BELGRADE, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Construction of another Science and Technology Park started in Serbia on Friday in the southern city of Nis, with an aim to support scientific research, as well as startup and spinoff companies in country's underdeveloped region.
The foundation for the 14,000-square-meter building was laid by Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia Mladen Sarcevic at a ceremony in Nis, who stressed that the companies that will emerge from this incubator should be able to make an immense contribution to Nis, a university center well-known for talents in physics, mathematics and other fundamental sciences.
The ceremony at the construction site was attended by the rector of the Nis University Dragan Antic, Director of the European Investment Bank office for the Western Balkans Dubravka Negre and Mayor of Nis Darko Bulatovic.
The investment worth around 10 million euro (around 11.33 million U.S. dollars) of which 1.4 million (around 1.59 million dollars) are allocated for the necessary equipment, will be completed by March 2020, the government stated in a press release, adding that the establishment will serve for the training of students to use advanced technologies and enable them to learn through practice.
Sarcevic said at the ceremony that the Draft Law on the Science Fund will enter into parliamentary procedure next week, estimating that a "special fund for this area will create an opportunity to launch a new scientific cycle."
The fund will be both financed by the ministry of education and other ministries, as well as private companies and enterprises, with an aim to benefit the country's development through scientific research.
Serbia already has several science and technology parks. The first was opened in Belgrade in 2015, and the second in Cacak in 2016. Construction of such a park started recently in Novi Sad, surfacing some 30,000 square meters, while there are ongoing plans to build one in the city of Kragujevac.
