The development of industry, primarily in the field of electronics and mechanical engineering, in the Niš region has made Niš a university centre, which has significantly influenced the development of scientific research in many areas, including mathematical sciences. A very important role in these activities was played by prof. Dr Dragoslav S. Mitrinović, and his associates Petar M. Vasić, Radovan R. Janjić, Dobrilo Đ. Tošić, Ivan B. Lacković, Jovan D. Kečkić. Due to the engagement of these professors, the connection of researchers from Niš and the Mathematical Institute was established. A special role in the development of mathematical research in Niš was played by Ilija Ika Bratić, a librarian at the Mathematical Institute who, with great personal commitment, helped researchers from Niš to obtain the necessary literature.

Conferences

On September 26-28, 1989, The First International Workshop on Theory and Application of Gibbs Derivatives was organised and held in Kupari, Dubrovnik. The Workshop was organised under auspices of the Mathematical Institute within the framework of a project led by Dr Petar M. Vasić, professor of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade. The initiator and main organiser was Dr Radomir S. Stanković, at that time, a docent at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Niš.

The Workshop was attended by Mr James Edmund Gibbs, PhD, the founder of this field in dyadic analysis, besides other participants from Austria, Japan, Hungary, Germany, the former USSR, now Ukraine, USA, and Serbia. The selected papers presented at the Workshop were published as a book P. L. Butzer, R. S. Stanković (eds.) Theory and Applications of Gibbs Derivatives, Mathematical Institute, Belgrade, Serbia, ISBN 86-80593-05-2, xxx+312 pages, with the opening remarks at the Workshop written by Prof Đuro R. Kurepa.

The practice of a wider engagement of researchers from Niš at the projects of the Mathematical Institute, some of them employed by the Institute, appears to be very useful for the development of research work in mathematics and applications. Within the framework of these research activities, from 2013 to date the following international conferences have been organised:

1. Information Theory and Complex Systems (TINKOS), an annual conference held from 2013 to date, organised by the Mathematical Institute, the Faculty of Electronic Engineering, and the Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics in Niš. Since 2016, the organisation has also been supported by the Centre for Complex Systems Investigations, Niš, and in 2018 by the Institute of Physics in Belgrade.
2. Closing Conference of Tempus Project Visuality and Mathematica, 2014, organised by the Metropoliten University, the Mathematical Institute, and the Information Technology School, Belgrade.
3. ICTForum, October 14-16, 2014 organised by the Regional Chamber of Commerce Niš, the Mathematical Institute, Centre for Women Entrepreneurship RCC Niš, Informatics Association of Serbia, Institute-Centre of Excellence for Research and Innovation.

The development of information support and related infrastructure accompanied by the procurement of an online conference system by the Mathematical Institute enabled the organisation of virtual conferences:

1. Virtual International Conference on Science, Technology, and Management in Energy (eNergetics), an annual conference held from 2015 to date, organised by the Research & Development Centre ALFATEC, Ltd., the Mathematical Institute, and the Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Niš, with some co-organisers in certain years.
2. Virtual International Conference Path to a Knowledge Society – Managing Risk and Innovation PaKCoM 2019 attended by 365 participants from Serbia and 335 from abroad.
3. Virtual International Conference Path to a Knowledge Society – Managing Risk and Innovation, PaKCoM 2020 attended by 395 participants from Serbia and 365 from abroad.

Owing to the engagement of associates from Niš, the cooperation of the Mathematical Institute with the University of California San Diego Extension began in 2015, which was formalised in 2018 by signing a Memorandum of Understanding. This enabled the formation of the IT Retraining Program – MISANU project, which, with the support of the United Nations Development Program, was jointly implemented by these two institutions at the Regional Centre for Education in Niš. The participants who successfully completed the training received the University of California San Diego Extension Certificates.

Seminars

In 1982. Stojan Bogdanović set up the Seminar for Semigroup Theory and Functional Equations, which was renamed from 1990 to 1996 into the Seminar for Semigroup Theory, and from 1996 into the Seminar for Algebra. Later the seminar was led by Miroslav Ćirić.

In early 1985, Vladimir Rakočević and Miomir S. Stanković organised and led the seminar entitled, Generalised Inverses and Applications. The seminar was held for the next twenty years. Gradimir V. Milovanović established and led the seminar Orthogonality and Applications the participants of which contributed to the project Methods and Models in Pure, Applied, and Industrial Mathematics.

During the many years of work of these seminars, several doctoral dissertations were defended, and their authors became professors at the University of Niš. In this way, these seminars significantly contributed to the development of the faculty base of the University of Niš. Currently, a virtual seminar is active and regularly held by the researchers from Niš. It is entitled the Decision Making, Theory, Technologies, Practice and led by Lazar Velimirović, and Petar Vranić as secretary.

Work in the field of digitalisation of the national heritage of Serbia

After the establishment of the project III 44006 Development of new information and communication technologies, using advanced mathematical methods, with applications in medicine, telecommunications, energy, national heritage protection and education, at the Mathematical Institute, the cooperation established in 2008 between the Laboratory for Communication Intelligence and Information Technologies (CIIT Lab) at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Niš and the Museum Nikola Tesla in Belgrade was realised within this project as a subproject led by Vladan S. Vučković from CIIT Lab at the Fafulty of Electronic Engineering in Niš.

In 2012, ARhiMedia group of the Faculty of Electronic Engineering, under the leadership of Radomir S. Stanković, within the CIIT Lab, began the work on the application of augmented reality technology in the presentation of the national historical, cultural, scientific, and technical heritage of Serbia. The work was organised within the Project III 44006 of the Mathematical Institute and so far 31 applications for mobile devices have been realised, which are freely available through the markets Google Play and AppStore. Within these activities, the Mathematical Institute has established cooperation and signed memoranda of understanding as well as agreements on the implementation of specific tasks with a number of museums and other cultural institutions in Serbia.