The Director of C4IR Serbia, Jelena Bojović, spoke at the panel “Industrial Transformation for the Intelligent Age” held within the Kopaonik Business Forum, dedicated to the role of artificial intelligence in strengthening the competitiveness of the domestic economy.

The panel was moderated by Milan Ranđelović, Director of the Science and Technology Park Niš. Participants included Stefan Badža (HUB 201), Mihaela Lafont (European Commission), Todor Mladenov (Sofia Tech Park and EU AI Factories), Dragoslav Pavlović, Mayor of Niš, and Ivan Pavlović (S4AI European Digital Innovation Hub).

Speakers emphasized that industrial transformation is already underway and that competitiveness is increasingly measured by companies’ ability to integrate AI into real business processes. Key barriers identified included unstructured data, fragmented systems, and insufficient coordination, all of which slow down the scaling of AI solutions.

The panel concluded that broader and sustainable AI adoption requires building a strong ecosystem connecting industry, innovation centers, and the public sector, alongside improved coordination and strengthened institutional and organizational capacities.

The Kopaonik Business Forum, held from March 2 to 4, gathers more than 1,500 participants and over 200 panelists and has for more than three decades served as the central platform for dialogue on economic policy and development in Serbia and the region.