12 October 2022
The Cross Border Coworking Conference in Jahorina, dedicated to promoting the coworking concept and the region as a destination for digital nomads, concludes successfully.
For over two days, more than 100 participants of more than 10 nationalities attended the Conference to scan the current situation in the Western Balkans and discuss ways on how to improve the attractiveness of our Contracting Parties towards digital nomads.
H.E. Biljana Šćepanović, Minister of Science and Technological Development of Montenegro: “We have already done a lot in Montenegro, from legal regulations, through program and strategic documents, in order to attract nomads and create better conditions for their arrival and stay in Montenegro”.
Dr Murra, WBF Executive Director: “Coworking and digital nomads are still a relatively new concept, but one that can provide immense benefits to our Contracting Parties and help relieve another pain of our modern countries, the course of mass migration”.
Fjordi Bisha, WBF-EU Project Manager: “Two things are important to attract digital nomads. We already have one, that is the beautiful nature, and the other thing is our consciousness, which we have to change in the sense of accepting new technologies and new ways of working, and also offering better conditions to everyone who wants to come to our region to work there”.
Ana Bogdanović, Intera Technology Park: “We have 19 speakers from more than ten different countries of the World, and more than 100 participants, which speaks volumes about the importance of the conference itself. We recognized that connecting the region’s countries is important for coworking space, but also for attracting digital nomads”.
Đorđije Brkuljan, Technopolis Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center: “Connection is everything. The strength of my organization lies in the large number of partnerships and connections with the region. We want to offer the region to digital nomads and attract them more and more with joint efforts. We have several assets – beautiful countries with wonderful nature, hospitable people, but most importantly for digital nomads – affordable prices for living”.
Nenad Stojanović, Proaktiv: “We have a lot to offer, from people, hospitality, cultural and historical monuments, food, proximity to the airport, but we all have to make a little more effort. The state should give privileges in terms of special visas, residence conditions for nomads, then the local self-government should attract them through tourism content, and we as organizations should be more open, more visible”.
Rowena Hennigan, digital nomad: “The most important thing is to change people’s consciousness, because we are not typical tourists. Digital nomads stay longer and like to integrate into the local community, and that’s the main message I want to share. My message to everyone in BiH, who wants to attract digital nomads, is to listen to them, ask, and be interested in everything they need”.
The event is part of the WBF 4th Call for Proposals, first Call co-funded by the European Union, IPA – Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance.
