Financial Times: Serbia offers more to investors than other IT centers

One of the world's most influential papers, the Financial Times, has reported positively on the technology scene in Serbia, following an affirmative article about the Serbian IT scene in the Economist from a few months ago. The Financial Times emphasizes the completeness of the domestic digital ecosystem, the availability of quality IT workers in the country, highlights foreigners and those who have returned to the country as groups of individuals which have a positive impact on the growth in this sector, but also points out some obstacles to further development, the Digital Serbia Initiative says in a press release.

The Financial Times' Southeast Europe reporter and expert for the region, Valerie Hopkins, recognizes in the article that there's considerable talent and many successful tech companies in Serbia. In addition to the somewhat expected comparison to Berlin when it comes to the night life, the author also draws a parallel between the Belgrade startup scene and the world-famous Berlin scene. She especially notes that, in the past ten years, many tech entrepreneurs have chosen Serbia as a place to found their companies, whereas some of the world tech giants develop their products in the country. It's also interesting that one of the interviewees, Dragan Tomic, the director of the Microsoft Development Center in Serbia, says that the domestic tech scene, although much smaller, can be compared to the one in Seattle, Microsoft's seat, in terms of how well rounded it is.

In addition to drawing parallels with big tech centers, the author highlights parts of her conversation with representatives of the Digital Serbia Initiative, which she describes as an NGO which promotes the interests of the digital industry, to say that the Serbian startup scene is still in an early development phase and that the entire sector has a remarkably high annual growth of 20%. She adds that, in the past years, the startup ecosystem has developed in the sense of the variety of the subsectors and business models. The strategic decision to raise the level of tech knowledge, primarily by making programming mandatory in the elementary school program is pointed out as a positive change on the state level.

However, there are still some obstacles. One of them, which the interviewees point to as well, is the lack of business knowledge, which, in addition to technical knowledge, is needed in order to develop and sell digital products and services in the world market. As another one, the Financial Times sees the too slow harmonization of the Serbian legal framework with the world of tech entrepreneurship. While the Digital Serbia Initiative's successful lobbying for curbs on startups giving employees stock options to be lifted is seen as a good move, the restrictive foreign exchange rules are cited as a huge obstacle to the further development of the Serbian digital ecosystem.

Also, the article says that an important part of the local IT scene consists of those who have returned from abroad, but also the so-called digital nomads – professionals from other countries whose profession enables them to work from anywhere, Serbia included, thanks to the technology. Through an interview with Kristina Nikolic of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the author also points to the still burning problem of educated people leaving Serbia, putting the country among those with the fastest-shrinking populations.

The interviewees from some of the leading Serbian digital companies and organizations which cooperate with them agree that the existing talent is a source of great value of the local digital ecosystem. Recognizing that the search for quality employees in Serbia reflects the hunt for talent of a global scale, the author also mentions the years of crisis, which, according to Kosta Andric of the ICT Hub, have made people think in terms of problem-solving, while leaving unused space for investors in the market.

The article especially notes that there's more hunger for success and a stronger sense of belonging in Serbia than in some other parts of the world and that employees stay at their jobs longer here. Having talked to tech experts, the author concludes that Serbia offers more stability than some other tech centers to employees and investors alike, if they're thinking in the long term.

Inicijativa Digitalna Srbija

Microsoft software doo Beograd

UNDP Beograd

ICT hub d.o.o. Beograd

Digital Serbia Initiative

Microsoft

UNDP

ICT Hub

Dragan Tomić

Kristina Nikolić

Kosta Andrić

Financial Times

IT sector

investments in IT

Valerie Hopkins

digital nomads