Serbia among the leaders in the development of artificial intelligence

At a solemn conference marking the end of the "StarTech" program "Open Horizons for Innovation" at the Palace of Serbia, where the second edition of NALED's Gray Book of Innovations was presented, Brnabić pointed out that there are currently 104,000 people employed in the ICT sector, with the goal of having 140,000 employees.

She pointed out that Serbia now has a more dynamic economic development that retains young people in the country and brings back those who have left from abroad.

According to her, today in Serbia, there is a belief that innovations and knowledge are areas where we can be winners, which was not the case in 2016 when many did not see Serbia as a country of innovation.

The Prime Minister reminded that in 2012, Serbia had an ICT sector export of 375 million euros, and that this year it will be between 3.6 and 3.7 billion euros.

We did not define artificial intelligence and biotechnology because they are modern, but because we have the best results in that sector, Brnabić emphasized.

She noted that the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology is a logical sequence after excellent results in the ICT sector, and when it comes to the use of AI, the Prime Minister said that there is thinking about its use in health, energy, and other areas.

Regarding the field of health, the Prime Minister announced that 200,000 euros will be invested in having artificial intelligence read mammogram images, while the application of artificial intelligence in the field of energy will be reflected, for example, in the predictability of overhauls in thermal power plants.

Our economy, she pointed out, still lags behind the European Union in terms of productivity, and in the next period, we will invest with the help of artificial intelligence.

Serbia has imposed itself as one of the leaders in the development of artificial intelligence, so we have become part of the global partnership for artificial intelligence, where there are only 29 countries in the world, the Prime Minister pointed out and stated that Serbia must be even braver in this area in the coming period.

The Executive Director of NALED, Violeta Jovanović, emphasized that the "Star Tech" project has been supporting domestic innovators for three years and that the goal of that program is to stimulate the transformation of the traditional economy into an economy of innovation and knowledge.

The Executive Director of NALED listed several great successes achieved by the participants in the "Star Tech" program: the first mobile CT scanner has arrived on the US market, brushes for dogs have been patented and will be on the EU market from next year, the first platform in Serbia has been launched through which citizens of Niš can report problems and actively participate in various actions and initiatives at the local level, a platform has been set up at the main railway station in Belgrade which, with the help of artificial intelligence, translates speech into sign language, significantly facilitating the movement of people with hearing impairments.

The General Manager of Philip Morris for Southeast Europe, Aleksandar Jakovljević, said that the company has invested five million dollars in the "StarTech" project over the past three years.