European Commission granted almost EUR7 million to Vojvodina Development Fund, aimed at SMEs engaged in information technologies, for the development of application software that could be used in agriculture.

Through an open application procedure, EUR5,5 million of the total amount within Vojvodina Development Fund’s Fractals project will be extended to final beneficiaries, or SMEs, engaged in information technologies industry aimed at development of innovative solutions within the agriculture sector.

The project is significant for the two of Vojvodina’s industries with comparative advantages and chances of multiple development – information technologies and agriculture. The project is also important as it will allow between 50 and 100 SMEs located in Vojvodina to receive from 50.000 and 150.000 Euro for software development aimed at improving agriculture.

All Serbian and European companies can apply for these grants, although final beneficiaries will be farmers in Vojvodina who would then have the opportunity of testing the latest IT sector’s developments in order to improve their business activity.

Fractals and other joint projects within the sector of agriculture were among the topics discussed at the “European Week of Regions and Cities OPEN DAYS” in Brussels by the delegation of Government of Vojvodina and European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn, Chairman of the EP’s Delegation for relations with Western Balkans Eduard Kukan, and representatives of the most developed regions Vojvodina has traditional cooperation with, such as  Baden.

“We have received a EUR7 million-worth project for the development of information technologies applied in agriculture. We will also work together on defining the products under Danube Strategy that would allow a more efficient and profitable business activity for our farmers,” said Provincial Government’s Prime Minister Bojan Pajtic.

The main topic of the European Week of Regions and Cities OPEN DAYS was the sector of agriculture, Pajtic added.