As Poslovni Dnevnik/Native tim VL i PD writes on the 3rd of September, 2019, the 27th International Autumn Bjelovar Fair will be held at the Gudovac Trade Fair from September the 6th to the 8th. It is a gathering place for hundreds of foreign and Croatian exhibitors from various industries. The Bjelovar Fair firmly holds its place on the European fair map, where it holds a high rating. Last year, the fair drew tens of thousands of visitors.

''We are coming up to the 27th Autumn International Bjelovar Fair and I'm pleased that the Autumn Fair continues to maintain a continuity of success and that it is developing and offering visitors the best in the field of agriculture, economy and crafts.We ranked the most attended events with the number of tickets sold.

The result is one that did not come by accident. It is achieved by improving the conditions for all our exhibitors, by the number of visitors who visit it, but ultimately by the good experiences of all those who have done good business through the fair or ultimately made a financial profit by selling their products at the fair itself.

What makes us especially happy is the satisfaction of our partners, or exhibitors, who are increasingly coming to us. We will continue to listen to exhibitors and visitors alike and strive to meet all the expectations that a modern fair must have,'' said Bjelovar-Bilogora County Prefect Damir Bajs.

This year, the renowned Fair will also present to the delegations and exhibitors from all over Europe with novelties from the world of agriculture, animal husbandry, crafts, tourism and economy. This is a new opportunity to enter into international business, enjoy business cooperation and come to important economic agreements. Furthermore, it will exhibit the most important companies, associations and producers from all other branches of the economy so that supply will not be tightly linked to agriculture and livestock.

Exhibitors from a dozen foreign countries will present their novelties; Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands, the organisers of the Bjelovar Fair said.

It is also an indication that the Bjelovar Fair is a great base for presenting everything that the city of Bjelovar, the County of Bjelovar-Bilogora and, finally, the Republic of Croatia as a whole have and have to offer. Otherwise, Bjelovar-Bilogora County is among the leading counties in Croatia in terms of agricultural production, with a large share of the livestock and arable farming sectors.

The production of cereals, fodder and industrial plants, fruits and vegetables is the most represented, and the organic production of medicinal plants is continually growing. The county also leads the way in the number of milk suppliers, and poultry takes a special place.

6000 square metres of enclosed space, 1800 square metres of canopy, 70.000 square metres of open space, and 5000 square metres of facilities intended for livestock exhibitions were adapted to the exhibition's needs, and 75.000 square metres of parking space was arranged for the needs of the popular Bjelovar Fair.

As the director of the Bjelovar Fair, Davorin Posavac, revealed, the number of exhibitors will be the standard 500, while 20 percent more cattle will be exhibited at the State Livestock Exhibition. The organisers are expecting a large number of visitors this year, as they have enriched the program, and, in addition, they have attracted a lot of attention with the new fair events introduced last year - HOROP and GRO-KO.

Prices for visitors are still the same and affordable, the director said.

''The full-day ticket thus costs 30 kuna for adults and 20 kuna for children between the ages of seven and 15, group visits and people with disabilities. Preschoolers don't need to pay the entrance fee. Parking is still free, and we have maintained a free bus line from the bus station to the fair,'' noted Posavac.

Particular attention will be paid to the traditional State Livestock Exhibition, otherwise the largest national Livestock Exhibition organised in cooperation with the Croatian Agency for Agriculture and Food (HAPIH), and sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture.

There will be people present at the Bjelovar Fair dressed in traditional costumes from the area they come, and this rich program will also contain a number of interesting lectures on EU funds and rural tourism, round tables, workshops and presentations, such as the latest and most valuable agricultural machinery and equipment, and various agricultural products and food. As the organisers of the Bjelovar Fair point out, visitors will be introduced to the latest developments in the world of horticulture and construction, and the latest developments in utility technology will also be presented.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to get acquainted with and taste the traditional Croatian products of family farms, which, in addition to the exhibition stands, will be presented and served at the Fair VIP Restaurant in cooperation with the Baby Beef Association.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and lifestyle pages for much more.

ZAGREB, July 22, 2019 - An international public tender has been advertised for the construction of a new General Hospital building in Bjelovar, about 80 kilometres northeast of Zagreb, the largest construction project in the healthcare sector in Bjelovar-Bilogora County in the last 40 years.

The tender, worth 165 million kuna, includes the construction of a day hospital and surgery ward, an integrated emergency services reception centre, heat pumps and a waste separation system. 70 million kuna has been secured from two tenders for EU funding, 5 million kuna comes from the Fund for co-financing the implementation of European projects, and the remaining 90 million kuna has been secured by a loan taken by the Bjelovar General Hospital.

The construction of the new Bjelovar General Hospital building is the third such investment in the Croatian health sector after the construction of the general hospitals in Zabok and Pula. It should increase the standard of patient treatment and improve the quality of work conditions for hospital doctors and staff.

More medical news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

When you think of Bjelovar, the first thing that comes into your head almost certainly isn't startups and forward thinking business practice. Such things are lagging in Croatia as a whole, but this continental Croatian town might just surprise you yet.

The Croatian startup scene is a bit of a mixed bag. It's rare to see a country which boasts such levels of talent and innovation and yet be governed by a state which really doesn't understand, nor is it ready to embrace the idea of startups. Despite obstacles, of which there are many, there are steps being taken, at the regional and city level if not at the state level, to provide Croatia's startups with help, rewards, and advice. Bjelovar in continental Croatia is doing just that.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 31st of May, 2019, the winner of the second edition of "Bjelovar Startup 2019" and the winner of a very welcome prize of 100,000 kuna was Goran Pauška with his special vehicle monitoring system.

The 100,000 kuna award will be invested back into the development and production of a product that has already been tested and helps in the control of specialised vehicles such as those driven by firefighters and other emergency vehicles.

CRANE President Davorin Štetner and members of the Management Board Hrvoje Prpić and Saša Cvetojević were the members of the expert commission who decided on the winner in Bjelovar, who was among the five other finalists.

Bjelovar Mayor Dario Hrebak thanked everyone who came forward with their respective entrepreneurial ideas, announced Startup 2020, and called on all entrepreneurs with good ideas to start getting properly prepared right now.

"You have mobile phones like we do in Zagreb, there is no reason not to be able to present us with the new InfoBip," Prpić stated encouragingly.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more.

A huge European investment for Bjelovar-Bilogora County has been achieved, and usage permits are expected in just a few weeks time.

All too often we're bombarded with depressing tales of failed investments, lost money, shattered dreams and the infamous red tape of the Croatian state which seems to want nothing more than to stop potential investors with cash in their pockets from putting their money where their mouth is in Croatia for the benefit of everyone.

When confronted with such headlines and stories on a daily basis, it can often be difficult to believe, let alone imagine, that not everything is always quite so bleak here in Croatia. While many would-be investors try and fail at the first (or first several) needless hurdles put in place by Croatia's blank-faced uhljebs (rough translation: pointless state employees/oxygen thieves), there are many who do persevere, and succeed. But, we'd all much rather be depressed and have something to complain about over a four hour coffee while we ourselves could be working, right? Right.

The fact of the matter is, Croatia is slowly but surely improving when it comes to investment, and while the country has an awfully long way to go before it could ever be considered even remotely investor friendly or truly safe, progress is being made at a snail's pace - the Croatian way.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 28th of May, 2019, one of the largest European investments is set to come to no less than Bjelovar-Bilogora County in continental Croatia, in the form of a Technology Park in Garešnica. The park was planned and then built in the Kapelica Entrepreneurial Zone, and the value of the investment is an enormous 21.5 million kuna. Most of the money, as much as 92 percent of the total amount, was invested by the European Regional Development Fund, according to a report from Tocka na i.

Bjelovar-Bilogora's new Technology Park stretches to nearly 1,800 square metres, boasts an impressive eighteen business premises, a conference and education hall, as well as a meeting room. The issuance of a usage permit is expected in early July, followed by the final conclusion of the contracts with entrepreneurs.

Josip Bilandžija, Mayor of Garešnica, is convinced that Bjelovar-Bilogora's brand new Technology Park will definitely reach completion. There will be places for eleven new and three already existing companies, and assistance in development projects will be readily provided by the Entrepreneurial Incubator from Osijek, as well as the Entrepreneurial Centre in Garešnica.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for more on investment in Croatia, doing business in Croatia, working in Croatia, and much more.

''The citizens have the right to know,'' Bjelovar's mayor says.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of May, 2019, three months after allowing Bjelovar's citizens full insight into the budget in all forms, which not even the city administration gets to see in most Croatian towns and cities, Bjelovar's mayor Dario Hrebak is realising his most important promise - to open up all of Bjelovar's finance and budget transactions, and as such, Bjelovar has established itself as the first completely transparent city in the country, reports Gradonacelnik.hr.

All preparations and testing of system's functionality has been completed during this past week and Bjelovar is launching a brand new application (app) on Monday morning during a presentation at Zagreb's Journalists' House, through which citizens will be able to track, in real time, just what is being spent on what, and they'll be able to see transactions dating all the way back to the 1st of January, 2018. The application was created by Vuk Vuković and the Institute for the synergy of science and society.

If they type in, for example, ''Dario Hrebak'', all interested parties will be able to see exactly what contractions the mayor has completed using his official card from the 1st of January, 2018. From purchasing a wireless mouse (234 kuna) and a laptop bag (239 kuna), to the payment of wages to a stay at Hotel Lav in September (1.737 kuna).

A search date can be entered into the app's search engine for a specific date or time period, a company, a city company, and just like that, users can check all of Bjelovar's official payments, from purchases costing a fortune right down to toilet paper and coffee. For example, if you type in ''communal'', you can see all of Bjelovar's payments to this particular company, both large and small.

"Citizens have a right to know what their money is being spent on, and here in Bjelovar, we've got nothing to hide. Many colleagues have warned me that I'm cutting the branch I'm sitting on off because of this move, because everyone will be able to say what they want about the spending, but I don't care.''

The mayor continued by stating that with this bold move, Bjelovar will become the most transparent city in the country and the Croatian leader in the genuine fight against corruption. Hrebak also urged other mayors and city administrations to do the same because transparency is the best weapon in the fight against corruption.

Make sure to stay up to date by following our dedicated lifestyle and politics pages for much more.

Just how close are we to a real digital Croatia? The answer is unclear and as varied as ever, but some Croatian cities have shown promise with some rather impressive and encouraging results.

As Novac/Gradonacelnik.hr writes on the 23rd of April, 2019, although more and more cities are gradually digitising their business and investing in smart city solutions, and some of the most advanced have almost completely switched to doing solely digital business, generally speaking, Croatian cities are only in the very early stages of the much needed digital transition, just as Croatia is, as a country, at the very bottom in Europe in terms of the digital readiness of general society and the economy.

As the methodology for ranking cities in terms of digital readiness is only at its very beginning even at the European level, stories and analysis of the "smart city" concept development here in Croatia are still very much based on individual experiences, examples and projects.

That is why, in order to gain a real elementary insight into the digitalisation of Croatia's services and the communication of the country's many city administrations with citizens, experts from Apsolon, a consulting company specialising in digital business development, has undertaken the very first major study of the ''digital readiness'' of twenty of the largest cities across Croatia. This study, according to project manager and smart management director at Apsolon, Ivana Novoselec, is the basis for the further development of research tools and methodology that will track the development and progress of Croatia's cities on an annual basis.

In its study, Apsolon divided the cities into three categories - large (Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Osijek), middle (Zadar, Velika Gorica, Slavonski Brod, Pula and Karlovac) and smaller cities (Sisak, Varaždin, Šibenik, Dubrovnik, Bjelovar, Kaštela, Samobor, Vinkovci, Koprivnica, Đakovo, Vukovar.)

The digital readiness index at Apsolon was set based on several criteria - the availability of e-services (the number of administrative services and their digitalisation rate in Croatia), the availability of site service information and the development of unified services for making payments in the city, then came the availability of city data, the level of citizen participation in decision making and communication channels between the city administration and citizens, ie, the availability of data and time in which citizens receive answers to their various questions. At this stage, Apsolon hasn't entered into the internal processes in Croatia's city administrations, but rather focused on what services are offered to the city's citizens and how long such things typically take.

After this type of indexing and ranking, the title of the ''digitisation champion'' among the Croatian cities was awarded to the City of Rijeka, thus confirming its status as the best city in the Smart City category which it won last year. Apsolon pointed out that the City of Rijeka has achieved the greatest advances in the systematic raising of the quality of its services, but also the opening of data and communication channels to citizens.

"Rijeka as the most advanced city in Croatia in terms of digitisation and is characterised in particular by the emphasis on openness and communication with its citizens. Its administration is oriented towards clear communication (a very clear centralised e-services approach with well-organised access to all automated services and available forms), openness and participatory management," said project manager Ivana Novoselac.

In many categories, especially those relating to the functional aspects of digitisation (advanced digital services, e-citizen connectivity, etc.), Rijeka is followed closely by the City of Zagreb.

The city of Pula is the most advanced middle-size city in Croatia, which also presents its services and available information to its citizens in a systematic and very detailed way, raising standards in terms of transparency and interaction with citizens, and is certainly a champion among cities with between 50.000 and 100.000 inhabitants.

In relation to the criteria relating to specific functional and technological solutions, Karlovac, Velika Gorica and Zadar follow. For the City of Karlovac the large number of available administrative procedures on its website and responses to citizens' inquiries are generally quick made it stand out from the crowd.

Among the small cities in Croatia, there is no distinctly dominant digital champion, but according to research findings in different aspects of digitisation, Dubrovnik, Samobor, Sisak, Koprivnica and Varaždin appear to be the most successful ones, according to this research. Among the prominent representatives of this category, Dubrovnik is strategically trying to profile as Smart City and has a high quality City Card, e-Visitor platform, is very active on social networks and it continuing to develop innovative application solutions. When it comes to the number of digitally available services, Koprivnica ranks above all.

Samobor, which is particularly active on social networks and is the category winner for social networking, has a very comprehensive and interactive website which separates the site accordingly and has adjusted all of the information for citizens and for visitors, as well as separating foreign visitors from domestic ones.

It should also be noted that Bjelovar is extremely proactive in the field of the digitalisation of its administration, it is working on applicative transparency solutions as well as on internal digitalisation processes. What is particularly commendable is Bjelovar's focus on the digitalisation of its internal processes.

Make sure to follow our dedciated lifestyle page for much more.

Click here for the original article by Novac/Jutarnji/Gradonacelnik.hr

Bjelovar breaks the mold and creates a unique fitness product that has caught the eye of not only the nearby Hungarians, but the world.

Continental Croatia is, aside from its tourism potential, usually in the news for all the wrong reasons. Although it has gradually started to spread, the Croatian demographic crisis has bitten harder in that area of the country than it has elsewhere, and with residents leaving in their droves, it often comes as a pleasant surprise to read about innovatation and opportunities arising from there, despite the fact that there are several.

As Goran Jungvirth/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of February, 2019, the winner in the category of best project idea at the first Bjelovar Startup 2018 competition confirmed to Poslovni Dnevnik that the prototype of their product is ready, and that it has attracted the interest of people from all over the world.

"We've already had over twenty queries, and our partners from Hungary have just visited us. The whole world is interested in our product,'' said Vedran Presečki from Ferrodus d.o.o., the creator of a non-motorised running belt with a ferrofluid brake.

His company has been in existence since back in 2013 and produces fitness equipment which is then exported to many countries across the world, not only to other European countries such as Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, and France, but further afield and across the Atlantic, all the way to the United States.

Otherwise, this Bjelovar-made product is the very first non-motorised running beld with a ferrofluid brake in the entire world. Despite that fact which is already impressive enough, Ferrodus' innovative Vedran Presečki plans to conquer the whole world with this new invention.

"The fitness industry is continuing to grow steadily. Our "Predator Hunt" running belt is the first in the world which uses ferrofluid technology, and it's unique owing to that. Running on it is natural, it's as if you were running on an embankment. Existing running belts (such as common treadmills) don't boast that natural resistance and don't allow for the alteration of running intensity like our belt does,'' stated a rightfully proud Presečki for Poslovni Dnevnik upon describing the uniqueness of this Bjelovar-made product.

After applying this technology to the running belt, Presečki is planning to extend it yet further, to other fitness related products such as bicycles and the like.

To brieflt recall, Presečki won last year's Bjelovar-based competition, which gained him a very welcome 100,000 kuna cash. This year, that same competition will open once again for startups that are working to produce innovations in the area of ​​Bjelovar.

Presečki told Poslovni Dnevnik that his award helped him greatly in terms of product development, especially in speeding up the development of prototypes, which is of crucial importance for the overcoming of potential competitors who came up with the same idea.

"We accelerated and definitely managed to get a one-year head start owing to this award, because we're a small company," he noted.

But Presečki emphasised the fact that his prize meant more than just money because it meant recognition and brought about great enthusiasm for his team.

"That was a great incentive for us," he said.

The Bjelovar company exports 90 percent of its products and currently has just three employees, but it will need a lot more man power when launching its totally unique running belt production.

"We have a recruitment plan for when the product goes to the market. We'll have to substantially reorganise the business,'' Presečki stated, for whom, despite gaining some truly invaluable business experience, the real work is yet to come.

Make sure to stay up to date with Croatian companies, products and services, doing business in Croatia and much more by following our dedicated Made in Croatia and business pages.

Click here for the original article by Goran Jungvirth for Poslovni Dnevnik

Norwegian royal family, Assassin’s Creed, Netflix... these are just some of his admirers.

The Bilogora Horseback Tourist Trail is the first internationally certified equestrian tourism trail in Croatia.

A nice human and business success story from Bjelovar-Bilogora County.