Creative Industry – What This Serbian Economy Sector Worth EUR 2 Billion Encompasses

The creative industry is the youngest, but also the fastest growing sector of the Serbian economy. It is estimated that it is worth around EUR 2 billion and that it will continue growing. A part of the strategic orientation of the government toward supporting the creative industry is the construction of a multifunctional center, where new economic value will be created and which will, at the same time, be the place where talents meet.

The future center of creative industries in Serbia is emerging, numbering an army of 155,000 members, and creative people from the region and the world are welcome as well. The reconstruction and adaptation of the old Lozionica facility costs EUR 52 million, but the state assures that it will pay off several times over.

The director of the first creative-innovative center “Lozionica”, Ana Ilic, points out that the exports of the creative industries in the past six years have grown 80% in the past six years.

– The creative industry has a share of 6% in the GDP of our state. That is a strong and high percentage, comparable to the construction industry. It is complementary and cooperates with the tourism industry. We expect “Lozionica” to be an important tourism center – says Ilic.

Creative industries have proven to be resilient, so some of them even grew during the crisis, and those which stagnated quickly recovered.

– The two strongest subsectors of the creative industries are the production of audio and video content, as well as television and film production and gaming. When it comes to the first one, the state has recognized it and has been supporting it with special financial incentives in the past seven years. All in all, it invests 130 times more than 10 years ago – points out Ilic.

Higher employment rate and investments

To every euro invested in the film industry, a return of EUR 4.6 is made. Over EUR 200 million has been attracted, and the employment rate has increased nearly 40%.

– When a foreign producer comes to Serbia from Bollywood or Hollywood and makes a movie, the budget of EUR 1 million that they spend in our country stays in our economy. They don’t take out wood, ore, or fruit from our country. Instead, the entire capital remains in our country. It is a very profitable industry for every country – says Aleksandar Conic, the producer at Clockwork.

The 15 biggest gaming companies have realized an income of EUR 150 million.

– Certain studios are targeting America, others Europe, Asia. It depends on which target group of the studio is making the game. A person from Serbia, thanks to the platforms which have a global character, can access any market from any sector – says Nikola Soskic of Sosha Games.

Creative industries are a sector of young people, between 20 and 45 years of age on average, more than a half are highly educated, and around 50% are women. It is also a sector in which there are more and more newly founded companies and enterprises.

Ložionica d.o.o. Beograd

Ložionica Beograd

Clockwork

Shosha Games

Ana Ilić

Aleksandar Conić

Nikola Šoškić

creative industry

multifunctional center for creative industry

creative innovation center Ložionica

gaming

Bollywood

Hollywood