The arrival of a large number of IT experts from abroad, and above all from Russia, accelerated the development of the Serbian IT sector, but also created the need to open new workspaces. Hubs, modeled after world centers, are opened in Belgrade by our experts, returnees from abroad.
Blanka applied what she saw and learned during her education in Russia and America in her hometown. The hub was filled in just a few weeks and currently has around 100 members from more than 10 countries.
“We are a community for IT professionals and startups with a global way of thinking. So we made it so that we have a lot of social, professional events, so that people can improve their career,” says Blanca Šupe, the founder of hab.
Before leaving their country, IT nomads carefully consider where to go, taking into account economic conditions, standard, taxes, security.
Yegor was looking for a country in which he would most easily adapt to the new environment. And because of the cultural and linguistic kinship and already arrived compatriots, he chose Serbia, he says.
“You have a very good application of modern technology, good internet speed and developed mobile banking. You have many trained engineers with great experience,” says Yegor Jakovishen, an expert from Russia.
With greater investments in startups, Belgrade could join Berlin and Tel Aviv on the world map of innovation centers.
“The most important thing is to change that local mentality so that people start thinking about making something on a global level. There are a lot of things that should be improved here in terms of laws and opportunities for startups,” says Blanca Shupe.
“I think that people are not yet familiar with that world and think that it is some kind of fraud or they hear various wrong stories. Therefore, definitely education and to encourage the establishment of such startups at the state level,” says Anastasija Barbara Isakov, an IT expert from Serbia.
The domestic IT sector has long passed the initial level, every other newly created job in the country in 2022 was in that sector, and it brought in about 2.5 billion euros from exports, RTS writes.
