The Ministry of Science of Montenegro gathered around 200 actors from the economic, academic and civil sectors at the conference S3.me - Smart specialization: innovation, entrepreneurship and competitiveness in order to promote the Strategy, which aims to map the economic, innovative and scientific research potential of our country.
"The strategy of smart specialization is precisely the recipe for the countries of the European Union, how to facilitate economic and social development in the most efficient way, and also reduce economic differences between countries. And it is the European Union that insists on the same principle for all future members, and we know that Black Gora will soon be one of them," said Minister of Science Dr. Sanja Damjanović at the official opening of the conference.
The smart specialization strategy aims to increase the competitiveness of the Montenegrin economy, concentrate knowledge resources and connect them with a limited number of priorities. S3 will enable the development of new sectoral areas and industries by investing in research and innovation in areas that contain strategic potential in our country.
"The adoption of the Smart Specialization Strategy is of great importance. Not only would it significantly encourage more efficient use of pre-accession funds, as well as funds from EU programs such as Horizon 2020, but it would also help solve challenges that are typical for small countries like Montenegro, which are the smart direction of our small absolute funds, as well as focusing on concrete and priority areas in order to maximize the benefits," Minister Damjanović pointed out.
Work on the Smart Specialization Strategy is a challenging but innovative process, because, as the minister emphasized, the essence of the Strategy is change in the broadest sense.
"The goal is to define priority areas and find innovative niches that have the greatest potential to stimulate the economic development and competitiveness of our country, and then to focus our national funds on research and innovation, precisely within these priority areas. In this way, it will be strengthened existing and establish new value chains and it will become much more visible to everyone what business opportunities are there that can bring a return on investment and the strongest impact on society," said the Minister of Science.
The development of the Strategy implies the active support of the Government of Montenegro and public administration bodies, but the active participation of the academic, economic, civil and non-governmental sectors is of key importance.
The very process of developing this strategy implies a solid methodology, which is provided with the support of the European Commission, the Joint Research Center (JRC), on whose platform we have been since August 2017.
According to Minister Damjanović, the Ministry of Science is the Government body responsible for leading the process of smart specialization, but this is a process in which several ministries, institutions, associations and companies must be involved.
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