“This year was a difficult year, but in 2020 we had digitalization and boarded the technology ship. This is the first time we are talking about a start-up economy,” said Kosta Petrov, director of the Fund for Technological Development and Innovation, at the CIVIL Conference “Perspectives 2021”.

He pointed out that start-up is like a sect, very few people know what it is about. The economy can be won through a start-up, ie through an idea, and not through politics or through mom and dad.

“The only story about Macedonia, which will be only ours, is innovation, because we do not have oil. In the biggest crisis, 84 people decided to start a company.

“It is a fact that young people are migrating and it is good to get acquainted with other skills, while the start-up heroes are those who produce locally and are sold globally,” said Petrov.

He emphasizes that digital nomads are people who work for foreign companies and most often move to Estonia, Georgia and Croatia.

“There are many digital nomads in Ohrid and Skopje, and there are many people who live and work here, because their rent and food are lower than in some foreign countries.

With the Ministry of Interior, we are considering the possibility of issuing a digital visa for such digital nomads to come and live with us. I believe that in the right half of 2021 such visas will already be issued. We plan to make a “Digital Nomad Village” which will open in the “Macedonian Village” in Nerezi. This is our unique story,” Petrov said.