Novi Sad and Szeged get innovation-technology center for metal industry

Thanks to the cooperation of the Vojvodina Metal Cluster with its Hungarian partners, and with financial support of the European Union, Novi Sad and Szeged will get an innovation-technology center for the metal industry, for the sharing of knowledge, but primarily for the education of the workforce the metal sector needs.

There are business offers, but metalworking companies in Serbia can't accept them as they are not sure they are capable of honoring agreements, due to a lack of workers. Until dual education is implemented in practice and until schools in Serbia start to create professional workforce, the innovation-technology center for the metal industry might fill the void in the next year, especially in border areas.

– The center is meant to be located in Novi Sad and Szeged. The goal is for quality welders to be educated through joint training programs, who will have international certificates, recognized worldwide. Since these are innovative training models, we are planning to educate a group of 50 welders as a means of testing the model, which should become our regular activity – said Zoran Pekaz of the Vojvodina Metal Cluster.

The Vojvodina Metal Cluster and the Educational Center for Training in Professional and Labor Skills have been working together for a long time now, with the support of the Provincial Government, and now they are being joined by the ArchEnerg cluster and the secondary school technical center from Szeged, with financial support of the European Union through the Interreg cross-border program.

– Without a synergy of education and economy, we can't have results. This model of cross-border cooperation and experiences of Hungarian partners will help us get results, since we are already educating future workforce in high schools, not to mention engineers from our faculties, who are recognized in the region and the world – said Milan Novakovic, head of the South Backa District.

– We often talk nowadays about the IT sector and raspberry producers, but we're forgetting the metal industry, which is a serious industry and which can become very important not just in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, but in the Republic of Serbia as well, so we are satisfied with this project and the operations of the VMC and we hope that it will continue this way – emphasized Branislav Bandic, assistant to the provincial secretary for the economy.

Vojvodina Metal Cluster Temerin

Vlada AP Vojvodina

Educational Center for Training in Professional and Labor Skills

Provincial Government

innovation technical center for the metal industry

metal industry

metal industry cluster

Szeget

Zoran Pekaz

education of welders

education of metal workers

welding

welders

ArchEnerg

secondary school technical center in Szeged

Interreg cross border cooperation

Milan Novakovic

Branislav Bandic

VMC