The President of the Economic Chamber, Branko Azeski, the Rector of Goce Delchev University, Prof. Dr. Dejan Mirakovski, and the Mayor of the Municipality of Shtip, Ivan Jordanov, signed an Initiative for the establishment of an Innovation Center in Shtip. The objective is to encourage youth entrepreneurship and enable the development of new businesses with the support of the university, the local self-government, and the business community. The Initiative opens the way for structured cooperation among the academia, local authorities, and the business sector, with the aim of retaining young people in the region and creating competitive companies capable of entering international markets.

President Azeski emphasized that “the Initiative is significant because it is undertaken with a University that actively follows business needs through its research centers, and with a Municipality that is a regional leader with the highest number of registered domestic companies,” thereby confirming the University’s readiness to participate in the transformation of education in line with business needs.

As Azeski noted, Shtip is important from multiple aspects. As a center for balanced regional development, it hosts a proven and recognized university whose research activities and laboratory centers represent a model for linking business and science. At the same time, it is a city with a dominant presence of domestically registered companies. In this context, Shtip should be viewed as the center of Eastern Macedonia and an industrial base, particularly given its developed business capacities that contribute to the national economy, with special emphasis on the mining sector.

The Rector of Goce Delchev University, Prof. Dr. Dejan Mirakovski, stated that the Initiative represents a joint effort of all relevant stakeholders in the region. For the University, the Initiative is also significant from an educational perspective, as its implementation will enable students — with direct support from the business community — to consider creating their own businesses and securing employment within the country, without contemplating emigration.

The Mayor of Shtip, Ivan Jordanov, underlined that the Initiative marks a step toward improving labor and capital market conditions and strengthening regional development. Such activities, he added, provide a solid foundation for gradually transforming the region from its traditional labor-intensive industries toward sectors that generate higher added value, innovative solutions, and technological advancement.

The Initiative was signed during a working visit by President Azeski to Goce Delchev University in Shtip, together with Rector Prof. Dr. Dejan Mirakovski and Mayor Ivan Jordanov.

Members of the Chamber’s Management Board also attended the meeting and noted that this Initiative represents the beginning of a process aimed at delivering higher-quality professional staff to meet the needs of the economy.