The first Digital Innovation Hubs Forum (DIH Forum) was held in Sarajevo this weekend, as part of the Sarajevo Maker Faire, which is also the first initiative of the Centre for Digital Innovations (DIH) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Sarajevo Maker Faire, which was visited by about 12,000 visitors and innovation enthusiasts during the weekend, is among the world’s largest family-friendly festivals of invention, creativity, and technology, where all digital innovation centres presented their activities in Sarajevo.

The EU4DigitalSME project established four digital innovation hubs (DIHs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (two in Sarajevo, one in Tuzla and one in Banja Luka), with the aim of developing digital technology in order to increase the competitiveness of domestic goods and services on the market, which would result in new jobs, economic growth and development. DIHs are of vital importance for Bosnia and Herzegovina because they enable small and medium-sized enterprises to develop skills, stimulate innovation and attract investments by mastering the possibilities of digital technology. An important moment is certainly the establishment of a platform for cooperation, whereby Bosnia and Herzegovina remain a competitive player on the global market.

The establishment of digital innovation hubs and the establishment of a digitalization ecosystem in Bosnia and Herzegovina are jointly financed by the European Union and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMZ) through the project Innovation and Digitization of small and medium-sized enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina/EU4DigitalSME.