Expert panel

A major event that brought together members of the USE IPM project team and supporting partners was held on April 24 and 25, 2025, at the Faculty of Economics in Niš. The first day was dedicated to the Expert Panel, where the Guidelines for Policy Makers were presented and discussed, focusing on four key topics: soft skills, sustainability reporting, technology transfer, and innovation management. Contributions were made by:

• Academic widening partners – Biljana Djordjević, FEUN (Serbia); Ada Bici, UT (Albania); Saša Petković, UBL (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Stojan Debarliev, USK (North Macedonia);
• Academic EU partners – Marko Kolaković, PhD, International Institute of Entrepreneurship (Croatia); Iain Bitran, ISPIM (United Kingdom); Donato Iacobucci, PhD, UNIVPM (Italy); Hugo Barros, PhD, UAlg (Portugal); Angela Callejon Gil, PhD, UMA (Spain);
• Non-academic partners – Rosario Pavone, SME4SPACE (Belgium); Erina Guraziu, PhD, OpenCom (Italy); Emir Ćorić, ALDA (France);
• Supporting partners – Mina Mitić, Science Technology Park Niš (Serbia); Aleksandar Zdraljević, City Administration for Local Economic Development and Investments, KLER Niš (Serbia); Zorana Stanković, Society of Economists Niš (DEN), Serbia; Goran Mladenović, Niš Cluster of Advanced Technologies (NICAT), Serbia; Goran Zlatković, Regional Development Agency South (RDA), Niš (Serbia);
• SAB member – Panayotis Kontakos, UCLan (Cyprus)

It was concluded that there is an urgent need to strengthen cooperation between academia, the business sector, and public institutions in order to foster innovation and sustainable entrepreneurship. It was emphasized that despite the existence of strong policies, their implementation remains weak—particularly in areas such as startup support, technology transfer, and the adoption of ESG standards. Identified challenges include a lack of financial incentives for implementing circular economy practices, insufficient recycling infrastructure, slow digital transformation, and limited integration of sustainable development goals into education. Special emphasis was placed on working with youth, improving education, and deepening cooperation to encourage innovative thinking and an entrepreneurial spirit.

The second day was reserved for a dedicated session of the USE IPM project at the 17th International Conference of Strategic Research on Scientific Studies and Education (17th ICoSReSSE), organized by the Faculty of Economics, University of Niš (Serbia), and Isparta University of Applied Sciences (Türkiye). It should be noted that the conference session added significant value to the expert panel, as participants had the opportunity to present their research.