Vidaković, prof. dr Milovan
Leader in Technical Management of Environmental Risks
Professor Milovan Vidаkоvić, PhD, was born in 1940 in Belgrade, where he
completed the gymnasium, and in 1967, he graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering – Department of Thermal Engineering. Area of his scientific and
professional work was protection against fire, to which he devoted decades of research
work, and the crown of that dedicated work and immense knowledge and experience
are three major works in this scientific field – Thermodynamics of Uncontrolled
Combustion (150 pages), Fire and Architectural Engineering (1000 pages) and Fire and
Insurance in the Industry (1,800 pages).
Professor Vidаkоvić, PhD, was a member of the Serbian Scientific Society, the
founder and the first president of the National Organization of Engineers and
Technicians for Directing Fire Risks (DITUR) since 2001, as well as an active member
of the Confederation of Fire Protection Associations-International (CFPА-I) and the
European Confederation of National Fire Protection Organizations (CFPA-E).
He began his international career in 1970 in Italy as a Master of Science in
Mechanical Engineering and the author of the project for the innovative infrared drying
apparatus in the photography industry.
He worked as a Managing Technical Director in
the company San Marco, and afterwards he became a Project Manager for superfast
machines in the company Agfa Gevaert in Germany. Already in 1972, he verified
several patents internationally under the title "Automation of superfast apparatuses in
the photography industry". Creative innovations and impressive patents gave birth to
new ideas and stimulated his interest in research and science. In Germany, from 1972
to 1975, he worked intensively on the theoretical part of his doctorate on the topic "Fire
protection of high-rise and air-conditioned buildings". He defined the basics of physics
and the thermodynamic model of uncontrolled combustion and, on the threshold of an
era of information technology and computers, he developed a software support – a
software of thermodynamics of uncontrolled combustion, which provided the possibility
to predict the development of fires in a high-rise building.
He returned to Serbia in 1976 upon invitation of the company Janko Lisjak from
Belgrade, and two years later, he moved to the Institute for testing of materials (IMS
Institute). During his employment with the Institute, he spent one year in Cuba as a
head of technical support for three plants of prefabricated construction elements of
Žеžеlј system.
With the help of the Government of Serbia, in 1982, he received a scholarship
from the Belgian government to complete his doctoral dissertation at the University of
Brussels, and defended it and obtained his PhD in 1985 at the Faculty of Occupational
Safety in Niš on the topic - Fire protection of high-rise and air-conditioned buildings.
In 1984, he was appointed the director of the company ”Preving” Zajednice
оsigurаnjа imovine i lica „Dunаv“, and in 1986 he was appointed the director of
Technical Risk Management in Dunav Insurance. At the same time, the Yugoslavian
Insurers Association elected him as a representative in the European Insurance and
Reinsurance Federation (CEA), and this function ceased when the economic blockade
and sanctions were imposed on Serbia. In 1991, he transferred from the insurance industry to the University of Novi Sad, where he was elected the Assistant Professor for
the course Fire fighting Tactics. At the same time, he worked as the chairperson of the
Coordinating Commission of the Federal Institute for Standardization in the area of the
law on fire protection.
In 1994, he held lectures at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade, but since the
importance of educating architects in the field of fire protection was not recognized, the
course was cancelled and his further engagement was terminated. However, in 1997 he
participated in creation of the Fire Protection course at the Faculty of Forestry in
Belgrade.
Since 2000, he was a professor of courses Fire Tactics and Fire Protection Risk
in Insurance at the College of Mechanical Engineering in Zemun, and since 2004 he
organised lectures and practice at the same school for a licence of trained staff of fire
brigades at Serbian airports.
His engagement in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia began in
2009, where he held lectures on technical risk management. He held lectures at the
Serbian Chamber of Engineers, but also responded to calls from around the world. His
lectures attracted the attention of the professional public in Germany, the USA,
Switzerland, France, Egypt and Belgium.
Upon the invitation of the abbot of the Hilandar Monastery, in 2010, he went to
the Serbian holy place that was destroyed by fire and, as an expert consultant, advised
on reconstruction of the burned parts of the monastery. He made a presentation and a
film based on his observations about that fire, which he presented at lectures at the
German University Magdeburg in 2012, and then at lectures in Serbia.
Since 2007, as the president of DITUR, he organized the General Assembly of
the Confederation of Fire Protection Associations Europe (CFPA-Europe) in the
Convention Centre ”Sava” in Belgrade, which was attended by a large number of guests
and experts from Europe and the world. Since then, DITUR has been holding a two-day
international conference at ”Sava Centre” every odd year, while every even year DITUR
has been participating at the Fire Protection Fair in Belgrade. In addition, professor
organized each year professional trips and visits to fairs and laboratories dealing with
fire protection testing in China, Germany, Russia, France and England.
He is the author of several fire protection projects of special interest, including
buildings of the Belgrade Drama Theatre and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in
Belgrade. He also wrote a review of the fire protection project of the National Museum in
Belgrade, and he is the author of the McDonald's fire protection project in Moscow.
His researches aimed to promote theoretical foundations of uncontrolled
combustion for further development of models for prediction, control and stopping fires
in high-rise and air-conditioned buildings are becoming more important in times of
increasing incidents and terrorism worldwide.
Professor Vidаkоvić was a polyglot – he spoke English, French, Italian, German
and Spanish. He was an active athlete and a member of the first team of the Red Star
Basketball Club.
With the knowledge and experience, he was, in a true sense, an insurance
ambassador in technical and technological circles. In our journal, he was always
present either as an author, scientific and expert consultant on technical risk management or as a sincere friend and a promoter of the importance of this scientific
publication for promotion of insurance theory and practice.
He passed away on 29 February 2020, leaving a permanent mark in theory and
practice of environmental risk management.
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