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Digital Factory Montenegro

The idea of Digital Factory is to build a unified innovation ecosystem of Montenegro. We aim to be the bridge that connects young people with ideas, but also to connect already existing startups with clients in the ICT field, as well as in digital fields.

We are constantly working on educating and developing skills for young people of Montenegro to be able to come up with great ideas and to transform these ideas into tangible products. We try to provide them with all kind of support, starting from free co-working space, super-fast internet access, useful networking possibilities, PR resources and programs where they can find their new clients.

State your goals.

The overall goal of the program is to enhance the entrepreneurial spirit of young people in Montenegro and to motivate them to always come up with bright new ideas, but also to educate them and develop the skills for them to be able to transform their ideas into startups, companies, or even final products.

We want to create a possibility for local ideas to go global - our biggest goal is to help at least one startup from Digital Factory achieve big success on a global level. We will organize monthly seminars and workshops in year 2021, in which more than 200 young people will be included and get a great opportunity to develop their ideas.

What problems (particularly in value chain competitiveness and global disruption) are your community’s stakeholders facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic?

The worldwide market situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has only made us more confident in the need to have a unified innovation ecosystem. Things will not be the same as before, and the future belongs to breakthrough IT solutions and digitized processes. It all shows us the need of quick digital transformation for all the sectors and all types of companies worldwide. We believe that it's of the utmost importance for young people to have an opportunity to develop their ideas in times like this. Corona-virus pandemic slowed down many big world economies, lots of people are losing their job, and young people need to have an opportunity to create something new and to take advantage of the worldwide disruption that COVID-19 has created.

What minimum viable solution(s) are you proposing to address the challenge(s) in your community?

12 workshops and 12 online training programs will be held on the different ICT contents that support the development of business ideas, and that improve productivity, competitiveness and entrepreneurial spirit.

More focus will be put on commercialization of startups that have already took part at Digital Factory Startup Academy, such as:

MojaKlinika.me - an online platform that's supposed to improve the health system of Montenegro by creating a communication network between patients and medical workers

Trguj.me - an e-commerce platform that will let small, independent businesses (such as farms or craftsmen) offer their goods online without large investments and uncertainty.

Montenegro and SEE leading mentors and lecturers will visit Digital Factory and help young people develop their ideas, but also their skills. 

We will constitute a new non-corporative Innovation Ecosystem Governing Body that will constantly work on improving digital and entrepreneurial atmosphere in the country - it will be composed out of representatives of all important elements of the new Ecosystem.

Share your story (your narrative)

Digital Factory was founded in September 2017 in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, as  development center of technological entrepreneurship and startups, but also as a free co-working area in the heart of the city. Digital Favtory was founded by m:tel, the first telco operator in the region that has invested in it's own HUB. 

In last 3 years, Digital Factory was marking the road for startup and digital development in Montenegro. It hosted more than 200 gatherings with topics like:  startups, entrepreneurship, digital marketing etc. Digital Factory organized 2 hackathons, and many public presentations and workshops with topics like: robotics, 3D printing, programming etc. 

Digital Factory has organized 2 Startup academies, with 3rd one that's currently happening (it will be finished in mid-September). These Startup academies are the first events of this type in Montenegro. It is a free 6-month mentored program in which carefully-selected teams learn how to transform their ideas into final products. More than 200 teams have applied for particiption in Startup Academy, which is a tremendous number for a small country like Montenegro (660.000 citizens).

Please provide any additional relevant information that you would like to share.

m:tel Digital Factory received the "Most Innovative Company in 2019" award from the Montenegrin Chamber of Commerce.

 m:tel Digital Factory is constantly closely working with the Ministry of Science of Montenegro on many different projects such as "Open Science Days of Montenegro" and "Startup Activator".

Public (9)
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Julia Zombori Aug 28, 2020

Hi Luka! The results you have reached so far are very impressive! Congratulations, this seems to be a really nice initiative!
I have some questions about your program:

1. As I understand it correctly, it has 2 main objectives: to help and encourage young people to develop innovative projects and to connect existing businesses with customers. Here’s the question: are you also doing business development, or you can just make suggestions about the potential customers?
2. Global development: What are the target markets and why? Do you have any international contacts already? Do you have best practices for establishing long-term international relations?
3. Do you have any criteria for those who want to join the program?
4. How does the structure of the program (time frame, etc.)look like?
5. Workshop, trainings: It is very good that so many different workshops are planned. Have you thought about supplementing them with a mentoring program or with personalized consulting sessions?

If you have any questions, please contact me! I really like your idea!

Julia Zombori Aug 28, 2020

Hi Luka! The results so far are very impressive! Congratulations, this seems like a really nice initiative!
I have some questions about your program:

1. As I understand it correctly, it has 2 main objectives: to help and encourage young people to develop innovative projects and to connect existing businesses with customers. Here’s the question: are you also doing business development, or you can just make suggestions about the potential customers?
2. Global development: What are the target markets and why? Do you have any international contacts already? Do you have best practices for establishing long-term international relations?
3. Do you have any criteria for those who want to join the program?
4. How does the structure of the program (time frame, etc.)look like?
5. Workshop, trainings: It is very good that so many different workshops are planned. Have you thought about supplementing them with a mentoring program or with personalized consulting sessions?

If you have any questions, please contact me! I really like your idea!

Henry Dobson Aug 28, 2020

Hi Luka,

The success you've achieved so far is very impressive - well done!
I'm a little unsure about the difference between Digital Factory Montenegro (as stated in the idea title) and the other references you've made to Digital Factory throughout your descriptions. You also mention that Digital Factory was founded three years ago by the telco m:tel. Can you please clarify whether Digital Factory Montenegro is YOUR initiative or are you a part of m:tel yourself? More clarity on where you sit within this initiative would be great please.

Also, it's not clear what the "problem" is exactly. It seems that you recognise the need to further integrate and unify the innovation ecosystem in Montenegro but this not exactly a problem per se. Could you please explain what the problems with the ecosystem are at the moment and how you think Digital Factory can solve these problems directly?

Thanks, and keep up the great work in the difficult times!

Henry Dobson Aug 28, 2020

Hi Luka,

The success you've achieved so far is very impressive - well done!
I'm a little unsure about the difference between Digital Factory Montenegro (as stated in the idea title) and the other references you've made to Digital Factory throughout your descriptions. You also mention that Digital Factory was founded three years ago by the telco m:tel. Can you please clarify whether Digital Factory Montenegro is YOUR initiative or are you a part of m:tel yourself? More clarity on where you sit within this initiative would be great please.

Also, it's not clear what the "problem" is exactly. It seems that you recognise the need to further integrate and unify the innovation ecosystem in Montenegro but this not exactly a problem per se. Could you please explain what the problems with the ecosystem are at the moment and how you think Digital Factory can solve these problems directly?

Thanks, and keep up the great work in the difficult times!

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Laila AL Hadhrami Aug 28, 2020

Hi Luka. Congratulations in your achievement and it is interesting to see how you are supporting the startups to go global which is a great goal that most of the organizations should support startups to go beyond the local market.

We have a similar approach in Oman as we tried to support the top winning ideas to transfer their ideas to be startups. Somehow, it was challenging to make these strartups sustainable as some of them quit the bussiness as soon as they find a job with attractive salary. Do you have the same challenge and how do you try to make it sustainable so we can learn from your approach.

Wish you all the best and appreciate if you can have a look in our idea and give me your thoughts :)

Laila

EUNICE KAJALA Aug 29, 2020

Hi Luka,
How do you finance those start ups, from the idea phase to the full product development and implementation?

Nivashini Rave Rattey Aug 29, 2020

Status labels added: Community feedback received, Mentor feedback received

Nivashini Rave Rattey Aug 29, 2020

The idea has been progressed to the next milestone.

Nivashini Rave Rattey Aug 29, 2020

Luka, you have to now refine your submission based on the feedback you received so far and post it back on this site. You can do so by pressing the "edit" button. Let me know once you have done this. Remember the challenge ends on 31 Aug (Monday). So, please hurry up!

Israel Abazie Aug 31, 2020

It's clever what your team has done so far since 2017. You might want to add your core product in your submission. Let your audience know how they can participate, and what they stand to benefit. Also, include how you plan to remain sustainable over time. What's your strategy in onboarding facilitators? What benefit do they gain? Good luck