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1. Innovation in formal education
2. Fostering innovation through non-formal and informal learning and youth work

Innovation in formal education

A specific goal of the Youth Strategy of the Republic of Serbia for the period from 2023 to 2030 is dedicated to youth entrepreneurship. The Ministry responsible for youth is responsible for the implementation of measure 4.3 Supporting entrepreneurship/social entrepreneurship and employability of young people under specific objective 4: Young people have equal opportunities and incentives to develop their potentials and competences leading to social and economic independence. The Ministry responsible for the economy, the Ministry responsible for labour, employment and social affairs, the Ministry responsible for information, the NES, the provincial authorities responsible for the economy and youth, the LSGUs, the NALED and the CSOs are involved in the implementation of the measure. In the Strategy, four indicators are listed for tracking the status of the measure:

Indicator 1 Number of young people participating annually in projects/activities aimed at developing entrepreneurial skills and improving youth employability and participation in social entrepreneurship (by gender).

Indicator 2 Proportion of young people aware of existing support measures for self-employment and social entrepreneurship on an annual basis.

Indicator 3 Improved public policies to support young entrepreneurs, including social entrepreneurs.

Indicator 4 Number of projects by civic associations and LSGUs to improve youth employability on an annual basis funded by MoTY

The Law on Dual Education (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia” No 101/17 and 6/20 stipulates the development of career management skills and greater employment opportunities. Development of entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity of each individual for his professional and career development has been set as one of the most important goals.

Systemic changes in strengthening youth employability and acquiring new skills are expected to take place following the introduction of the Youth Guarantee and implementation of the measures envisaged within the Employment Strategy in the Republic of Serbia for the period from 2021 to 2026 (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, Nos. 18/21 and 36/21). Position of the youth in the labour market should be improved through connecting young people with the labour market already within the framework of formal education, improving the regulatory framework for the forms of work that young people most often undertake, formalizing work practices, and encouraging entrepreneurship of young people, especially young women. 

As previously presented in the chapter 3.8 Development of entrepreneurship competence and Eurydice study on Entrepreneurship Education at School in Europe, skills for innovation are fostered through curricula as Entrepreneurship separate subject or/and extracurricular activities. Entrepreneurship is recognized as an important cross-curricular competence and learning outcomes are defined for all ISCED levels. Numerous ISCED 3 schools implement teaching and learning arrangements that promote entrepreneurship as a key competence. Entrepreneurial spirit is fostered through identification of chances, initiatives, creativity, innovation and risk taking by the students.

The Law on the Foundations of the Education System envisages schools to establish pupils’ cooperatives in order to develop the extracurricular activities and the entrepreneurial spirit. In this regard, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development has in 2018 adopted the Bylaw on pupils’ co-operatives specifying the management and running of the pupil’s cooperative.

The subject Entrepreneurship is compulsory in the significant number of VET schools. It was developed for 50 schools from five fields of work and the curriculum matches each of the educational profiles. The approach is multidisciplinary, and focus is on practical work. The subject aims to develop entrepreneurial and business knowledge, skills, behaviours, values and entrepreneurial way of thinking. It also covers the knowledge and skills necessary for professional development, job-hunting and self-employment (including the development of a simple business plan).

Top-level authorities provide an official list of approved textbooks for the curricula, including entrepreneurship education, thus attributing a certain quality label to the selected teaching materials. Continuing professional development (CPD) courses for teachers also have been developed to support them.

Fostering innovation through non-formal and informal learning and youth work

Various institutions and partner organizations in Serbia are involved in entrepreneurial learning. One of such organizations is Junior Achievement Serbia which is a part of a global network of Junior Achievement Worldwide, the world's largest entrepreneurial education program. The implementation of the program is carried out with the help of teachers trained through seminars certified by the Ministry of Education and the business sector, which contribute to the youth education process through mentoring, lectures and participation in competitions. The implementation of programmes is financially, mostly supported by the business sector. The activities of this program relate to entrepreneurship, experiential learning, the development of skills that contribute to employability, economic and financial literacy, innovation and creativity. Unique educational methods have been developed, based on the partnership of local and international companies and agencies, with the aim of helping students acquire entrepreneurial knowledge and skills.

Fund for Young Talents under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovations among others, has a task to provide awards to secondary school students for their achievements in recognized competitions in the country and abroad. The calendar of the competitions is published for each school year and cover competitions in school, municipal, regional and republic level related to school subjects. Some of them especially target innovation skills, such are musters of pupils’ cooperatives and companies, competitions of pupils’ research and art works etc.

Decade of Entrepreneurship is a set of governmental measures not directly focused on youth, however it does bring together various initiatives, measures and projects aimed at developing the entrepreneurial spirit among young people: trainings, professional development, retraining and employment support, as well as professional and consulting assistance to improve business. Entrepreneurship Portal is developed within the Decade of Entrepreneurship. It is administered by the Ministry of Economy and provides information on:

• support programmes for SMEs and entrepreneurs,
• support in the form of free advisory services,
• other initiatives, measures and projects that the SME sector can find useful, 
• good practice examples.

The list of subprogrammes offered on the portal indicates that innovation skills are given significance through:  Innovation Co-Financing Program and Early Development Programme -implemented by Serbian Innovation Fund. Further, Competition - The best technological innovation is implemented by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. Entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises, high tech companies, secondary schools and student teams can participate in the competition.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry aims to provide important information about financial and administrative aspects of starting a business. Chamber of Commerce has developed a Section for Youth Entrepreneurs in order to support youth entrepreneurs in setting up own business and overcome barriers in the first years of conducting business activities

There have been also developed several other programmes which provide youth with training and other types of support aimed at acquiring new skills and competences. One-stop-shop model for youth employability has been developed by the Center for Youth Work from Novi Sad aiming to provide youth with digital, entrepreneurship and other transferable skills, particularly focusing on youth under NEET status. It provides different types of support measures including courses, online tutorials, career counselling, networking and others. Under the project „WISEs 4 Youth“ funded by Erasmus+ Programme: Partnership for Cooperation in the field of Youth, Initiative for Development and Cooperation (IDC) developed training activities for social entrepreneurial skills development targeting potential young social entrepreneurs in Western Balkans. The programme has been implemented by ENSIE network in partnership with ACT Group (CRO), SENT (SLO), CDI (SMK), Partners (ALB) and IDC (SRB).