Minister Damjanović: The need to establish centres of EIT in WB countries

Minister of Science Sanja Damjanović took part in the main panel discussion of the INNOVEIT conference in Budapest, which the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) organises every year and also gave its annual award for innovation in one of the categories.

In a panel discussion about the education and the regional dimension as the basic pillars of the future of this unique institute, Minister Damjanović stated that the EIT is a powerful driver of innovation in Europe."Our young people, representatives of the business sector and start-ups participated in EIT schools, competitions and manifestations, which significantly affected their way of thinking and working," Minister Damjanović pointed out, hopeful that the European Commission's Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) will find a way to support the development of innovation centres of this institute in the Western Balkan countries. Referring to the long experience of researches and outstanding cooperation with CERN, Minister Damjanović highlighted that the EIT as a networked institute, that is, CERN as the infrastructure, are examples of how entrepreneurship and academic community can work together and spread the culture of innovation and business.

"It is exciting to see how advances in robotics, chemistry and food science, energy and ICT, data science and artificial intelligence, mechanical engineering contribute to the significant innovations the nominated innovators have developed in the EIT Venture Award category," Minister Damjanovic noted, emphasising that she comes from a small country in the Western Balkans, which has just started implementing innovation policies and developing and linking its innovation ecosystem, and that Montenegro finds great inspiration in seeing how society functions and changes for the better. Minister Damjanović also congratulated the innovators in other categories and the EIT communities, who, by supporting such innovators, make Europe, a true innovation union.

The EIT Venture award was given to one of the finalists whose team has been developing a unique technology that converts wave energy efficiently and sustainably.