The EU-funded WBIF Technical Assistance project ‘High Education Infrastructure: Development of technical documentation for four priority investments’ was launched on 4 May 2020 amid the COVID-19 crisis. The virtual kick-off meeting was attended by representatives of the Public Investments Management Office (PIMO), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU Delegation to Serbia, NIPAC and IPF8 experts.

Technical assistance includes an Inception Period and assistance to the PIMO and concerns the following 4 Components:

Component 1: ‘Construction of Science and Technology Park Belgrade (STP) - Phase 2’: (i) Development of the Conceptual Design, ii) Development of the Feasibility Study with the Preliminary Design of new building of the STP Belgrade;

Component 2: ‘Establishment of a Chemical Analysis Expert Centre within the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade’: (i) Development of the Preliminary Design; (ii) Development of the Construction Permit Design, and (iii) Development of the Detailed Design;

Component 3: ‘Construction of new laboratories and office building at the Institute for Physics of the University of Belgrade’: Revision of the Detailed Design(s) and Development of Building Information Modelling files;

Component 4: ‘Construction of a new building of the Faculty of Organisational Sciences (FON) of the University of Belgrade’: Revision of the Detailed Design(s) and Development of Building Information Modelling files.

The project financing structure includes a €200 m EIB loan, €105 m loan from Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), €30.9 m EU grant through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) and national contribution of around €90.2 million, with a total investment value of over €426 million.

The overall objective of the subproject is to facilitate the planning and building of higher education institutions for the revitalisation of the ‘Public Sector Research and Development in Serbia’ that responds to the future labour market demands in line with the Lisbon Strategy Purpose.

All stakeholders welcomed the commencement of the subproject at such an unprecedented and challenging time under very particular conditions.

Ms Aleksandra Radinovic, Ministry of European Integration and Mr Darko Djukic, PIMO: ‘Investing in education and innovation is one of the strategic goals of the Republic of Serbia, which will contribute to the development of human resources and the society as a whole. Thus, the continuation of project ‘Public Sector Research and Development in Serbia’ is very important to our country. The first phase of this project, which among other subprojects, included construction of the Science Technology Park in Belgrade, gave great results by enabling small and medium enterprises to develop and commercialise their new innovative products and services and cooperate with large companies. Therefore, we would like to thank the EU for providing us with support for preparation of the second phase of the project, which will include the construction of new buildings within the Science Technology Park in Belgrade, as well as support to high education infrastructure.’

More about the ‘Public Sector Research and Development Project in Serbia’ here.

More about WBIF Activities in Serbia here.