The National Alliance for Local Economic Development, NALED, has declared 2023 as the year of innovation. According to Jelena Bojović, Program Director at NALED, their focus on innovation started three years ago with the launch of the StarTech program. It was recognized for the first time that investing in science, innovation, and innovators is a crucial factor that can turn our economy in the right direction.
“We started by defining some priorities in the field of innovation that we should address, primarily supporting startups or innovators. This support involves providing them with initial funds so that they can continue working on their innovation without worrying about whether they will succeed in launching their product or service,” she said.
As part of this project, funded by the company “Philip Morris,” 82 grants have been awarded in the last three years, with 25 grants allocated last year.
Bojović emphasized that, in addition to providing funds, a crucial aspect of NALED’s work was the improvement of public policy, including laws, bylaws, procedures, and rules governing the work of innovators.
“We have worked extensively on identifying problems and implementing recommendations, which we grouped into the Gray Book of Innovations. We published the first book in 2022 with 60 recommendations, and last year, nine recommendations from that book were either resolved or partially resolved,” she said.
She highlighted the positive development that the Ministry of Science and Innovation was established in October 2022, as five recommendations were resolved in its domain. These recommendations involve the registration of innovative entities, the establishment of a register of innovative entities where innovators and startups can register, defining business angels, and establishing and adopting ethical guidelines for the development of artificial intelligence.
“Other ministries’ activities and contributions were also important, including regulating the issue of electric scooters and establishing a legal framework and test beds for autonomous vehicles,” Bojović said.
In addition to innovations, NALED’s activities in the past year were focused on supporting the startup community, entrepreneurs, and freelancers. Bojović particularly highlighted their collaboration with the Ministry of Finance in establishing the Freelancers portal.
“We also worked on a regulation addressing the issue of lump-sum taxation, allowing the 10% limit for entrepreneurs, freelancers, to prevent their base from increasing more than 10% annually. A significant novelty, especially for business beginners, is that starting this year, there will be a 50% reduction in the tax base for those who become lump-sum taxpayers,” Bojović stated.
She considered it very positive that, after years of NALED’s advocacy, a recommendation from the general Gray Book was fulfilled, referring to the conversion of the right of use into ownership rights. She also praised the adoption of the Law on Health Documentation and Records, enabling the establishment of an electronic health record and many other registers.
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