As a part of the Project “Implementation of the Industrial Emissions Directive in Serbia” and Component pertaining to technological improvement in the food production chain, a meeting was organized at the beginning of March, gathering relevant members of the Working Group. The meeting was an opportunity to discuss how to improve cooperation between institutions for further technological improvement in industry and compliance of companies with the requirements laid down in the Industrial Emissions Directive. In addition to this, discussion was also conducted on further steps in the project and way of selecting companies and funds that would be involved in the next project stage.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Embassy of Sweden, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Ministry of European Integration, Provincial Secretariat for Urban Planning and Environmental Protection, University of Belgrade, Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities.
The participants were addressed by: State Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development Mr. Viktor Nedović, Assistant Minister of Environmental Protection, Mr. Aleksandar Vesić, Assistant Minister of Economy, Ms. Katarina Obradović Jovanović, Rector of the University of Belgrade, Ms. Ivanka Popović, and First Secretary of the Embassy of Sweden in Belgrade, Ms. Ida Reutersward.
This project component is aimed at supporting representatives of industry and other stakeholders in identifying funding opportunities and preparing project proposals to encourage innovations in the area of environmental protection and application of Best Available Techniques. Within the project activities, a research had been conducted on funding programmes currently available in Serbia, and SWOT analysis had been prepared, which were presented at the meeting.
The meeting participants, members of the Working Group, agreed that in order to realise the potential for technological improvement of industry of Serbia, it is necessary to have cooperation between all relevant institutions and they also expressed pleasure that this project had opted exactly for such approach.
Assistant Minister of Environmental Protection, Mr. Aleksandar Vesić, said that special attention should be focused on identifying the problems due to which certain technologies are not more widely accepted in industry, as well as to finding the ways for their wider implementation. Assistant Minister of Economy Ms. Katarina Obradović Jovanović emphasized that links between the potentials for improvement in industry and environmental protection measures should be viewed in more details.
State Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Mr. Viktor Nedović, looked into the activities implemented so far by the Ministry of Science on encouraging the application of innovations in industry and development of the strategy of smart specialization. He expressed the readiness of the Ministry for cooperation in preparing the project proposals in the area of environmental protection through programmes such as the Innovation Fund and Horizon 2020.
The IED Serbia Project is implemented by the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy in Belgrade in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and with the support of the Embassy of Sweden.
