S&T Country Report - Albania - WBC-INCO Net

• Central Bosnian Economic Development Agency (CeBeda);
• Chambers of Commerce business support departments (Sarajevo, Tuzla,
Banja Luka, Chamber of Trade of BiH, etc.);
• Development of Women Entrepreneurship Programme, EG development
society Tuzla;
• Enterprise Development Agencies established by UNDP/ILO in Banja Luka,
Livno, Mostar, Brčko and Bihač;
• Regional Business Development Centres established by UNDP/UNIDO in
Zenica and Banja Luka (the third in Bihač closed down due to lack of financial
sustainability);
• Tuzla Agency for Local Development Initiatives (TALDI); and
• Others including EG Tuzla, LINK Mostar, NBR (Independent Bureau for
Development) Gradačac and Forma-F Mostar and Economic research
institutes (mainly linked to universities).
The business support centres and agencies listed above typically offer the following
services: business consulting; enterprises development; business planning; access to
credit and investment; market surveys and marketing (OECD and EBRD 2003).
1.2 Strategic Documents
Strategic documents reflecting National Innovation Strategies (NIS) have been
already highlighted in Science and Technology Country Report Country – D6
Bosnia&Herzegovina (see.science.eu). To indicate several key documents, which
have been formulated in order to set up the framework for innovation and technology
development:
- ‘National Bosnia and Herzegovina SME Strategy’
The SME Strategy was drafted in 2005. Public hearings were delayed because of
disagreements among the entities. There is still a lack of overall policy at the state
level; creation of national SME Agency was foreseen in the strategy, which was not
approved yet.
As stated in the EC Council Decision (COUNCIL DECISION of 30 January 2006 on
the principles, priorities and conditions contained in the European Partnership with
Bosnia and Herzegovina and repealing Decision 2004/515/EC), there is a need to
adopt without further delay the currently proposed State-level SME strategy and start
implementation of the prioritised actions. A sound and comprehensive industrial
policy has to be developed immediately and integrated research policy has to be
designed and implemented as soon as possible.
- ‘Development strategy of small and medium enterprises in the Republika
Srpska for the period 2006 – 2010’
The Strategy has the goal to create a framework for establishing a dynamic,
competitive and export-orientated sector of small and medium enterprises in the
Republika Srpska in the next five-year period. The Strategy has been processed by
the Republic Agency for Development of Small and Medium Enterprises in the
cooperation with scientific associates: prof. dr Janko Cvijanović (University in
page 6/BIH