Scientific conference: "De-industrialization in Serbia, the possibility of revitalizing the industrial sector"

On 12 December 2013 marking of 55 years since the founding of the Institute of Economic Sciences, the Institute held a scientific conference called "De-industrialization in Serbia, the possibility of revitalizing the industrial sector".

The problem of the industrial sector state in Serbia has become more visible after the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008, and after realizing that the transitional economic adjustment in itself will solve the issues of maintaining the parts of the "old" industry and the development of new industrial sectors of the Serbian economy. The papers on various aspects of the industrial sector crisis in Serbia were presented at this event.

The statements presented the integral data on the state of the industry sector and employment in it for the period 1989 -2012. It is a period in which the industrial sector experienced a decline until the 2012 at the level of 40% of the level that it had in the pre-transition in 1989. The number of workers in the industrial sector has declined from over 980 thousand in 1990 to about 320 thousand in 2012.

The papers also critically analyzed the causes of the industrial sector collapse. Some doubts were expressed about the ability of the market of automation and self-regulation to make the revitalization of the industry. A number of authors advocate for the important role of the state in the revitalisation of industry, but the state which is not bureaucratic and whose institutions are in the function of reaching the personal interests of the representatives of the political elite. To acomplish this objective, one of the suggestions was that it is necessary to form the Ministry of Industry, which would deal specifically with issues of revitalization of the existing industrial sectors and providing the conditions for the development of new technologies and practical application of knowledge, especially in the local science field.

The scientific conference was organized in the cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation, the Association of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia and UGS independence. The papers presented at the conference will soon be available to the general scientific and professional community in the form of Proceedings, published by the Institute of Economic Sciences.