The Ministry of Science of Montenegro gathered about 200 participants from the economic, academic and civil sectors today at the S3.me – Smart Specialization: Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness Conference, held at the Hilton Hotel, in order to promote the Strategy aimed at mapping the economic, innovative and scientific-research potential of our country.
The Smart Specialization Strategy aims to increase the competitiveness of the Montenegrin economy, concentrate knowledge resources and link them to a limited number of priorities. S3 will enable the development of new sectorial 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. It would significantly encourage more efficient use of pre-accession funds, as well as of EU funds such as Horizon 2020, and would also help address the challenges typical of small countries such as Montenegro – the smart allocation of our small absolute funds, as well as focusing on concrete and priority areas in order to maximize benefits, Minister Damjanovic said.
The drafting of the Strategy implies active support of the Government of Montenegro and public administration bodies, but active participation of the academic, economic, civil and non-governmental sector is of key importance. The very process of development of the Strategy implies a strict methodology provided through the support of the European Commission, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), whose platform we have joined in August 2017.
Svetlana Vuksanovic, the President of the Employers Federation, said that she was glad that all the actors that would benefit from the adoption of the Strategy would be involved in the process of drafting the document. It is important to keep in mind, Vuksanovic underlined, that the adoption of Smart Specialization Strategy would require greater investment in science and innovation, leading to creation of new sectors and industries.
Source: Ministry of Science
