In April, Serbian officials made their way into the country's Intellectual Property Office to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day.

Academics, business people, lawyers and agency officials gathered together to talk about progress made in the development of modern intellectual property (IP) protections.

Vladimir Maric, acting director of the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia, talked about what is being done to fight counterfeiting and other forms of piracy.

Tanja Miscevic, chief of a liaison team between Serbia and the European Union, cited innovation as of key importance to help remote IP rights and more economic activity within Serbia's borders.

“It is particularly important to invest more efforts in better connection of scientific and R&D capacities with the economy in Serbia,” Miscevic said in a press statement.

Serbs have been working on the issue for a while. A 2015 post on the country's Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications site talks about a $3.13 million program financed by the European Union that's part of a vital effort to ramp up IP protections within Serbia.

In addition to these national efforts, many technology experts believe that using modern digital tools can help promote integrity and honesty in business.

“Blockchain is being used in parts of the world where security, identity and ownership issues are being challenged,” Paul Armstrong, author of "Disruptive Technologies" and founder of HERE/FORTH, told Balkan Business Wire. "From copyright to luxury good security, blockchain offers all who use it a robust system to track much more than financial transactions.”

In his book, Armstrong cites other such technologies that may change how we look at commerce, governance and other areas of our lives. For example, Armstrong examines the potential impact of the sharing economy and changing demographics, as well as nanotechnology and other rapid advances in information technology.

“Blockchain is a foundational technology, which means not only does it offer incredible value in and of itself, but it allows a lot to built on top or because of it,” Armstrong said.