InterConnect B2B conference took place in Belgrade on April 26 and 27, 2023 to connect representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the metal, rubber, plastic and machinery manufacturing sectors with significant international buyers. The event was organized with the support of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the Convestensics company specialized in business networking in the equipment and machinery sector, and the “Big Small Economy” project. The conference was attended by 110 manufacturers who had the opportunity to meet and contract new export deals with representatives of 17 large European companies from Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Poland and Sweden.
During the first day of the meeting, over 200 meetings were held through the professional business networking platform. Two essential goals intersect through this initiative: 1) Serbian SMEs from the M&E sector are not integrated with leading EU firms and markets, and 2) EU companies are in the midst of finding partners closer to ‘home’ in a process known as “nearshoring”.

The conference part of Interconnect focused on sustainability and its impact on businesses, an increasingly important supply chain requirement. This topic was addressed by two keynote speakers, Ferdinand Wieland of ThyssenKrupp Automotive and Hendrick Hansen of Roche Diagnostics.
On the second day, April 27, the prospective buyers visited over 20 of the most promising supplier SMEs throughout Serbia to gain unique insights into their business practices and capabilities.