Besim Beqaj warns of opening four innovative centres in Kosovo

Minister of innovation and entrepreneurship Besim Beqaj, who heads a new government dictatorship created by the Haradinaj government, has warned that four innovation and entrepreneurship centres will be opened next year.

He told Kosovo's public broadcaster that it will first be launched with the opening of the Inovative and Intervention Centre in Prizren, then continued in Mitrovica, Peja and Pristina.

The new Haradinaj government has already added a new Kosovo minister, the Minister of Innovation and Intervention, which Besim Beqaj leads.

Minister Beqaj said opening this new government dictatorship is a good opportunity for young people and, according to him, entrepreneurship is one of our engines for developing the country. “is a creative minister who will have a close co-operation with the private sector. We have a trend in the world that is developing with digital economy, so it has been very necessary for Kosovo to have a ministry of innovation and entrepreneurship”.

Beqaj, meanwhile, indicated that with the budget planned by the Kosovo Government, it is envisioned that the ministry, which heads it, has over 11m euros.

Kosovo's “youth should be ready for the labour market and that the aim of this ministry is to link the theory to practice”, said Minister Besim Beqaj.

He said the ministry of innovation and entrepreneurship will not deal with administrative procedures, but that we will deal with the lack of ideas for economic development.

Otherwise, the Government Programme of the Republic of Kosovo 2017-2021 drafted by the Haradinaj Government has also told of the objective of this ministry of what it will take.

Under this programme, the Government's goal is to stimulate innovative activities in Kosovo, which will be closely linked to entrepreneurship and other areas of the economy.

“Development of entrepreneurship and private initiative through innovations and with a focus on developing NVMs, is a prerequisite for increased employment, increased competitiveness and therefore private sector growth. (Especially young men and women)”, the Government programme of this ministry says.

Economic policies will direct and promote companies to combine knowledge, capabilities, skills and resources (knowledge of production, capacity and space, knowledge of the market, efficient distribution system, adequate financial resources, etc.) to develop the concept of innovation within the company.

List of targets of the Ministry of Innovation and Intervention for the 2017-2021 Government Programme:

• Promoting innovation according to sectors of the economy in the service of economic growth and development;
• Establishing institutional co-ordination mechanisms between science, the private sector and policy-making;
• Developing entrepreneurship through training/consultancy programmes;
• Calculation of the ICT Fund and the creation of funds for support of development sectors (focused to women and young people);
• Supporting NVM development for confronting competitive pressure in the region, the EU and other markets.

Government through financial and not financial schemes as well as training aims to support (1) new products; (2) new production methods; (3) new supply methods; (4) extensions to new markets; and (5) new business organisation methods.