Belgrade, 23 January 2024 –In partnership and cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has selected five innovative solutions that could be applied to a range of developmental challenges of countries in the region.

The solutions were selected through a public call endorsed by the Government of the Republic of Serbia as a part of its Official Development Assistance aimed at strengthening economic potentials in North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The public call was open to both private and public enterprises, universities and research institutes from Serbia to submit their projects in the areas of food safety and availability, sustainable tourism, as well as new digital services, solutions and platforms. The selected solutions have already been successfully applied in Serbia and proven in practice.

Among the chosen projects is the Sign Avatar developed by Redtech. It utilises artificial intelligence to convert speech into sign language and the main objective of this innovative technology is to help deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals use transportation, mainly at airports and train stations. Another selected solution submitted by the Clinical Hospital Centre (KBC) Dr. Dragiša Mišović, utilises new audio and visual communication technologies to support the remote work of medical teams, thereby reducing the risk of exposing medical workers to hazardous situations, introducing innovations in patient treatment and enhancing the education of medical students and health workers.

Likewise, among the selected solutions is the advanced technology, developed by Beehold, intended for beekeepers. This is a digital assistant based on artificial intelligence. This digital assistant identifies problems and predicts yields in real time, without the need for manual inspections of the hives. The overall goal of the solution is to improve beekeeping practices, protect bee populations and improve food safety and availability. Belinda Animals' solution is based on utilising insect larvae to break down organic waste (larvae feed on organic waste and are subsequently ground and processed into animal feed). The selected solution City & me is a platform and mobile application that allows citizens to actively participate in resolving local problems and to support green initiatives. The aim of this platform/application is to make cities smarter, more sustainable and more equipped to solve local problems and overcome challenges.

The total amount of funds allocated for the implementation of these solutions is USD 198,050.