Ongoing projects

Screening of the “Open Balkan” initiative – Country analyses

Within the “Assessing and streamlining the potential of the Open Balkan Initiative” project, the Center for Economic Analyses (CEA) from Skopje published a report on research task 1: Screening of the Open Balkan Initiative – Country Analyses.

The report states two general observations regarding the practical implementation of regional economic integration by thematic areas. First, the OBI (Open Balkan Initiative) is intertwined with the operational regional agreement (CEFTA) or regional initiatives (MAP REA and CRM AP), especially in the area of free movement of goods and workers, also the areas in which the OBI has gone the furthest in terms of implementation.

The second general observation is that the political commitments of countries participating in OBI are vertically oriented, and they are implemented slowly. Most of the political promises repeated at OBI summits and public appearances by OBI leaders have yet to be operationalized. The process of ratification of OBI agreements takes a long time, especially in North Macedonia. To date, the labor market agreement and the agreement on the interconnection of electronic identification schemes are the only trilateral agreements ratified by all three OBI participating countries.

Experts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia (CEVES) participated in the preparation of the report.

SME Serbia 2030: SME 100 Expo – Conference-exhibition on the contribution of Serbian SMEs to sustainable development and further opportunities

The event SME Serbia 2030: SME100 Expo was held on June 1, 2022 in MIND Park in Kragujevac, with the aim of highlighting the development potential of the domestic economy embodied in carefully selected MSP100, leading in Serbia and small and medium by international standards. This event was an opportunity to empower and inspire each other, talk and connect, and launch initiatives that will support the development of SMEs and direct their strength towards the achievement of goals for the whole society.

First of all, we take this opportunity to warmly thank the Ambassador of Germany, Thomas Schieb, as well as the Ambassador of Switzerland, Urs Schmid, who came to Kragujevac to see and open the exhibition with words of encouragement for the effort to gather and hear the voice of leading SMEs.

Furthermore, you can watch a video of panel 1 on YouTube (slightly truncated, due to technical problems at the very beginning), where the participants pointed out that “hidden champions” play an extremely important role in the development of a powerful industrial country such as Germany, and that it is important to hear about hidden champions, not to remain hidden, because in that way increase the interest of young people in employment outside large urban agglomerations – where Champions are more frequent employers. We have also heard that in Ireland, a country known for its success in its efforts to attract quality foreign investors, there is also a separate government agency dedicated to the development of SMEs, and their internationalization. Finally, we heard that the hidden champions in Slovenia organized themselves in the “Slovenian business club”, and thus achieved that their word is heard very clearly and loudly when making public policies.

Then, at three round tables (which were hard to break for lunch!), a list of proposed initiatives was discussed, which you can still find on the next link. You can also find information about SME 100 at this link.

In the second, final panel, we heard that there are already some reform efforts moving in the direction of the proposed initiatives. As the most interesting, we single out the words of Mr. Chadez, the president of the PKS, who believes that the time has come to establish a truly independent and strategically positioned development bank in Serbia. He also announced greater efforts to adapt teacher profiles in Serbia to the needs of the economy. From Mr. Miljan Ždrale, EBRD Director for Southeast and Central Europe, we heard that it is really an anomaly that Serbia does not support export guarantees in any way, as well as the importance and possibilities of further development of capital markets that provide far more opportunities in neighboring countries. financing its SMEs. From the Assistant Minister Mr. Obradović, we have heard how important it is for the economy to propose very concrete proposals, as well as that there is a site “Entrepreneurship” which can now be used to inform about everything that the state is doing to support SMEs.

Finally, the event ended with a very inspiring panel – a conversation that our celebrated journalist Jelena Zorić had with Rade Šerbedžija and Dragan Bjelogrlić (who do not need a presentation) about how film and culture can go hand in hand with entrepreneurship. You can take a look at the site in the gallery and we will continue to publish the materials from the conference on CEVES channels

Once again, we owe our gratitude to the Sustainable Development for All Platform implemented by GIZ with the support of the Swiss and German governments, without which this event would not be possible, as well as to MIND Park for recognizing the idea and believing in it from the beginning. . We are also grateful to the Embassy of Slovenia in Belgrade for additional support and media partners: NIN, Nova Ekonomija, E-Kapija, Diplomacy & Commerce.

 

You can find SME 100 initiatives here. 

For more information, you can visit the MSP 100 official website.

You can see videos of the conference panels on our YouTube channel.

SME Serbia 2030: SME 100 Expo – Conference-exhibition on the contribution of Serbian SMEs to sustainable development and further opportunities

The event SME Serbia 2030: SME100 Expo was held on June 1, 2022 in MIND Park in Kragujevac, with the aim of highlighting the development potential of the domestic economy embodied in carefully selected MSP100, leading in Serbia and small and medium by international standards. This event was an opportunity to empower and inspire each other, talk and connect, and launch initiatives that will support the development of SMEs and direct their strength towards the achievement of goals for the whole society.

First of all, we take this opportunity to warmly thank the Ambassador of Germany, Thomas Schieb, as well as the Ambassador of Switzerland, Urs Schmid, who came to Kragujevac to see and open the exhibition with words of encouragement for the effort to gather and hear the voice of leading SMEs.

Furthermore, you can watch a video of panel 1 on YouTube (slightly truncated, due to technical problems at the very beginning), where the participants pointed out that “hidden champions” play an extremely important role in the development of a powerful industrial country such as Germany, and that it is important to hear about hidden champions, not to remain hidden, because in that way increase the interest of young people in employment outside large urban agglomerations – where Champions are more frequent employers. We have also heard that in Ireland, a country known for its success in its efforts to attract quality foreign investors, there is also a separate government agency dedicated to the development of SMEs, and their internationalization. Finally, we heard that the hidden champions in Slovenia organized themselves in the “Slovenian business club”, and thus achieved that their word is heard very clearly and loudly when making public policies.

Then, at three round tables (which were hard to break for lunch!), a list of proposed initiatives was discussed, which you can still find on the next link. You can also find information about SME 100 at this link.

In the second, final panel, we heard that there are already some reform efforts moving in the direction of the proposed initiatives. As the most interesting, we single out the words of Mr. Chadez, the president of the PKS, who believes that the time has come to establish a truly independent and strategically positioned development bank in Serbia. He also announced greater efforts to adapt teacher profiles in Serbia to the needs of the economy. From Mr. Miljan Ždrale, EBRD Director for Southeast and Central Europe, we heard that it is really an anomaly that Serbia does not support export guarantees in any way, as well as the importance and possibilities of further development of capital markets that provide far more opportunities in neighboring countries. financing its SMEs. From the Assistant Minister Mr. Obradović, we have heard how important it is for the economy to propose very concrete proposals, as well as that there is a site “Entrepreneurship” which can now be used to inform about everything that the state is doing to support SMEs.

Finally, the event ended with a very inspiring panel – a conversation that our celebrated journalist Jelena Zorić had with Rade Šerbedžija and Dragan Bjelogrlić (who do not need a presentation) about how film and culture can go hand in hand with entrepreneurship. You can take a look at the site in the gallery and we will continue to publish the materials from the conference on CEVES channels

Once again, we owe our gratitude to the Sustainable Development for All Platform implemented by GIZ with the support of the Swiss and German governments, without which this event would not be possible, as well as to MIND Park for recognizing the idea and believing in it from the beginning. . We are also grateful to the Embassy of Slovenia in Belgrade for additional support and media partners: NIN, Nova Ekonomija, E-Kapija, Diplomacy & Commerce.

 

You can find SME 100 initiatives here. 

For more information, you can visit the MSP 100 official website.

You can see videos of the conference panels on our YouTube channel.

Private Sector Development

Partner: GIZ

In cooperation with GIZ, CEVES is conducting a preparatory project for establishment of SME Observatory – that would focus on more in-depth analysis of SME business climate and market intelligence.

It is expected that SME observatory can enhance Serbia’s sustainable economic development by producing knowledge and regular information that will substantially enhance:

  • The Government’s capacity to formulate well targeted growth-promoting sectoral and macroeconomic policies;
  • The quality of the SME sector’s business decision-making.

In addition, by creating a shared space of information, the Institute will:

  • Promote and enhance the quality of public-private dialogue
  • Build connections and trust among SMEs, ultimately promoting much needed economic integration.

Serbia, as a slowly recovery economy, has lot to gain from fostering linkages, information sharing and collaboration between firms, than usually expected. In Serbia, SMEs are of great importance, because in many ways they serve to preserve and develop islands of productive capacity that are not accessible to large and foreign investors and would otherwise be simply disappearing. However, characteristic to the recovery is that firms often tend to develop in isolation from one another. We observe almost no territorial clustering and limited integration/collaboration among firms. Therefore, the goal of SME Observatory is to enhance Serbia’s potential for sustainable economic growth of SME business sector by producing knowledge, making connections and providing regular public information.

Uncovering Regional Patterns: Towards More Dynamic, Inclusive and Equitable Regional Growth

Partner: UNDP Serbia

The overall goal of the proposed project is to contribute to Serbia’s development efforts by providing analytical information on economic structures, stakeholders and institutional players as well as to suggest some immediate measures that could be taken to accelerate growth, and ensure that it is more inclusive and regionally equitable. The beneficiaries of this would be Serbia’s citizens, particularly those living in territories that are lagging behind in terms of employment and overall levels of development.
More specifically, we aim to produce two kinds of practical knowledge that ultimately aim to provide suggestions for specific intervention measures that can be undertaken either by policy-makers or development partners: (a) about the economic structures in certain areas of the country, which can serve as the basis for designing development interventions tailored to their needs; (b) an overview of the current framework for territorial governance in Serbia – not only the de jure, but even more the de facto one – because understanding this is necessary in order to be able to define who is in the best position to undertake which policy measures. We will also make suggestions for smaller, incremental changes that can be made in order to improve the framework for policy interventions.

 

Living in European Serbia – Illustration, quantification and promotion of citisens’ benefits from the implementation of policies harmonized with EU standards

Partner: Fondation for Open Sociaty

The goal of the project is to contribute to the implementation of policies that are in alignment with EU standards, through motivating citizens to support the process of Eurointegration more intensively and by encouraging decision-makers to implement policies more consistently, and to pay more attention to contributing to meeting the key needs of citizens. Through continuous communication with decision-makers, CSOs, and citizens, through the Convent, consultative meetings and “online” dissemination, the project will quantify, and then illustrate and promote the concrete benefits that citizens can achieve through the genuine implementation of reforms. In particular, this relates to the domain of socio-economic policies, which are generally not harmonized with the EU, but are in the domain of national competencies – and therefore often it is not clear enough how their effect depends on reforms related to Eurointegration.

 

Alignment with EU Competition policy – raising awareness on potential benefits and strengthening capacity of key stakeholders in the area of state aid

Partner: The Balkan Trust for Democracy

The overall goal is to contribute to the democratic consolidation and institutional reforms in Serbia by contributing to Serbia’s overall alignment with the European Union’s competition policy. It is aimed that progress manifests itself in the advancement of the Chapter 8 negotiation process so that Serbia’s negotiation position is ready a year from the beginning of the project. However, the democratic consolidation and institutional strengthening will be accomplished by the strengthening of the institutions in charge of protecting and promoting competition and of CSOs to call them to account. This, in turn, will be accomplished above all by creating an environment in which broad stakeholders have a greater understanding of how EU Competition policies benefit consumers and how they promote the development of the economy. This understanding, in turn, improves stakeholder engagement and both the support they offer to relevant institutions (above all the Commission for State Aid Control) but also their capability to call them to account.

 

Using SDG to Reposition Social Science Research: A Pilot Project

Partner: HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation 

The project is an interdisciplinary and participative bottom up approach to understanding at least some aspects of the key factors underlying Serbia’s greatest development challenges – how competitiveness policies can serve to generate quality jobs and reach those parts of the country (and its population) that are most falling behind.

The Specific Objective was to create a framework for knowledge-policy system stakeholder’s interaction among Serbia’s development researchers and practitioners, which will facilitate their engagement in a public debate / participatory process advancing the understanding and policies that can accelerate the accomplishment of economic, social and human development along more than one SDG dimension. One of the key project’s phases refers to organization of stakeholder dialogue through consultative round tables/workshops to identify key issues in defining key competitiveness – human development linkages, needs for further research to identify drivers of positive change and how they can be measured.

For this dialog, CEVES prepared a study “Real Sector Performance and Competitiveness Some Stylized Facts and Open Questions (Serbia 2009-2016)”.

Call for Project Proposals