Investments in human resources might triple value of IT export from Serbia by 2022

The Digital Serbia Initiative, a private non-profit association of Serbian companies which aims to carry out a successful digital transformation of the country, has addressed the Government of Serbia with the initiative to solve one of the economy's priority problems: creating the conditions for university education of a sufficient number of IT experts. According to the association, if the Government of Serbia decided in favor of further investments and engagement in the field of IT education, Serbia might reach the value of IT exports of two billion euros by 2022.

The initiative was started by the leading companies in the field of IT and digital technologies: Infostud, Microsoft Development Center Serbia, Nordeus, PricewaterhouseCoopers Serbia, Seven Bridges Genomics, Startit, Telekom Srbija, Telenor and Ringier Axel Springer Serbia.

The memo sent by them to the Government of Serbia last week states that there are no specialized high education institutions in the country for educating the most demanded profiles, such as computing and IT engineers. The strengthening of the capacities of high education institutions founded by the state or the founding of such institutions is a prerequisite for the enrollment of a much larger number of students in IT and computing departments and is set as one of the absolute priorities of the Government of Serbia.

– The amount invested by the Republic of Serbia in infrastructure, teaching staff and students could tripled the value of IT exports from the estimated EUR 800 million to over two billion in only five years. These investments might bring Serbia closer to more developed states, but also position it as one of the leaders in the global market – the memo says.

According to the Digital Serbia Initiative, the investment of the Government of Serbia in educating students in the IT sector will have several direct results, from increasing the average salaries and the standard of living in Serbia to keeping young people in the country.

– The current needs of the economy for IT experts far exceed the capacity of our high education institutions. Our technical faculties educate under 2,000 graduates in the field of IT per year, which is insufficient for the economy which might immediately employ many times more IT experts, as many as 30,000 – says the memo sent by the Digital Serbia Initiative to the Government of Serbia.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Inspira grupa

Microsoft software doo Beograd

Nordeus d.o.o. Beograd

PricewaterhouseCoopers d.o.o. Beograd

Seven Bridges Genomics Beograd

Telekom Srbija a.d. Beograd

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Ringier doo Beograd

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Startit

Telekom Srbija

Telenor

Ringier Axel Springer Serbia

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