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

3 Conclusions/Recommendations
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) lacks a SME strategy and there is no fully operational
national SME agency (or the equivalent), which would have full political support
across the country. The situation differs dramatically between the BiH State (BiH) and
its entities Federation of BiH (FBiH), Republic of Srpska (RS) and District of Brčko
(DB). Only the Republic Agency for Development of Small and Medium-sized
Enterprises exists, which was created in 2004 in Republic of Srpska.
BiH appears to lag behind significantly in the entire business establishment process,
due in particular to problems of agreement and co-ordination between different levels
of Government. The development of an institutional framework to support SMEs and
enterprise development is still at the beginning and its development is constrained by
the complex constitutional structure of BiH. Therefore, the major recommendations
for BiH will primarily focus on defining and approving a SME strategy, establishing
National Agency for SME development, assigning clearly organisational responsibility
for the development of SME policy and assuring communication and consultation
across the country.
The country benefits from two main cluster development programmes supported by
international donors (USAID Cluster Competitiveness Activity - CCA and GTZ) and
there are three clusters operating (Automotive, Wood Processing and Forestry and
Tourism Cluster). Analyses for establishing of Metal Processing cluster in Central BiH
region and cluster for Knitwear in Srbac were maintained.
The co-operation between universities and large companies in the country is
generally at a very low level in terms of technology innovations and transfer. The
most advanced entity is the Republika Srpska.
No Technological and Science Parks have been implemented in BiH, but there is a
plan to establish Science and Technology Parks in Zenica, Sarajevo and Tuzla.
There is a lack of policy with respect to business incubators in the country; the
responsibility for implementation is unclear; and the national and international
resources to promote them effectively are missing. The incubators are mostly
supported by donor countries, in co-operation with local governments. At the
moment, there are 8 incubators or business start-up centres operating, but in most of
the cases, on-line information is not available.
The following recommendations can be given:
• Approve SME strategy and establish National Agency for SME
development (co-ordination of SME policy and strategy at state level is
necessary);
• Assign clearly organisational responsibility for the development of SME
policy;
page 29/BIH