Ivana Baćović

Edited on 21/10/2025

Validated expert

Ivana Baćović

  • Croatia

  • English, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Bosnian, Montenegrin
Contact
Availability :
Available for Lead Expert role and Ad-hoc expertise missions

Validated Expert info

Expert can perform the Lead expert role and Ad hoc expertise missions at network and programme level in relation to:

  1. The design and delivery of (transnational) exchange and learning activities
     
  2. Thematic expertise:
    > Communication
    > Social Innovation
    > Knowledge Economy
    > Local Economy
     
  3. Methods and tools for integrated and participatory approaches:
    > Integrated and participatory design of strategies
    > Sustaining engagement of stakeholders and translating strategies into actions

Summary

I am committed to sustainable development, educated in social sciences, and economics-management & business, with 20 years of experience in local/regional socio-economic development. 

My expertise includes cluster development, capacity building, Learning Management Systems, social innovation, strategic business development, communication & visibility, CSR, QMS/EMS implementation. 

I am experienced in working with local administrations, primarily in the Western Balkans, as a consultant, as a project team member in various EU & UN-funded projects, and as a Communication Officer at the Interreg-IPA CBC Bulgaria-Serbia programme. 

For URBACT, I have been a trainer at the National Campus 2024, for participants from Bulgarian municipalities - partners in the URBACT networks Archethics, BiodiverCity, Cities after dark, Cities for Sustainability Governance, Metacity, Re-Gen, and S.M.ALL.  

For almost two decades, I have been a member of the ISO mirror committee for Sustainability and Social Responsibility within the Institute for Standardization of Serbia, with the mandate for the development, adoption, and promotion of the sustainability standards, contributing to the UN SDGs, nurturing a sense of recognizing the community needs, and the inclusion of vulnerable and underrepresented social groups.

At  ENoLL, I participate in WGs: Education and Learning, Health and Wellbeing, and Gender in Innovation. Within the GILL project (Gendered Innovation Living Labs), I am a mentor for gender equality, smart innovation, and entrepreneurship issues.

At CEDEFOP, a network of policy makers, learning providers, experts, and other key stakeholders, I am an ambassador tackling early leaving from VET at national, regional, and local levels in Europe.

At EIT Urban Mobility, the largest European innovation community, to educate and inspire mobility solutions for the transition towards more livable urban spaces, I am an Expert Evaluator and Rapporteur.

At GREENSMES - Interreg IPA Adrion Roster of Transnational Experts to support sustainable development and green innovation across the Adriatic-Ionian region, with a strong focus on innovation management in SMEs.

As a consultant at Connect Consulting and Euroquality Group, as an HR instructor at GrECo Group, as a Quality & Training Manager at the Serbian Automotive (and mobility) Cluster, and an associate at NGO ATIP, I have coordinated multi-stakeholder groups, implemented innovative solutions, customized HR solutions in an international context, and across different cultural environments.

Related URBACT activities