In her speech during the festival, Minister Hajdari emphasized the strategic objectives of MINT, i.e., Kosovo to benefit from industrial development in a comprehensive manner by maximizing the addition of internal value within the production process and beyond.
She said that, through the Industrial Policy 2030 in implementation, we aim to improve product innovation towards production with higher added value, recognizing and supporting start-ups, small and medium enterprises to engage in innovation; creating collaborative platforms for product innovation involving businesses, academia and public sector, as well as strengthening the linkage between the local information technology service providers and industry, aiming at improving the availability of local services to local manufacturers, focused but not limited to digitization, machine maintenance, product testing and export market compliance.
With the aim of achieving the strategic objective of raising the qualification and certification of the labour force and managers of local companies, Minister Hajdari announced the measures and actions undertaken by MINT and MFLT, which address the prevailing skills gap in the production sector, through the current comprehensive study for the profiles needed by the industry and the creation of financial incentives for the labour force to acquire relevant training.
At the same time, she informed the young talented participants in the festival, regarding:
– Innovation grant schemes that will be launched by the KIESA agency at the beginning of June 2024, under the auspices of small and medium start-up enterprises,
– Capital investments in the creation of innovation and technology parks, innovation and technology centres and business incubators, and
– Creation of platforms for fostering collaboration between industry and academia, necessary to enable our youth to lead industry and accelerate economic, social and environmental development and transformation in our country.
"Innovation and the digital era transforming the world in unimaginable ways. Therefore, through cooperation and knowledge-sharing, we can increase the competitiveness of SMEs and build a brighter future for our new generations", emphasized Minister Hajdari.
Participants in the festival were also the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Arbërie Nagavci, Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Gani Elshani, Ambassador of Germany in Kosovo, Jorn Rhode, Head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Tomáš Szunyog, Rectors Mentor Alishani and Drilon Bunjaku, Director of GIZ for Kosovo and North Macedonia, David Oberhuber, Leader of the Centre for Digital Transformation at ITP Prizren, Simon Floeth, who closely visited the successful work of many young entrepreneurs with innovative activities in digitization and the green agenda, as overall results of the #digital4business project funded by the European Union and Germany and implemented by GIZ over the last two years.
