CER Computers as Weapons of Mass Disruption: The Yugoslav Computer Industry in the 1960s
CER Computers as Weapons of Mass Disruption: The Yugoslav Computer Industry in the 1960s

Summary/Abstract: The article investigates the history of the CER-10, the first Yugoslav electronic computer, and the subsequent failed attempt for the establishment of the computer industry during the 1960s. While the CER-10 was an important milestone on the Yugoslav road to technological modernization, the aftermath of this project revealed myriads of problems of the entire Yugoslav state system, which included simultaneous implementation of conflicting economic policies, the heavy hand of Aleksandar Ranković and the Yugoslav secret police in the country’s economy, as well as the channeling of federal funds into Serbian companies without much economic rationale, all of which eventually ground the establishment of this high-tech industrial sector to a halt.

• Details
• Contents