BELGRADE – 25 May 2018 – Representatives of the Development Agency of Serbia and 16 accredited regional agencies (АRDA) in Serbia have discussed today promotion of support provided to micro, mini and small enterprises in Serbia.

The meeting was held as part of the promotion of activities within the project Developing accelerators to provide better access to innovation finance for SMEs (Accelerator).

Aside from project presentation and the activities realised so far, an accelaration pilot project was presented (integral part of the very Accelerator project), implemented by the RAS. After the presentation, the attendees shared their opinions regarding the topic of possible replication of the pilot project, but also with respect to improving support for the SMEs and their experiences on the local level.

Accelerators are organisations which offer a wide range of services and innovation possibilities for business start-ups, with the objective of including such businesses in programmes spanning several months, which include mentorship, providing business area, connections with value chains and most importantly, start up enterprises have access to capital and investments in exchange for shares in the equity capital of their enterprises.

16 accredited regional development agencies, being the RAS partners on the local level, cover almost the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia with their activities and along with the RAS, participate in realisation of programmes and projects intended for SMEs.

The project Developing accelerators to provide better access to innovation finance for SMEs (Accelerator) is part of the Danube Transnational Programme (DTP). The main objective of the project is improving the access to funding resources for innovations by improving the institutional framework requirements  and suitable public policies instruments, development of practical solutions for providing services of acceleration and implementing the influence on relevant strategic frameworks in partner regions and on the programme level. 

Project participant countries are the following: Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, Czechia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegowina, and Serbia. RAS is the only Serbian partner on the project.