Unprecedented interest: nearly 300 applications for the fifth Startech competition
The fifth public call for awarding non-refundable funds within the startech program recorded a record 292 applications from teams and companies across serbia, representing a growth of as much as 72% compared to the previous year, when just over 170 candidates applied.
The Startech program, worth eight million dollars, is implemented by naled and philip morris companies in partnership with the government of serbia, aiming to accelerate digital transformation, support innovation development, and increase the competitiveness of the domestic economy. the submitted projects are currently going through the evaluation process, after which the most successful candidates will receive non-refundable support of up to 50,000 dollars, as well as mentoring and technical support for commercialization.
Such a response shows that startech is recognized among innovators not only as an opportunity for funding but also as a platform for validating ideas, product development, and market entry. this is the best indicator of how important this program is for strengthening the domestic startup scene and digital economy, emphasizes dragana vujko, director of corporate affairs for southeast europe at philip morris international.
The largest number of applications came from the information technology sector (118), while artificial intelligence is the second most represented sector with 50 projects. a significant number of applications also came from the agriculture and food industry sector (20), consulting and business services (16), as well as electronics and electrical engineering (11). sectors such as healthcare, biotechnology, construction, tourism, transportation, and environmental protection are also represented. among the applicants, micro, small, and medium enterprises dominate with a total of 165 projects, while 83 came from informal teams, and 44 from entrepreneurs. more than 60% of the submitted projects (173) aim to launch their solutions on international markets.
-The selection committee faces a difficult task as we will award around ten grants. the selection process consists of several rounds. the names of the finalists will be known by the end of summer, and the final decision on grant winners will be made in autumn by a team of eight experts in innovation, digital transformation, and entrepreneurship, explains dušan vasiljević, director of competitiveness and investments at naled, noting that among the applicants there are also 14 innovators from faculties and institutes.
This year, as he points out, the most applications were recorded in belgrade (90), followed by novi sad (35), niš (17), kragujevac (5)... applications came from about 40 cities and municipalities across serbia, including novi pazar, subotica, čačak, kraljevo, zrenjanin, sremska mitrovica, šabac, bor, vranje, leskovac, sombor, loznica, pirot, varvarin...
