Brnabic: Serbia has joined digital revolution

BELGRADE - Serbia is not the same country it was ten years ago, and if we carry on at this rate, it will become even more different, more progressive and stronger in ten years' time, says PM Ana Brnabic, noting that Serbia had joined the digital revolution in a timely manner and that its ICT services exports would reach "an incredible 2.7 bln euros" this year, as opposed to 375 mln euros only a decade ago.

The times are changing and countries and economies that are strong, resilient and adaptable change with the times, Brnabic wrote in an article for the Politika daily, noting that few people had believed Serbia could become one of the leaders of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Brnabic added that, since her tenure as minister of public administration in a government led by then PM Aleksandar Vucic, much has been done in the field of digitalisation through introducing e-government and a large number of electronic services that were available today, as well as through a rise of ICT exports.

Overshadowed by global crises such as COVID-19, energy and food shortages, water supply problems, the Ukraine war, disputes by big powers and natural disasters induced by climate change, a different change is taking place that Serbia has understood in a timely manner, realising its significance and potential - a technological revolution, the PM said.

Brnabic noted that the digital revolution had helped get schools connected to the Internet, introduce digital learning content and programming in primary schools and specialised IT classes in secondary schools and, in collaboration with businesses, specialised master programmes at faculties.

"Today, our startups and scientists have a leading-edge supercomputer at their disposal at a just as leading-edge State Data Centre and science and technology parks in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Cacak and Nis, which will soon be the case in Kragujevac and Krusevac as well. Today, Serbia is internationally recognised as a country of engineers and innovative and creative people," Brnabic noted.

For that reason, some of the world's most renowned companies, such as Microsoft, NCR, IBM, Cisco, Continental, GoDaddy and Schneider are developing their products and solutions in Serbia, as are some relatively new and extremely successful ones, such as Epic Games, Rivian or Polygon, she added, noting that products of other equally renowned companies were also being developed in Serbia by local IT companies.

"The time has now come to speak about the next technological revolution - a revolution taking place through development of artificial intelligence and biotechnology, which can also be viewed as the Fifth Industrial Revolution," Brnabic noted, adding that that revolution had already begun.

In recent years, Serbia has set its priorities well, recognising its advantages and understanding the changes brought by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, she said.

"That has greatly helped us to change Serbia's image and start attracting technologically more advanced and more sophisticated investments to Serbia that create added value for our economy and excellently paid jobs. Serbia is succeeding in joining a smaller number of countries that will create new trends and technologies and the future of mankind and concentrate newly-acquired wealth in their own hands. We are still not at that level, but we are on a very good path to getting there," Brnabic said.