Serbia expands innovation hub in Kragujevac with new 13 million euro investment
In Serbia, construction has begun on a second building within the innovation district in the city of Kragujevac, a project of national importance that is being implemented next to the already operational State Data Centre. This is what BalkanEngineer.com has learned from an official announcement by the Serbian Office for Information Technology and e-Government.
The new building will have an area of 5000 m2 and a budget of 13 million euros. It will serve the commercial users of the data centre and will be home to the future National Information Security Centre. The completion date is by the end of 2026.
Prime Minister Djuro Makut stressed that the construction of the technology infrastructure in Kragujevac is part of the previously presented long-term development strategy outside the capital and aims to turn the city into a major technology hub for the country.
The first building in the area, which will also serve the needs of the data centre, is almost complete, and construction of the third, central building - the so-called "heart of the innovation district" - is scheduled to begin this autumn.
The entire project covers 4.5 hectares with a planned built-up area of 85 000 m2. It includes spaces for start-ups, robotics and bioengineering centres, laboratories, artificial intelligence zones and the country's future fifth science and technology park.
So far, Serbia has signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with companies such as Toshiba (Japan), AET (the Netherlands) and local partners, and the envisaged investments within the project until 2027 amount to more than 66 million euros.
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