Provincial Secretariat for Economy and Regional Development Agency Srem were the organizers of the regional conference with the theme SREM AND CONCEPT of BUSINESS INCUBATORS IN VOJVODINA, which was held in Ruma, in a conference room of Hotel Park on 26 April 2012, at 11 a.m. The conference was attended by Mr Branislav Bugarski – Director of VIP Fund, Ph. D. Djuro Kutlaca – from Institute Mihajlo Pupin, Mr Ljuba Aleksic – Manager of BBI fund, Mr Djordje Celic – Director of Business Incubator Novi Sad, Ms Ildiko Zedi – Director of Business Incubator Subotica and Mr Vladimir Nikolic – Director of Business Incubator Senta. The representatives of municipalities of Srem and municipal offices for local economic development as well as representatives of business associations of Srem have attended the conference.The conference was organized with the aim of presenting the concepts of business incubators in Vojvodina, especially those who have already been established, how they function, their economic impact, sustainability etc. Topic of the business incubator was the concept of economic development of Vojvodina up to 2013. AP Vojvodina has established a so-called BBI fund at the Provincial Secretariat for Economy that will finance the work of the incubators in order to achieve operational level that is more efficient and support their sustainability, but also the need to encourage innovation in the sector of micro and small enterprises. The experiences of individual incubators are different, but it can be said that the conference expressed a high level of understanding about the current effects of the incubators and the need for further support the continuation of co-financing of incubators by the provincial government. At the conference, there was also space to present future models of incubators such as incubator for agribusiness in Srem presented by Mr Milan Miric – Director of RBA Srem. The project is developed in the cross-border program Serbia – Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Considering the positive economic success and economic effects of today’s incubators, joint conclusion of this conference is that the concept of business infrastructure should be further developed in Vojvodina, as well as continued budget support, given that incubators are a good combination of cooperation between public and private sectors on joint task. Above all, the competitiveness of the Vojvodina region should be improved with special emphasis on supporting innovative business ideas.