Business collaboration of BiH wood sector with designers officially started

The Foreign Trade Chamber (VTK) BiH held a workshop which officially started the pilot project “Business collaboration of BiH wood sector with designers.” 

The Foreign Trade Chamber (VTK) BiH held a workshop which officially started the pilot project “Business collaboration of BiH wood sector with designers.”

The project aims to enable BiH wood processors and producers of furniture to come into contact with renowned designers of wood products, especially furniture, and through sponsored joint activities to come to design and prototype products which, by expert and joint assessment, will be successful in demanding markets, especially in the European Union (EU).

The project is implemented by USAID-Sida FIRMA Project and VTK BiH, in cooperation with the Sarajevo Regional Development Agency (SERDA) and the Academy of Fine Arts (ALU) Sarajevo.

Director of the Export Promotion Agency of BiH (BHEPA) Enes Aliskovic explained at a press conference that this is a project to connect the real sector and the creative industries.

According to him, the main goal is to increase their competitiveness through the development of new products with added value in order to increase sales, especially in foreign markets.

“Timber processing industry has achieved good results, but we must be aware that there is still plenty of room for their better performance at home and abroad, especially taking into account the fact that the current competition is mainly based on the price of labor, and much less on highly developed products,” Aliskovic said.

He added that in the framework of this pilot project there will be initial support for five companies, although 12 of them expressed interest.

Professor of at ALU Sarajevo and designer Salih Teskeredzic said at a news conference that one of the central themes in the strategy of the educational process of the Academy is connecting students to the industry, which on the one hand provides the possibility of employment of students after graduation, and on the other hand opens the company's ability to develop its production program, in terms of creating a recognizable brand.

He pointed out that today without the original product design one can not achieve advantages in market competition.

At the same time, he said, companies must turn to foreign markets because the BiH market is very small.