ZAGREB, May 29, 2019 - Six new 'high tech' laboratories were presented on Wednesday at Zagreb's ZICER innovation centre providing services and equipment for start-ups and other companies.

These are technological centres for the development of interfaces, electronics, digital forensics, environment protection technology and 3D modules and Internet of Things-IoT. The new facilities also consist of wood-metal workshops and processing centre and they have all be equipped with high tech equipment intended for research and development, ZICER representatives said.

The centre also has incubated start-ups that have developed laboratories, which is a new concept because it foresees strengthening cooperation between enterprises and the academic community which means that anyone at ZICER that perhaps requires a 3D printer or quality assurance assessment can have access to them free of charge as can other businesses outside ZICER but have some connections to it.

Referring to them as "laboratories for Zagreb's future," the director of the City of Zagreb's department for economy, energy and environment protection, Mirka Jozić underscored that this will additionally strengthen ZICER as a place for innovation and entrepreneurship adding that over the past few years the City of Zagreb has been investing more and more in new technology and the start-up community.

The ZICER Zagreb innovation centre received 15.7 million kuna from EU funds for the StartUp Factory Zagreb project with a total value of 19.6 million kuna. The project was implemented over the past two years.

More technology news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

Sisak-Moslavina County is one of the poorest in Croatia. However, yesterday it established the Centre for Space and Innovative Technologies. Although the news that a county with many villages without electricity, water and roads has opened a space technology centre sounds like an April Fool’s joke, county officials seem offended by such comparisons, reports Jutarnji List on May 17, 2019.

County prefect Ivo Žinić pointed out that the project “Sisak-Moslavina County - Gaming Industry Centre” has become one of the most innovative projects in Croatia and that the establishment of the Centre for Space and Innovative Technologies will enable the county to become the centre of competence for certain other technologies as well.

“The activities led by the centre can attract a large number of young scientists, and the opening of new jobs will prevent them from leaving the country. The future of Croatia, the future of Sisak-Moslavina County, is in modern technologies,” concluded Žinić.

The decision by the County Assembly has caused an avalanche of comments and jokes on social networks. “A very inventive way to employ party personnel, if there are still few unemployed members left. They need the space centre because HDZ members seem to have come from Mars.”

Some commentators have also advised the authorities to be sure to “set up the Central Agency for the Coordination of County Centres for Space Technology with one coordinator for each county, and a deputy, and a secretary, and a secretary’s deputy.” Others say that the “space centre will gravitate toward HDZ members,” and that the elections are coming soon, but that this idea is too much even for an election campaign.

However, there are other opinions. Danko Bosanac, an astrophysicist from the Ruđer Bošković Institute, support the idea. Several years ago, he initiated the establishment of a similar, never opened centre in Udbina. “I am directly responsible for launching this centre because I have started the Adriatic Aerospace Association.It is fine to express doubts, but it has to be done in a civilized way, because this initiative is supported by A3, with about 60 highly-qualified members from the areas of space technology and science, and with numerous contacts around the world.

The discussion about the Sisak centre lasted for about a year. The centre will primarily focus on the commercialization of top-quality materials that will have the ‘terrestrial’ application. The Faculty of Metallurgy and the Ruđer Bošković Institute will represent a link towards scientific research. There will be a co-operation between science and technology. We should be happy and help this initiative; someone has decided to make a step forward,” said Bosanac.

The information on the establishment of the centre has been published on the Adriatic Aerospace Association’s website. It is a non-profit association that focuses on four main areas: promoting research and development in the aerospace sector, mediating in projects as a point of contact, education and consulting, and regional co-operation.

Translated from Jutarnji List (reported by Anita Belak-Krile).

More news about Sisak-Moslavina County can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 21, 2018 - Croatian Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak confirmed in Dubrovnik on Sunday that Croatia had had met all three requirements for membership of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) and would be an associate member of the world's biggest research laboratory as of 2019.

ZAGREB, October 21, 2018 - Ninety percent of drivers in Croatia use mobile phones while driving, 33 percent of cyclists do so while riding, and 50 percent of pedestrians have their eyes glued to the screen of their smartphone while crossing the street, a conference said in Zagreb earlier this week.

ZAGREB, July 18, 2018 - A grant agreement worth nearly 200 million kuna from EU funds, earmarked for the purchase of a mega computer which will be used for top scientific research and data collection, was signed in the Science and Education Ministry on Wednesday.

Not everyone wants or needs state subsidies.

ZAGREB, May 28, 2018 - Seventeen grant agreements that are part of a call for investment in state-of-the-art research equipment and infrastructure worth one billion kuna of EU money were signed at the Science and Education Ministry on Monday.

ZAGREB, May 4, 2018 - CERN's delegation is extremely satisfied with its visit to Croatia, Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak said on Friday in Split after she held the final round of the talks with the five-member delegation of the European Organization for Nuclear Research known as CERN, who were on a tour of Croatia on 2-4 May.

ZAGREB, May 3, 2018 - Minister of Science and Education Blaženka Divjak on Wednesday said that a visit by a five-member Expert Mission from the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) is the last step and test before Croatia can become an associate member of the world's largest and most respected scientific research lab.

ZAGREB, April 28, 2018 - A five-member team of CERN experts is scheduled to officially visit Croatia on May 2-4, to hold the final round of negotiations on associated membership of the European research organisation that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world, the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education said in a press release on Saturday.