At the conference opening, Ratko Filipović, Acting President of the Chamber of Commerce of Vojvodina, spoke about the importance of participation and gaining experience through the projects carried out by the Chamber and financed from EU funds, especially in light of the fact that Serbia is expecting the candidate status by the end of the year. Project FRESC is an example of not only the successful use of available EU funds, but also of a strong cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce of Vojvodina and the Chamber of Csongrád which is realized on the basis of common potentials, and which will inevitably lead to common prosperity and, as the ultimate goal, to a joint approach to third markets.

Milan Stojanov, FRESC project assistant from the Chamber of Commerce of Vojvodina, pointed out, in his opening speech, the significance of the topics covered by the project, since the food industry is of great importance in both regions at stake. Moreover, the activities of the Chamber and the cooperation with the Hungarian partner in this field have not ended with the end of the project, but there are follow up activities planned.

Centre for Strategic Economic Studies "Vojvodina-CESS" was a partner of the Chamber in this project. Valentina Ivanić, the Director of the Centre, pointed out the significance of clusters as the instruments for improving the competitiveness of Vojvodina. Vojvodina is empowered in the field of support to small and medium enterprises, which opens a wide maneuvering space, and the encouragement of clusterization is one way of improving the business environment. The study that was created under the project is aimed at improving the quality of decision making in this area, and the project itself is important for the promotion of pre-accession funds and, thereby, the cross-border cooperation.

Zoltán Németh, the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Csongrad, addressed the participants on behalf of the partner from Hungary. In his words, clusters are suitable form of organization in the sense that this way SMEs can act within their own interest and in their specific industry. The Chamber brings together all sectors and cannot favor one particular sector, so clusterization is a method for strengthening small and medium enterprises within a particular sector.

After the opening speeches by the project partners, participants were presented the results of the Study, created within the project, under titles "Food Industry Clustering Perspectives" by its authors. Prof. PhD Blagoje Paunović talked about the methodology for cluster mapping used in the study. The importance of the study lies, inter alia, in the fact that the study, through analysis, identifies strengths and competitive advantages, potential for growth and the development phase. All the enterprises covered by the study are classified according to three criteria (size, weight, specialization), and the result is identification of the level of concentration of the food industry in Vojvodina, in the counties, and in the municipalities.

Zoran Janjatović is the author of the part of the Study that dealt with reviewing the potential for the clusterization in food industry in Vojvodina. The first part contains the analysis of legal and institutional framework for the support of clusters on both sides of the border. Further, in order to present the current situation in this area, the survey has been carried out among the dominant stakeholders investigating the current state of the food industry and its potential in Vojvodina. One of the conclusions of Mr. Janjatović's research is that there is a need to establish a research center in Vojvodina that would deal with the food industry in this area.

Prof. PhD Todor Janić is the author of the part of the study that analyses the potential for clusterization in the field of renewable energy sources. The situation in which the conventional energy sources are increasingly exploited and their price rises, small regions should provide for the future through investment and exploration of the alternative routes. Prof. Janić has introduced several types of renewable energy sources (wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, hydro-energy), with the final conclusion that the greatest potential lies in the energy of biomass. Biomass represents 70-80% of the overall potential of renewable energy sources in this part of Europe. Finally, a SWOT analysis of both the food industry and the renewable energy has been done, and it has shown that there are more weaknesses than strengths, but, nevertheless, there is significant potential for cooperation, primarily between the scientific institutions from Serbia and Hungary.

You can download the study "Prospects of Clusterization in the Food Industry" here.

You can download the brochure about the FRESC project here.