All well-developed countries know that without innovation there is no development of society and the economy. At the same time, it is known that Croatia is at the very bottom of Europe when it comes to investments in research and development. But it seems that Croatia has decided to catch up and prepare for the future, reports Večernji List on November 7, 2018.
The government plans to set up a new national council, this time for innovation, jointly led by the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports. It will also include other ministers, such as the Regional Development and European Funds Minister Gabrijela Žalac and Minister of Agriculture Tomislav Tolušić, as well as representatives of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, the Croatian Chamber of Crafts and Trades, trade unions, the Croatian Employers' Association and others.
The body should ultimately change the picture when it comes to innovations in Croatia. According to the Ministry of Science, it will monitor the implementation of the Smart Specialization Strategy and suggest its modifications. The strategy was adopted by the government led by Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković, and it has defined the most promising future sectors that should revive the Croatian economy with the help of EU funds. The strategy is based on gathering the critical mass of researchers in scientific institutions and businesses that should work together on research and development to achieve excellence in research and its commercialization. The government has also defined five areas with the greatest potential, which are health and quality of life, energy and sustainable environment, transport and mobility, security, and food and bioeconomics.
At this point, Croatia is far from where it should be. According to the Bloomberg Innovation Index for 2018, Croatia is behind all European Union countries when it comes to innovation.
According to unofficial information, the council’s first meeting will be held this Friday, chaired by Economy Minister Darko Horvat. There were suggestions that the council should be led by the prime minister himself, but the proposal was rejected.
Bojan Jerbić, a professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, argues that Croatia has a chance for technological development in the future, but that it needs radical changes, a sort of scientific and technological "new deal". “We have fantastic research groups across Croatia, but many are not involved in the overall societal development and exist separately from the society. That is something which should jumpstart Croatia. We would have fantastic results in five to ten years. We would create a number of startups, new technology companies, create completely new jobs and new economic niches that would be internationally competitive,” said Jerbić.
To read more about Croatia’s technology sector, click here.
Translated from Večernji List (reported by Petra Maretić Žonja, Iva Boban Valečić).
