FIRST SERBIAN PATENT WAS RAKIJA STILL

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 13 /SRNA/ - Serbia's first patent was a rakija still, speakers said today at a presentation in Banja Luka where the lecture "Guardians of Tradition - 100 Years of the First Serbian Patent" has been held.

Milovan Bajić, president of the Association of Innovators of Republika Srpska, said the rakija distillation still was the first Serbian patent to be registered and protected in the former Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and remains highly popular both in the region and around the world.

"Since its invention, this patented device has undergone numerous changes and improvements in terms of quality," Bajić told reporters in Banja Luka.

Saša Šepec, a museum adviser at the Museum of Science and Technology in Belgrade, said the still was invented by Novi Sad resident Milan T. Jovanović and that the patent had been transferred from Hungary.

"We made a replica of the still and displayed it at the exhibition. The process of making rakija was inscribed on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage four years ago," Šepec said.

The promotion and lecture were held at the University of Banja Luka Rectorate as part of the Days of Serbia in Republika Srpska, organized by the Museum of Science and Technology in Belgrade and the Association of Innovators of Republika Srpska.