In NALED’s new publication, the Grey Book of Innovation, among 45 concrete recommendations for Serbia aimed at strengthening and improving the business environment for start-ups and high-tech companies, 18 are entirely new.
The innovation proposals focus on eight key areas: Innovative actors and support organization; digital assets; collaboration between science and business; import procedures and public procurement; finance and monetary transactions; infrastructure and mobility; tax breaks and taxation; data access and health.
The NALED publication, which sets out a roadmap for Serbia to strengthen the business environment for start-ups and high-tech companies, includes 18 entirely new recommendations, most of which relate to areas governed by the Personal Income Tax Law, as well as 36 proposals for regulatory amendments.
NALED’s Executive Director, Violeta Jovanović, stated that improvements will be proposed to the tax treatment of digital assets, so as to change the current practice of taxation when one digital asset is exchanged for another. “In this way, owners of such assets would pay tax only when digital assets are converted into money. It is important to highlight that 13 recommendations have been marked with an EU badge, placing them among key priorities aligned with European standards,” Jovanović emphasised.
EU grants
The European Union has stated that it will continue to actively support Serbia in the areas of innovation, technology transfer, science and research. This is confirmed by non-repayable financial assistance in this field amounting to more than 105 million euros.
The Head of Operations at the EU Delegation to Serbia, Richard Masa, praised Serbia’s progress. “For Serbia, embracing innovation is not merely an option, but a strategic imperative that will determine its ability to advance in an increasingly dynamic global economy. Serbia is making significant efforts in this direction, and its researchers are participating in more than 360 projects within the ‘Horizon Europe’ programme,” Masa said. On the end of the corporate world, Tamara Milovanovic, managing director for South-East Europe for Philip Morris International, has pointed out how tax relieves are fundamental to push the companies to bet on innovative start-ups.
Among the recommendations is also the introduction of the possibility of charging foreign customers in foreign currency during online payments. It has been said that for the innovative environment banks are not the right address: “Without the development of a modern capital market, it will be complicated for any local innovative enterprise at early stages to grow”, said Ognjen Popovic, assistant minister at the Ministry of Finance.
Another area of innovation is the health system, where telemedicine and AI will change dramatically the diagnostic procedures. “We will save time and human load with the same level of assistance, has said Ivana Stasevic Karlicic, state secretary at the Ministery of Health. It is also recommended to simplify the import of unregistered medical devices for the purposes of research and development.
As for the line institutions, more than one third of all recommendations are addressed to the Ministry of Finance, followed by the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, and then the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure.
(03.04.2026)
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