The IT industry in the Republic of Serbia has experienced rapid growth and development in recent years, becoming one of the key sectors of the country's economy. The export of the IT sector of the Republic of Serbia in 2023 amounted to around 3.5 billion euros and has grown by as much as 10 times since 2012. As for the number of employees in this sector, it increased from 40 thousand to 125 thousand in this period. It is interesting to note that women make up 36.6% of this number, which exceeds the European average (32%). If we analyse only the start-up sector, we will notice that its value is one billion dollars and that the number of Serbian start-ups increases annually by 20%. Significant results are also achieved by the domestic gaming industry, the value of which will reach almost 200 million dollars in 2023 (17% more compared to 2022). What is behind these striking figures and how did Serbia manage to realize its full potential in the field of information technologies?

Education today represents probably the most important factor in the long-term development of an economic branch. For this reason, the Republic of Serbia has made significant efforts to ensure that education follows the needs of modern human and global trends. Since 2017, programming has become a compulsory subject from the fifth grade of primary school, and universities across the country offer quality study programs in the field of information technologies. Some of the most important are the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, the Faculty of Mathematics, the Faculty of Computing and the Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Belgrade, then the Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Niš and the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad.

Also, lately, there has been an increasing number of initiatives that try to get young people interested in IT and show them all its potential through interdisciplinarity. Such, for example, is the “Creative Tech Workshops” program intended for secondary school students of artistic and technical profiles, who learn at the workshops how to create worlds in video games or how to animate digital characters. At the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, the Visual Effects, Animation and Game Art study program is accredited, which also brings art and technology closer together and gives students a new perspective.

The trainings within the IT retraining program aim to quickly improve the supply of talent on the labour market. The program for unemployed candidates is implemented by the National Employment Agency, while the program for employees is implemented by the Office for IT and eGovernment.

In addition to education, the Republic of Serbia enables and encourages the development of the domestic IT scene at the highest level. Legislation, infrastructure, incentive programs and benefits, as well as the digitalization of the public administration sector, synergistically enable IT companies, start-ups, entrepreneurs and young talents to devote themselves unhindered to the development of their ideas, products and services.

The Republic of Serbia is one of the first countries in the region to adopt the innovation imperative - the idea that successful participation in the global economy based on knowledge implies the adaptation and improvement of technological and research capacities through the cooperation between the public and private sectors. This mission is led by the Innovation Fund, a state organization specialized in providing support to innovation activity and managing financial resources to encourage innovation.

Since 2015, four science and technology parks have been built in the Republic of Serbia (Belgrade, Novi Sad Niš и Čačak) that provide infrastructure and professional services to companies, scientific research and innovation organizations for their fastest possible application of new technologies, creation and marketing of new products and services on the market, in order to accelerate the technological development of the country.

The accelerated development and influence of artificial intelligence in an increasing number of segments of society encouraged the state to adopt a development strategy in this area that is aligned with the European initiative on artificial intelligence. In addition to this strategy, the Republic of Serbia adopted a Strategy for the development of the start-up ecosystem, a стратегију развоја стартап екосистема, Strategy for scientific and technological development, as well as a Strategy for the development of eGovernment.

All the mentioned factors collectively contribute to the accelerated development of the IT scene. When you add to that the undeniable talent of people from this region for technology, the development of a vital and dynamic IT sector is expected. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Republic of Serbia has become an important point on the global technological map and an increasingly attractive destination for investments in the IT industry.