The Chamber of Commerce has signed the Agreement on Cooperation on the Establishment of the Network for Digital Transformation of the Republic of Srpska’s Economy.
It will be implemented as a pilot project in 10 companies. If it achieves the expected results, a Digital Transformation Center in Banja Luka will be formed, modeled on the practice from Serbia.
In the productive sector of metal and wood processing, there is digitalization, but it is not in other segments – marketing, storage. That is why this Agreement is an important step to get a higher level of smart management, shorten product development and lower cost.
– Within the Chamber of Commerce, a digital transformation center will be established, which is our obligation and a chance to create conditions for more dynamic development through the introduction of new technologies – said Borko Djuric, Director of the Chamber of Commerce of Republika Srpska.
The value of the digital transformation project per company is € 10,000, and knowledge transfer, procurement of equipment and provision of infrastructure will be carried out in ten companies in order to increase productivity and competitiveness.
– I think that through this pilot project we will get good results because the experience from Serbia shows that the success of this project was achieved by more than 90 percent and I see no reason for this not to happen to us – said Vjekoslav Petričević, Minister of Economy and Entrepreneurship of Republika Srpska.
– Digital transformation also implies process automation, savings, more efficient management of human resources – all that modern, efficient business practices entail – said Srdjan Rajcevic, Minister of Science and Technology Development, Higher Education and the Information Society of Republika Srpska.
With 50 percent of the funding, the project will be supported by the German International Cooperation Organization GIZ.
– The private sector needs this kind of infrastructure support to know that they have support in institutions when they understand that they need a digital transformation – said Elena Kalinovska, GIZ manager.
If the pilot project is successful, the Center for Digital Transformation of Srpska will be established, which, alongside the Center in Serbia, would be one of the two in the region. This would create the long-term goal of the Government of Srpska – a more stable society and a more productive economy, the signatories of the agreement said.
TST