On the occasion of the 105th anniversary of the Intellectual Property Office, a conference under the title “Honoring innovators, creators and IP community ” was held on Tuesday, November 25th, 2025 at the Palace of the Serbian Army in Belgrade.
Introductory speeches were given by Vladimir Marić, Director of the Intellectual Property Office, Andreas von Beckerath, Ambassador, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia, Bela Balint, Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation and Adrijana Mesarović, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Economy.
Reminding those present of the historical development of the Institution, Director Marić pointed out that today all administrative procedures at the Office are digitalized, all IP rights databases are on the website, 80% of applications and 60% of submissions to the Office come via the internet, and more than one third of submissions to parties are sent in digital form.
He emphasized that thanks to the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the European Union, the Office has a reconstructed building and exceptional working conditions. “For the Successful work of the Office and for the quality protection of IP rights in Serbia, cooperation with the key international organizations in this field, with the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Patent Organization and the European Union Intellectual Property Office is of great importance”, emphasized Director Marić.
Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Ambassador Andreas von Beckerath, congratulated the Intellectual Property Office on its anniversary and stressed that the reform of the intellectual property sector is an important part of the European integration process. He emphasized that a strong intellectual property system is the basis for economic development, from attracting investments and supporting the digital and green transition, to turning research into opportunities for job creation, exporting and strengthening competitiveness. According to him, the European Union, as the largest donor and economic partner of Serbia, continues to support Serbia on its path to EU membership and has so far invested 90 million euros in the innovation sector with the aim of developing and improving a modern knowledge-based economy.
Bela Balint, Minister of Science, Technological Development and Innovation, congratulated on the 105th anniversary of the IPO founding and emphasized that the work of the IPO represents an investment in the future of Serbia as a modern and innovative technological state.
Adrijana Mesarović, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia and Minister of Economy recognizes the full role of the IP in the economic development of Serbia. She underlined that in recent years, Serbia has been paying a lot of attention to its creative industries that relay on intellectual property. She reminded that, according to the report of the WIPO, small and medium-sized enterprises most often do not know that they own intellectual property, and even less do they know how much it is worth. The Ministry of Economy has previously participated in the drafting of some important regulations in the field of intellectual property.
The participants were also addressed by António Campinos, President of the European Patent Organization (EPO), Hasan Kleib, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Sandris Laganovskis, Director of the Cooperation and Partnership Sector of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Anne Lugon-Moulin, Ambassador of Switzerland in the Republic of Serbia, and via video message delivered by Shen Changyu, Commissioner, China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).
The conference continued with panels on innovation and the enforcement of intellectual property rights.
The first panel, “Keeping up with Innovation” was attended by: Prof. Viktor Nedović, Director SAIGE Project of the World Bank, Prof. Marija Lesjak, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, co-founder of Herbelixa, Sremska Kamenica, Kristina Janković Obućina, Senior Ecosystem Manager, Serbian Game Association – SGA and Dušan Krstić, NaisRobotics. The panel was moderated by Daniela Zlatić Šutić, Asst.Director in the Intellectual Property Office.
The second panel on the topic “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” was moderated by Tatjana Vlaisavljevic, judge of the Commercial Court of Appeal. The panel included: Dejan Milojevic, Criminal Police Directorate, Ministry of the Interior, Sandra Orač, Customs Directorate, Pavle Zelić, Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices ALIMS, Gordana Krstić, Public Prosecutor, Higher Public Prosecutor`s Office in Belgrade and Laura Vilches, Head of the European Affairs, La Liga.
The conference concluded with a program of awarding the World Intellectual Property Organization Prizes to the winners of the 2025 competition in 4 competition categories.
The WIPO National Award for Inventors, in the category of inventor or group of inventors for a patent that is of importance and has a concrete implementation and proven success on the market went to Dr. Nedeljko Milosavljević, Dr. Melina Kalagasidis Kruščić and Dr. Marija Lučić Škorić, who obtained patent protection under the number 65938 for the invention entitled: “Dye catcher and method of producing dye catcher”.
The WIPO National Award for Enterprises, in the category for a domestic legal entity or domestic entrepreneur for the commercial implementation of the industrial property went to the Ana Petrović Education Center doo from Belgrade, owned by Ana Petrović. The Education Center actively applies registered industrial property rights in commercial, educational and research work.
The National Award for Creativity, in the category for the author of monographic work/study exhibition with a catalogue in the field of sciences and humanities, went to the authors of the exhibition “Guardians of Innovation – One Hundred Years of the First Serbian Patent”, Dušan Petrović and Saša Šepec. This exhibition, for the first time presented to the public models and mock-ups of more than 20 inventions by ordinary people – craftsmen, industrialists and scientists from the period after the First World War, whose patents were registered in the first years of the work of the Administration for the Protection of Industrial Property in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, founded 1920.
The WIPO National Award for Schoolchildren, in the category of a student or group of secondary school students for an invention, went to Tara Koldžić, a 3rd grade student at the Fifth Belgrade Grammar School, for the invention entitled:” Nanoencapsulation and controlled release of vitamin B12 from RuBisCo protein nanoparticles obtained by ultrasound-induced cold gelation.” The subject invention relates to a complex, or rather a system in which vitamin B12 gradually and under control is released, exactly as much as needed.
In addition to the above awards, in cooperation with the WIPO, an award was given to the domestic legal entity with the highest intensity of use of the international trademark registration during 2025 – the WIPO National Award for WIPO users. This award went to the company for trade, marketing and brokerage INPHARM CO doo Belgrade (Zemun), which has the largest number of internationally registered trademarks during 2025 compared to all domestic legal entities.
The conference was attended by numerous representatives of state institutions and organizations from Serbia, the EU delegation in Serbia, representatives of companies, startups, researchers, innovators and guests from 13 national intellectual property offices, as well as from international intellectual property organizations.
To mark the anniversary, the IPO is also running a campaign under the slogan Creative, Protected, Yours, which aims to highlight the importance of intellectual property and raise awareness among the general public about the topic. The campaign is being implemented with the support of the project “EU Support to the Development of the Internal market of Serbia”, which is funded by the European Union.
Copyright note: The author of photographs used in this news item is Petar Đorđević.
