ICT Cortex is a true example of synergy
Podgorica, PR press service – ICT Cortex is a real example of synergy and shows that it is a strong sector, which is moving on an upward trajectory and which is well worth investing in, it was announced at the ceremony marking the first year of operation of that cluster. The president of the cluster assembly, Nenad Novović, said that a lot had been achieved in a very short time. “The professional association of companies in Montenegro is not that common, but in this case, I think it turned out very naturally,” said Novović. He presented the honorary accession to the cluster to the representative of the Ministry of Economic Development, Marijeta Barjaktarović Lanzardi. The President of the Management Board of the cluster, Sanja Gardašević, said that more than a year ago, the pieces of what is today ICT Cortex began to fall into place and that work is being done to achieve the six goals that 11 companies gathered a year ago. “First of all, we wanted to establish a professional inclusive organization, to implement education programs for both new and existing staff and to find a way to keep the existing staff, to work on the internationalization and strengthening of the potential of our products, to strengthen the innovation and competitiveness of the cluster members themselves, to influence the digital transformation of society and to implement programs of socially responsible business”, said Gardašević. “We signed a memorandum on cooperation with the Central Bank of Montenegro, we also achieved cooperation with the Capital of Montenegro, we connected with numerous organizations, universities, schools and business associations,” Gardašević pointed out. She also stated that an internship was conducted for high school students with the Vaso Aligrudić School of Electrical Engineering, and training was also organized for employed members of the association. “The crown of our work in the field of education is the Cortex Academy, which managed to unite all the education programs of the cluster members and provide an additional online form of education in five areas. We are extremely glad that we had 1,292 applications, which speaks of the great need for a program of this type and the great impact we can achieve through projects like this,” explained Gardašević. ICT Cortex today, as she said, has 29 members, and they have over 600 employees. “We estimate that the export of member companies participates in about 18 percent of the total export of goods of Montenegro for the year 2021. It is a strong sector, which moves on an upward trajectory. Total revenues have almost doubled over two years. We see that profits have increased, that exports have almost tripled, and that the number of employees is constantly growing, which all shows that this sector is very much worth investing in,” Garadšević pointed out. The executive director of the cluster, Tarik Zaimović, said that he is particularly proud because ICT Cortex is a true example of synergy. “We managed to connect directors and owners of companies very well. What we did not succeed in, and what was not even possible for the year, was to connect the people who carry the work. That is our plan for this year. We intend to open three committees, namely the Committee for Human Resources and Education, the Committee for Internationalization and Sales, and the Committee for the Empowerment of Women in IT,” said Zaimović. One of the capital projects, as he added, is a project to provide housing for 120 IT families, and the intention is to retain the best IT staff with this program, to provide them with savings of up to 45 percent for solving the housing issue, buying an apartment. “Also, we received a serious grant for half a million euros, which was earmarked for equipment at the Vaso Aligrudić School. We intend to do the second phase of infrastructural equipping of schools and we will decide that for Nikšić and Bijelo Polje. For this year, we intend to educate 300 high school students. We do that in six municipalities. At the same time, we train 15 professors and educate an additional 250 participants, who are young people and students, who are trained in member companies. The goal is to have 80 junior staff produced, of whom we will most likely hire,” said Zaimović. The plan, as he announced, is to visit Eastern, and Western Europe, and America in the coming period, all to find new jobs, and partners, open representative offices in Montenegro and increase exports. “This year, we intend to apply for a large tender and unite a large force of the best companies in Montenegro. Together with the Central Bank of Montenegro, we plan to organize the second Fintech conference and Hackathon. We are making plans with the Central Bank of Montenegro so that this year the Hackathon will be on an even bigger, regional level, and there will be a significantly larger fund for the best team and idea for the development of Fintech”, said Zaimović. The director of the Foundation “Čini dobro”, Aleksandra Bošković, said that “Čini dobro”, a non-profit association founded by ICT Cortex, aims to empower young people, invest in education, help with healthy innovative ideas and contribute to the digitization of society. “I am proud that throughout last year and 2020, we focused our work on the local community and on the segments of society that needed it the most. In the coming period, the Foundation will be mostly focused on education and will provide support to ICT Cortex in all the projects it will lead,” said Bošković. As she stated, the target groups are talented pupils and students, employees of the Foundation’s members, educational institutions, and organizations. “In the previous year and a half, we donated over 80 thousand euros, launched the website cinidobro.me, and increased the membership by three new members. We helped socially disadvantaged families and donated over 50 thousand euros. We reached almost 200 families, and we helped in the distribution of school equipment, textbooks, clothes,
RCF: Grants awarded for the development of professional education
The official ceremony for the awarding of grants from the Regional Fund for Challenges was held on February 2, 2021, at the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro. The ceremony brought together representatives of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the Comoros Investment Forum, the German Embassy, KfW – the German Development Bank, and representatives of the award-winning consortia. The Regional Challenge Fund (RCF) is a financial mechanism designed to improve the employability of young people. This project is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the German Development Bank (KfW). The main partner in the implementation of the project is the Chamber Investment Forum of the Western Balkans 6 (WB6CIF). At the meeting, it was announced that after the first call for project proposals, RCF received 205 declarations of interest from consortia and institutions dealing with professional education and training, as well as companies from the Western Balkans region. Of the total number of applications, 29 came from Montenegro. Following the further work of the Selection Committee, a decision was made to propose the two most successful projects from Montenegro for financing and receive investments in infrastructure and equipment in institutions for professional education, as well as training and development of all those involved in the implementation of the cooperative education program. The funds will be invested in the total amount of EUR 937,249. The consortium consisting of the High School of Electrical Engineering “Vaso Aligrudic” from Podgorica with partners Bild Studio, Alicorn, Data Design, Amplitudo, and Mont-inženjering received a grant of 511,509 thousand euros, while the consortium of the High School “Danilo Kiš” from Budva with partners Hotelska Grupa Montenegro Stars, Budva, Gospoština Lux, Budva, and Spencer & Hill Team, Bečići awarded a grant for 425,740 thousand euros. The ceremony was attended by Dr. Nina Drakić, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, Robert Heinrich Weber, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Montenegro, Marija Lalatović, Director of the Directorate for General Secondary Education, Vocational Education and Adult Education, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Željko Uljarević, Director of KfW German Development Bank, Office in Montenegro. The meeting was moderated by Balša Ćulafić, project coordinator for the RCF on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce Investment Forum and coordinator for cooperation with international organizations in the Chamber of Commerce. The President of the Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Nina Drakić, pointed out that this project of the Regional Fund for Challenges is important for Montenegro and neighboring countries because it offers the necessary new knowledge, new personnel energy, that is, qualified employees and executors for our economy to be competitive. – An economy that develops under the influence of new technologies and market demands also implies an educational system that is constantly improved and adapted to the needs of the times. Digitization, automation, artificial intelligence, and other consumer demands will continue to demand and impose new qualifications of professional knowledge and education – said Drakić. According to her, the received grants will improve the work of eight economic entities and two educational institutions from Montenegro, and it is encouraging that even smaller companies are interested in improving personnel capacities and cooperation with educational institutions. She invited companies and educational institutions to apply in the following calls and announced that they will begin activities to announce a new one at the end of the month. German Ambassador Robert Heinrich Weber congratulated the consortiums from Montenegro that received grants for projects from the Regional Fund for Challenges. According to him, the promotion of employment and nurturing of professional education is the main focus in the activities carried out by KFW in recent years, and a very important topic when talking about the cooperation between Montenegro and Germany. – We know that cooperation between vocational schools and the private sector is necessary and extremely important. This is a way to finance and connect regional training centers and the private sector to develop programs that match the needs of the economy. A well-trained workforce is a key to sustainable economic growth and long-term survival of the market – said Weber. He points out that Germany wants to support Montenegro on its European path, and that we should be proud that the implementation of this project will provide a strong contribution to the competitiveness of Montenegrin companies on the common market of the European Union. Marija Lalatović, Director of the Directorate for General Secondary Education, Vocational Education and Adult Education of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, said that only through the cooperation of partners from the world of education and work, the vocational education system can follow the needs of the economy and the individual to he managed as well as possible on the labor market. She said that the results of this project will contribute to the further development of professional education, the improvement of knowledge and skills in priority sectors, greater employment of young people, and the creation of new jobs, as well as greater participation in lifelong learning.
Non-refundable funds for the reconstruction and equipping of High School “Vaso Aligrudić”
The Regional Challenge Fund support program is aimed at strengthening the relevance of professional education and training on the labor market by financing investments in equipment and infrastructure for training providers who are involved in cooperative or dual education and training activities with partner companies. The fund was created at the initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, delegated to the KfW Development Bank, and is implemented by the Chamber Investment Forum of the Western Balkans as the main implementation partner, which represents a joint initiative of the Chambers of Commerce of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Out of a total of 205 registered projects from six countries of the Western Balkans at the first call of this fund, 23 of the most successful were proposed for financing, of which only one consortium from Montenegro was successful and received the support of the fund for implementation. It is a project of the Job booster – VET4all consortium, which consists of ETŠ “Vaso Aligrudić”, as a leading partner, IT companies, members of the ICT Cortex cluster (Bild studio, Amplitudo, Data design, Alicorn) as well as the company Mountaineering. “It was with great pleasure that we received the news about the acceptance of our project! The implementation of this project involves the complete reconstruction of the existing classrooms of our school as part of the common rooms with the mechanical school, the acquisition of new laboratory equipment as well as the equipment necessary for the implementation of practical classes in the educational programs Electronic Communication Infrastructure Installer, Electronic Communications Electrical Technician and Web and Mobile Application Development Electrical Technician. In addition to this, a very important segment of the project implementation is the cooperation with the members of our consortium, which includes the implementation of practical classes at the employer for a total of 86 students, as well as the implementation of the necessary training for our teaching staff, as well as instructors, mentors from the company.” – announced Marina Braletić, project coordinator on behalf of ETŠ “Vaso Aligrudić” For the representatives of ICT cluster Cortex, who participated in writing this project, this is a significant success and a confirmation that they are moving towards the achievement of one of the main goals – the improvement of the Montenegrin educational system in the field of ICT. “We believe that with the project we have fully responded to the goal of the call, which is to improve the employability of young people, strengthen the quality of professional education and provide relevant training. With this project, as well as the umbrella education program within the Cortex Academy, we continue to “plant the seeds for a better IT future” and achieve one of the main goals of the Cortex ICT cluster” – added Ferida Mandić, director of the project department of the ICT Cortex cluster, whose members are IT consortium partner companies. Reconstruction of classrooms, equipping them with state-of-the-art equipment, will be accompanied by the improvement of the teaching program through the introduction of mandatory practical classes in the companies that are members of the consortium. In addition to students, a large number of teaching staff will be involved, which will affect the quality of teaching even after three years of the project. RCF supports the establishment of consortia between vocational education and training institutions and companies for the implementation of cooperative education and training programs through the conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding. To be acceptable, project partners must be ready to engage in joint training activities to train participants based on qualification standards and/or occupational standards that correspond to labor market demand. The financial support that will be provided by the RCF for the implementation of this project is half a million euros, and the start of the implementation of the project will be in 2022. It is important to note that all funds will be directed to the modernization and equipping of the school, while the members of the consortium will provide mentoring for students, to help students acquire skills aligned with the needs of the labor marke
