Miljan Ilić is the Founder and CEO of Recikom MM Innovation, a Serbia-based technology company focused on developing digital infrastructure for waste management and recycling. His work is centered on helping companies and public-sector organizations improve traceability, digitize processes, and make better use of sustainability data.
Miljan Ilić | Founder and CEO | Recikom MM Innovation
As a leader, he is responsible for setting the company’s strategy, guiding product development, building partnerships, and ensuring that Recikom’s solutions address real operational needs.
EliteX proudly features Miljan Ilić in this edition, celebrating their achievements, leadership, and valuable impact.
His professional journey has been shaped by almost fifteen years of experience in the public sector. This period helped him develop strong skills in discipline, risk management, decision-making, and delivering results under pressure. Over time, he saw a clear problem in the way separated waste materials were being managed. Valuable materials could lose their economic and environmental value when accountability, coordination, and traceability were weak. This experience became one of the reasons he decided to build Recikom and turn a practical industry problem into a technology-driven and scalable solution.
The future of circularity depends on turning sustainability data into practical action.
Ilić’s leadership philosophy begins with a simple principle: technology should serve a real problem. Rather than starting with a new technology and searching for a reason to use it, he first looks at what value is being lost, who needs to take action, and how success can be measured. Clarity, accountability, feedback, and disciplined execution are important parts of his approach. For him, trust is not created through promises but through consistent delivery and measurable results.
His journey with Recikom has already produced several important milestones. He completed Founder Institute Serbia, a global founder development program with roots in Silicon Valley. In 2024, Recikom became one of six finalists from 159 teams in Serbia’s Best Technological Innovation program. The company also joined the UNDP/EU Green Agenda acceleration program, strengthening its connection with wider sustainability and innovation initiatives. In 2026, Ilić was selected among the Top 10 Startup World Cup Mentors from a global network of 303 mentors, recognizing his contribution to the startup ecosystem and his experience in helping emerging founders.
Remaining relevant in a rapidly changing business environment requires Ilić to stay close to users, operational processes, and regulatory developments. Waste management and circular-economy solutions involve many different stakeholders, including companies, collectors, recyclers, and public institutions. A solution may be technically strong, but it must also work within the practical realities of these different groups. Ilić therefore believes in testing assumptions early, listening carefully to users, and prioritizing improvements that create clear operational or commercial value.
Building a company at the intersection of technology, operations, and regulation has also brought significant challenges. Waste management often involves fragmented information, different systems, and multiple stakeholders with different priorities. Ilić approaches these challenges by reducing complexity. He focuses on defining the workflow clearly, demonstrating value through practical results, and expanding solutions responsibly. Working with limited resources has also strengthened his ability to prioritize, remain focused, and build resilience.
Innovation at Recikom is closely connected to collaboration and feedback. Ilić encourages people to question ideas, provide feedback early, and connect every proposed solution to a genuine user need. His involvement with the startup ecosystem also supports this mindset. As the regional partner for Startup World Cup Serbia and a mentor, he contributes to supporting founders and understanding new ideas across the innovation landscape. This role is separate from Recikom’s commercial activities, but it gives him broader insight into entrepreneurs, corporations, investors, and emerging technologies.
Leadership is earned through clarity, accountability, and consistent delivery.
For sustainable growth, Recikom is developing repeatable solutions for processes where better management can have clear business consequences. Its approach includes subscription-based software, integrations, analytics, and reporting capabilities. The objective is to help organizations gain stronger control over materials, reduce administrative risks, improve reporting, and strengthen the economics of secondary materials. Ilić believes that establishing a strong and useful foundation is more important than expanding too quickly.
He also recognizes that sustainable business performance depends on people. High standards should not result in confusion or burnout. His approach is to establish clear priorities, define ownership, and maintain open communication. Employees should feel able to raise risks early, learn from mistakes, and make responsible decisions. This creates an environment where accountability and employee well-being can support each other rather than compete.
Looking ahead, Ilić believes that traceable material flows, stronger sustainability data, and more efficient resource use will make waste management an increasingly strategic business issue. Companies will need systems that connect operational information with regulatory responsibilities and the economic value of materials. For Recikom, this creates an opportunity to make circular operations simpler, more transparent, and more scalable.
His advice to future executives is straightforward: begin with a real problem rather than a title or fashionable technology. Leaders need to listen carefully, make decisions even when information is incomplete, and accept responsibility for the results. Building relationships, seeking difficult feedback, and protecting credibility are equally important. In his view, leadership is not something a person receives with a position; it is something earned through delivery.
Over the coming years, Ilić aims to establish Recikom as trusted digital infrastructure for waste management, recycling, and circular-material flows across Serbia and Southeast Europe. His vision depends on scalable products, strong partnerships, and measurable customer outcomes. By combining practical implementation, commercial discipline, and meaningful innovation, he hopes to connect organizations with better technology, capital, and global opportunities while helping create a more efficient and accountable circular economy.
Real innovation begins with a real problem and ends with measurable value.
