for molecular biology and medicine EMBL and EMBO, which speaks in favour of the importance of connecting and networking with the international scientific community and access to state-of-the-art technology, which will consequently influence the empowerment of Montenegrin research capacities.

In the panel, special attention was paid to the International Scientific Institute for Sustainable Technologies in South East Europe. The Minister familiarized the attendees with the recent signing of the Declaration of Intent to establish the Institute in CERN, which would transform the Initiative into a regional project.

According to her, the Institute could have multiple benefits not only for science and technology, but also for education, as well as for the economies of the countries of the region, as the goal is to conduct internationalization of the business sector based on technology transfer.