EU4DigitalSME project

EU4DigitalSME project, which is jointly financed by the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMZ) focuses on establishing and supporting the development of digital innovation hubs (DIH) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Project is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

Establishing and supporting the development of DIH services is one of the key activities of the EU4DigitalSME project, all with the aim of contributing to the construction of an ecosystem for digitalization, automation and innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The supported DIHs will provide a modern platform for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in improving business processes, but also their structure and end product. With a wide range of services for SMEs in the form of applied and specific digital solutions, DIHs will become a bridge between digital innovations and the business sector.

The selected DIHs that function as partnerships under the leadership of one of the institutions are: LabHUB - Sarajevo under the leadership of the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology (SSST), IDEMO HUB - Banja Luka under the leadership of the Innovation Center Banja Luka, Digital Storm HUB - Sarajevo under the leadership of the company QSS doo and Industrial HUB - Tuzla under the leadership of Industrial Automation doo. 

The consortium consisting of the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology (SSST), the Institute of Metrology of BiH (IMBIH), the Institute for Standardization of BiH (ISBIH) and the  Bosnia and Herzegovina Medical and Biological Engineering Society (DMBIUBIH) with the "LabHub" initiative is one of four future HUB, which, as part of the development program, will aim to bring Bosnia and Herzegovina closer to EU standards of competitiveness and successful business. In this way, SSST becomes part of the global initiative for digitalization of economic processes.

IDEMO HUB, whose consortium includes the Innovation Center Banja Luka (ICBL), the Development Agency of the Republic of Srpska (RARS), the Enterprise Development Agency Eda, the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Srpska, and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering - University of Banja Luka, was founded with the aim of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises from the field of metalworking and woodworking, as well as the IT sector. The establishment of this DIH will open opportunities for testing business ideas before investing, acquiring new knowledge and skills, networking all stakeholders from the RS with the economy and DIHs throughout the European Union, as well as increasing access to investments.

Together with the "FabLab" Association, QSS d.o.o. from Sarajevo initiated the Digital Storm HUB, which through the EU4DigitalSME project will receive support to create and encourage an ecosystem of digital innovations, and stimulate investments of small and medium-sized enterprises in digitalization in order to increase their market agility and competitiveness.

The Tuzla Industrial Automation d.o.o. with partners the Ministry of Economy of Tuzla Canton and the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship GmbH (SCE) from Munich form the DIH initiative "Industrial Hub", whose specialization is automation and robotics. The vision of "Industrial Hub" is to become the leading digital hub in the region that supports the growth of companies through the use of high-tech solutions, ensuring their competitiveness on the European market.

The value of the "EU4DigitalSME" project is 6.1 million euros, of which the European Union provided 5 million euros, and the Federal Republic of Germany 1.1 million euros. The project lasts until 2024 and is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

Project type
  • Other
Country of the coordinating institution
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Acronym
EU4DigitalSME
Geographical focus
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • General/no specific focus
Scientifc field / Thematic focus
  • General
Runtime
September 2021 - August 2024

Entry created by Admin WBC-RTI.info on September 23, 2022
Modified on July 13, 2023