The Government of the Republic of Serbia and the World Economic Forum have jointly founded the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Serbia. It is the first such centre in the region, the third in Europe (after Oslo and Moscow) and the 16th globally established by the World Economic Forum. The Centre started operating in March 2022 under the auspices of the Office for IT and eGovernment of the Republic of Serbia, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Centre will focus on two priority areas – biotechnology and artificial intelligence in health care, areas already recognised as key for the future economic development of Serbia.
The Centre was established with the idea to assist the economy to quickly benefit from scientific knowledge, and to assist Serbia to position itself globally as an exporter of knowledge and innovation. It will bring together the science and economy and will enable fundamental research in the fields of biotechnology, molecular biology and medicine to be harnessed for economic development.
As the first step today, Jelena Begović, the Director of the Institute for Molecular Genetics and Genetic Research, and Mihailo Jovanović, Director of the Office for IT and eGovernment, signed the Agreement on Using the National Platform for AI, which this Institute is housing for storage of data relevant to future research. Data is an additional IT infrastructure and support for the use of supercomputers, specifically the National AI Platform, this will contribute to process data, which are key for decision-making, much faster, which will save months of scientific-research work.
„We are all witnessing the speedy development of science and technology, which we can use in our daily life, to make our life more simple and easier. This is exactly the role of the Centre – by linking science, new tech, knowledge and the economy, to assist us to receive better and more efficient health care, to have access to new innovative medicines and devices, live in a healthier society thanks to technological solutions for waste management or automated air pollution measurement“, stated Jelena Bojović, Director of the Centre C4IR of the World Economic Forum in Serbia.
She added that the role of the Centre is to propose innovative regulations which would facilitate the application of technologies along with protecting rights, as well as to build an environment for the development and application of biotechnology and bioinformatics.
Through cooperation with all such centres worldwide and with the World Economic Forum leaders, Serbia will have the opportunity to use the newest scientific achievements and at the same time to enable promotion of our science, economy and knowledge. The projects that the Centre will be involved in will include also the development of a uniform electronic medical file system for patients and fast diagnosing of diseases, a smarter choice of medicines through personalised health care (it is known which medicines are effective for patients with which genetic markers), the use of artificial intelligence in smart and fast diagnosing of rare diseases, as well as the use of new technologies in the pharmaceutical industry, application of cell and genetic therapy, and development of growing high tech companies in the health care sector.
The Centre will bring together scientists and researchers, representatives of the Government, the industry, and the civil society, for testing and enhancing new technologies, in an effort to develop multi-sectoral partnerships in order to promote innovation for the benefit of the society.
