Each Croatian Zarovo virtual data centre is highly individualised with the goal of building upon the specific needs of every business, according to their wishes and requirements.

As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 4th of July, 2019, under the auspices of experts from the Rijeka-based company DB informatika, the project Zarovo - a virtual data centre for small and medium enterprises and companies, co-funded by European Union funds, was formally presented to the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) in Zagreb. Talks on the introduction and the importance of electronic accounts, which have been legal obligations for certain types of companies since July the 1st, 2019, also took place.

DB Informatika presented a project in cooperation with the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and the ''Krug'' Association of Business Women. They took their project and presented it in Pula, Osijek, Slavonski Brod, Dubrovnik, Split, Rijeka, and the final event took place in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb.

Virtual data centres, as was stated by the company, are a Croatian response to cumbersome global systems such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Cloud, and the company's leaders claim that speed, individualised access, superior local support and security, as well as significantly cheaper prices, make this Croatian solution stand out from the rest.

"They're centres for small and medium-sized businesses that need centralised redundant business server infrastructure," explained Darko Glujić. As previously stated, each and every Zarovo Virtual Data Centre is highly individualised with the goal of building upon the specific needs of every business, according to their respective needs and wishes.

This Croatian company from Rijeka also marked the beginning of the work of SUPER - an electronic accounts management system for business clients, which introduced the category of free invoicing for small businesses and companies.

DB Informatika's experts have showcased, as they themselves say, a clear ambition to "attack" the eternally burdensome segment of about 600 million annually issued receipts in the Republic of Croatia in B2B business operations, but also to spread their wings further out onto the EU market.

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When you think of Croatian air companies getting publicity, the first thought likely to come into your head is Croatia Airlines and its constant yet seemingly fruitless search for a strategic partner, but it isn't all bad news, and it isn't all about Croatia Airlines, either. 

One other, lesser known Croatian air company has featured in no less than an Ed Sheeran music video.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 5th of July, 2019, the brand new music video by the wildly popular British singer Ed Sheeran, which has already collected more than twenty million views in the first week since it was released on YouTube, has a bit of a Croatian twist to it.

In the last fifty seconds of the video, one of the "actors" in Sheeran's video is an aircraft belonging to the Croatian air company Jung Sky, the logo of which is visible during the final minute, and when the couple, who are the main focus point of the video, leave the aircraft, a Croatian flag can be seen on the aircraft in the right corner.

"It's not the first time that we had given our plane a project of this kind, but this was certainly one of the simplest times we've cooperated with anyone ever. From start to finish, all of the communication, both with brokers and with the recording team, went very smoothly because of this all this was a very interesting and entertaining experience for our crew,'' said Krešimir Jung, the CEO of the Croatian air company Jung Sky.

To briefly recall, with two Cessna 525A CJ2 jets, Jung Sky, a Croatian company headquartered in Zagreb, takes care of business and private (tourist) flights to destinations across Europe and North Africa. This year, the company celebrates ten years of business, and behind them is their most successful year in terms of finance so far.

Watch the video here:

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One Croatian brand has launched something new, and it's from Vukovar with love.

As Sasa Paparella/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of July, 2019, the popular Croatian summer lifestyle brand Aqua has launched a brand new line of much loved Startas tennis shoes designed by Alica Pancer. The attractive new tennis shoes from Aqua come in blue and white, with a recognisable stripe pattern, and are of course made in Vukovar.

As of last year, the new owner of the Croatian company Aqua is the well known Split-based company Uje, and its director Leopold Botteri has strengthened the company's cooperation with numerous Croatian designers. Alica Pancer has also designed a significant selection of their new products - including travel and linen bags, water bottles, beach towels, and more. Aleksandra Dojčinović has added her signature to a women's beach collection, while the Mireldy studio has developed a new motif for a children's collection.

The Croatian brand Aqua, which always develops aesthetically pleasing products, was created by Žuva and Gordan Kolar. Aqua maritime was founded by the two back in early 2002, and this Croatian company soon established an impressive sales network of its own, as well as successful franchise stores in as many as forty different locations across the Republic of Croatia, Montenegro, Cyprus, Austria, Slovenia, Canada, Ukrainian Odessa, Russian Sochi, and earlier on in Australia and South Africa.

Back at the beginning of 2010, this respected Croatian company recapitalised via the Nexus Alpha venture capital fund, which bought the Kozmo drug store from Agrokor earlier on. Aqua maritime had up to thirty million kuna of annual income, employing seventy people. Last year's revenue fell to 16.2 million kuna, and unfortunately the number of employees was halved.

In recent years, Aqua has been operating with a minus. In 2017, the company's overall losses amounted to a massive 5.3 million kuna, after which the company was sold to the owners of Split's Uje, which also has a diversified network of stores along the Adriatic coast.

For images, visit Aqua Maritime's Facebook page or their website.

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As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 27th of June, 2019, given the fact that we're currently living in the fast-paced era of start-ups, the growth of technology companies in Croatia may seem surprising. However, these companies aren't as young as they might first appear, and the most famous Croatian "start-up" is actually a company which is completing its first decade of operations.

Mate Rimac's company Rimac Automobili was founded in 2009, and today it boasts more than 500 employees. That same year, the secretive Satoshi Nakamoto conceived what we now know today as Bitcoin, Trump's forerunner, Barack Obama, became the president of the United States of America, and astronomers discovered GJ 1214 b, the first exoplanet on which there is water, and thus the first place in the universe which isn't the earth, but has virtually identical conditions for the development of life as we know it.

Rimac's company, therefore, had time and opportunities to grow to the size it now is today, but there are many Croatian technology companies that are older, and some are bigger than Rimac Automobili, which is undoubtedly the most famous.

The biggest Croatian computer game maker, Nanobit, was founded back in 2008, the year when the financial crisis hit Croatia hard, and this year, it celebrates eleven years of successful and profitable business. Furthermore, the largest Croatian software company, which is also the company with the most end-users, over seven billion of them to be more precise - is Infobip. This Croatian company has become popular in the view of the wider public over the last two to three years, but that didn't all happen overnight as it sometimes might seem when reading about it.

Infobip was actually initially founded back in late 2006, the same year that Italy won the World Cup in Germany, and when Nintendo launched the Wii console onto the market. Infobip is celebrating its thirteenth year of business this year.

Silvio Kutić, the co-founder and director of Infobip, says that today, that Croatian company has 63 offices across the world and employs more than 1,700 workers, but that his vision is even more ambitious than before.

"We're focused on continuing to grow as a Centre for Excellence in Engineering, and in the next two years, we'll employ more than 2,000 engineers globally, and in particular, we're particularly focused on the project that we're calling the Vodnjan Tech City over the next couple of years," stated Kutić.

He says that Vodnjan is a town of about 3,700 inhabitants, and that they want to raise the population of the city by a futher ten percent in the next five years. They want to do this by bringing engineers from all over the world to work and live in the Croatian town of Vodnjan, create new values, ​​and create even more new innovative technology solutions. All this is taking place in Istria, which otherwise relies heavily on tourism, in the headquarters of the company, where it all began more than ten years ago.

"I'd like to emphasise the fact that Infobip operates in the world of high technology, where extremely fast changes are always taking place. Any IT company, even if it isn't in the center of innovation... if it doesn't create new values, it may fail tomorrow, regardless of any of its long-term plans. I want Infobip to be a long-term successful company and to remain independent. What we're building today, we're build for the distsnt future too, and to create for many more decades ahead,'' noted Kutić.

Thankfully, he's not alone in holding such ambitious views. The largest mobile application manufacturer in the Republic of Croatia, Infinum, was founded back in 2005. That same year, YouTube was launched, the first super jumbo jet Airbus A380 was launched, and the first ever case of a man having been successfully cured of the dreadful HIV was proven.

For the Croatian company Infinum, which builds most of its work globally, it means that next year it will celebrate a decade and a half of hard yet successful work. Tomislav Car, the co-founder and director of Infinum, said that in the first six years of existence, the company was made up only of its two founders. At that time, they had just completed their studies at FER.

"After that, we brought in new partners, we strengthened our team, we started to grow, and as such we've grown to 210 employees in the last eight years," said Car, adding that their overall goal is to make sure Infinum remains an independent company for many years. "We love doing what we do and it's going well for us, but most importantly, we think we're creating a good story and a positive impact on the society around us," said Car.

He says that Infinum will surely change, reorganise and become something different in the coming period, as it has had to until this point, but that's just part of the challenge of creating and developing such a company.

King ICT, one of the largest system integrators in Croatia, which celebrated twenty years of business last year, know just what such transformations typically look like. It's similar to the Croatian company with the highest award for innovation at the international level, Zagreb's Citus, which is also celebrating two decades of business this year. However, there are a number of Croatian technology companies that are even older.

The software company with the largest number of employees in Croatia, IN2 group, was established back in 1992. For a long time, the largest Croatian software exporter was Span, which was founded in 1993. Zagreb's Altpro, one 22 of the world's most significant companies which deal with rail transport technologies, is celebrating a quarter of a century of doing business this year, while the M SAN Group, the largest IT company in all of Croatia, will celebrate that same birthday next year.

That's not all, in Croatia, there are even older domestic technology giants. Combis, the largest system integrator in Croatia today, is part of the Croatian Telecom (Hrvatski Telekom)  group, and the next big celebration for that company is 30 years of doing business, as it was founded back in 1990. In that same year, the company Rasco, the only Croatian company that manufactures cars on a serial basis and had developed its own electric vehicle, was founded.

Back in the now distant 1990, the very first McDonald's in Russia was opened, the largest digital rights organisation, Electronic Frontier Foundation, was launched, and a match between Dinamo Zagreb and Crvena Zvezda took place at Zagreb's Maksimir Stadium. What happened at that match became infamous, and signaled just what was set to errupt in the following years in Croatia and the rest of the region. Ivan Franičević, the co-owner and director of Rasco says that he's proud that his company is now close to celebrating its 30th birthday. He emphasised the fact that from the outset, the founders of Rasco had a vision to create "a strong technological company that produces advanced, globally competitive products within our region".

"This creates opportunities for the development, growth and the advancement of a new generation employees, and such a vision doesn't come with an expiration date, because it's based on creating opportunities for highly educated professionals who come from this area and who want to continue to live here live," said Franičević.

"We don't want to remain alone in that, but we certainly want to be around for a long time," Franičević emphasised. The launching of Croatian start-ups continues to rise, and this trend will likely accelerate, but it is evident that today there are many Croatian technology companies that have successfully outpaced their start-up roots, and are now thinking of some new challenges.

Tomislav Car from Infinum says that today, the biggest challenges are because of the rapid growth, employment and the maintenance of high quality. "When we were smaller. we had more employment problems, now it's much easier for us, but we still have our main focus on maintaining quality as we grow," said Car.

Silvio Kutić from Infobip says that it's still somewhat unbelievable to him that he managed to create such a global story from here in Croatia, and that today his company's biggest challenge is at the global level.

"Infobip currently has one major competitor, a Silicon Valley company, worth 20 billion dollars, it's surrounded by talent from around the world and is today's strongest IT company. Although Infobip is number one in the world by the number of transactions and the number of people who using our platform, we're second in terms of revenue, for now,'' Kutić said, adding that Infobip's employees, their expertise, and their devotion to their work have made it possible for this Croatian company get to where it is today.

He says they have managed to create and nurture a special culture in a company "where everyone has a chance to make mistakes, try new things, learn from them, and progress."

"At Infobip, employees have the opportunity to work on global projects with the world's largest companies and thus work to shape today's communication," said Kutić.

He added that today, it's a challenge to attract talent, given the fact that this Croatian company is obviously not located in the center of the Silicon Valley in the USA. "Our CPAA (Communication Platform as a Service) industry is very large, it's extremely specific, the products are complex, it's changing rapidly and throughout the years it has been challenging to hire people with the expertise we need," Kutić said, noting the fact that they have designed programs such as the Infobip Academy in Vodnjan and the Learning & Development department, which now has about ten people in it.

Ivan Franičević from Rasco says that the biggest challenge for them is to make sure they don't accidentally ''eat themselves'' during their quick growth as a company.

"With accelerated growth, there's always a danger that the organisation and its mode of operation can't be followed, that the company, along with all of its growth, becomes ineffective in terms of its internal organisation and processes, thus destroying its competitive advantage, which is also the basis of its growth," said Franičević.

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A newly established tourist company in Croatia, which is a result of a merge, is only gaining and gaining in terms of its success.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 28th of June, 2019, with the entry into force of the ruling of the Commercial Court in Rijeka on June the 28th, 2019, the hotel companies Imperial and Makarska will now operate under a new name, Imperial Riviera d.d., thus completing the process of the merging of Hoteli Makarska and the Rab-based Imperium.

Both companies have successfully privatised Valamar and the AZ pension funds over the past few years. Imperial Riviera d.d. will be a joint venture company for investment and the development of tourist property within Croatia's region, and it is expected that Croatia's hugely successful Valamar will remain in charge of managing the company's tourism business. The common goal of this merge is to create value added for shareholders through the overall effective management of strategic tourism activities, as well as continuous investment in the development of the company's already impressive tourist portfolio.

Imperial Riviera currently boasts six hotels in its portfolio, as well as three tourist resorts, and two camps located in leading Croatian destinations on the island of Rab, as well as down in Dalmatia, more specifically in Makarska, which has 3,618 accommodation units and a capacity for as many as 9,000 guests at any one time, thus entering into the exclusive group of the ten largest tourist companies operating in Croatia.

Imperial Riviera d.d. will employ around 900 workers during the summer tourist season, of which 40 percent will be permanently employed, with the retention of all the acquired rights of employees in Makarska and in Rab, and the retention of all of the existing collective agreements. The business will continue to be organised with the destination in mind, thus keeping jobs in both Makarska and on Rab, and providing better conditions for further employee development in the long run.

"The intensive investment cycle launched in the previous period in Makarska and on Rab after privatisation, worth 250 million kuna, will continue in the unified enterprise on a larger scale and with much larger investment potential, which will enable increased capital investments in the future," stated Vlado Mesi, the CEO of Imperial Riviera d.d.

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As Novac/Gradonacelnik.hr writes on the 26th of June, 2019, after recently analysing the positive trends of the Croatian company scene on the basis of the data of the Ministry of Economy and other competent bodies, and finding that the largest number of Croatia's company owners are based in island towns and the largest growth has been recorded by the City of Dubrovnik, let's look at the situation with entrepreneurs.

The number of newly established companies in Croatia, likely to the surprise of many, is continually growing, in 2018, as many as 14,267 of them were founded, which is almost one thousand more than were found back in 2017.

The situation and trends have been analysed by city, that is - this time - the commercial court settlements in which the companies were founded. The data received from the Croatian Ministry of Justice shows that the largest number of companies last year, after Zagreb, were registered in Split - 1,680, then Rijeka - 1,348 and Pazin - 1,155, followed by Osijek - 1,123, Varaždin - 9,73, Zadar 7,30 and Bjelovar - 3,81.

In Zadar and Bjelovar alone, the largest growth in the number of newly established companies in the past year was recorded, 14.4 percent and 12.7 percent. Third comes the number of newly established companies in Split - 10.8 percent, followed by Zagreb, Osijek, Varaždin, Pazin, and then by Rijeka.

The Mayor of Zadar, Branko Dukić, pointed out that the fact that is now the third year in a row in which all economic indicators in the area of ​​the City of Zadar have been continually and significantly increasing, and today, Zadar is said to be a city of dynamic and agile entrepreneurship.

''The number of newly established companies, as well as newly employed people, as well as revenues, especially those from overseas sales, have all been growing. All of this suggests that most of Zadar's businesses, with their products and services, and primarily long-term business planning, have managed to respond to the challenges of the economic crisis and today, their development is based on solid ground.

They also demonstrate the ability to adjust and showcase their readiness to compete on the European market, which is confirmed by the high growth in exports of goods and services. It's great that growth is recorded by different branches of the economy - not just tourism and trade, but also manufacturing, transportation, and storage and construction,'' Dukić stated.

He noted that this year, they completed an investment worth more than six million kuna, secured by European Union funds, to redesign the existing entrepreneurial incubator and equip it with brand new facilities and equipment.

''We've invested in a coworking space, computer labs and conference halls, 3D labs, photovoltaic plants, various pieces of IK equipment and software, as well as a lounge bar for users, a meeting space... A new specialised incubator for high value added services is being prepared, and services and support for start-ups and small and medium-sized entrepreneurs who are developing innovative products are being provided, as well as access to knowledge-based and innovation-based entrepreneurship. For that, we've secured somewhat over 22 million kuna through the ITU mechanism,'' said a proud Dukić.

The City of Zadar, with EU funds, in partnership with Croatia's Chamber of Commerce (HGK), also redid ''COIN Zadar'', in a move worth a massive 5.1 million kuna. This is the very first Zadar-based coworking scene, and it has significantly eased up the launch of its own work, particularly in the independent activities of various ICT related professions.

In cooperation with Zadar University and with thanks to the funds of the cross-border cooperation project, they invested about 320,000 kuna in the design and equipping of the Space Code Hub. It is intended for students, IT entrepreneurs, and other similar target groups.

Recently, the construction of a 24.4 million euro Creative Industries Centre primarily focused on the audiovisual industry and the IT industry has also begun. Dukić added that Zadar is systematically investing in its young people through various scholarships for pupils and students.

''Investing in science, knowledge and professional skills is the only guarantee of successful entrepreneurship, economic growth, and professional development,'' concluded Dukić.

The second largest recorded growth in the number of registered companies in Croatia is in the continental town of Bjelovar, which isn't really all that surprising given their tax free model and the number of privileges Dario Hrebak and his city administration introduced to boost the local economy.

In just two years, Deputy Mayor Igor Brajdić said, Bjelovar's pro-entrepreneur initiatives spurred 240 entrepreneurs and company owners who invested a massive eight million kuna into Bjelovar's business development, while the town subsidised investment with three million kuna.

''The positive trend of growth of newly established companies is a reflection of mutual dialogue and understanding between businessmen and the representatives of the local authorities, as well as the positive investment climate created in Bjelovar.

The synergy between the city administration and businessmen is also reflected in the fact that Bjelovar is one of the most quickest cities to issue building permits. We also encourage innovation, so we organised the Best Startup Award for the second consecutive year, and the winner of the competition deserves 100,000 kuna and its business starts or expands in Bjelovar,'' he added.

''The city administration operates proactively and is at the service of the economy and citizens of Bjelovar, which has resulted in an increase in the number of entrepreneurs and company owners, and ultimately the number of employees,'' emphasised Brajdić.

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As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of June, 2019, In Kerestinec, near Sveta Nedjelja, in the modern greenhouses belonging to the Croatian company Rajska rajčica, the best type of tomato variety is produced and sold under the company's director Zvonimir Belić and 74 hardworking employees.

The Rajska brand operates within the Zarja Group, it is the largest tomato producer in the Republic of Croatia, and not long ago it changed its name after more than ten years in a new business move and in the scope of rebranding. Annually, Rajska produces three million packs of tomatoes which are currently sold in Croatia, it also exports 25 percent of its tomatoes to neighbouring Slovenia, and preparations for exports to Serbia and plans for Bosnia and Herzegovina are now also in progress.

In 2018, revenues amounted to about 17 million kuna and net profit amounted to 1.3 million kuna, while they expect growth of sixty percent for 2019. When it comes to these outstanding results, it isn't just the product and the quality of work involved which are responsible, this Croatian company's rebranding, in which around 700,000 kuna was invested, is also the key to their success. This includes costs such as creating new packaging and accompanying promotional activities. Rajska's rebranding was stimulated by the expansion of their capacity, which included an increase in their greenhouse area of ​​2.5 hectares.

"As we're the largest producer of special types of tomatoes in Croatia, and we cultivate a specific production method where we don't use pesticides and herbicides, we wanted to create a brand that will clearly showcase our specialties.

In this endeavor, we turned to the Fabular branding agency which thought up the name Rajska (eng: heavenly) and helped us to send out the message that we're cultivating tomatoes full of flavour with a natural process without sprays with our very packaging, and we're sure that this whole story will attract new customers and delight our already existing ones. The indicators we've had so far are promising and rebranding has been a great move for us,'' Zvonimir Belić stated.

Croatian Rajska tomatoes are otherwise the only licensed producer of special sorts of tomato varieties in Croatia's immediate region. Rajska's most charming specialty is that they are assisted by 10,000 bumble bees when the tomatoes are growing, and the tomato variety they grow is among the best in the world.

"We decided to produce these tomatoes because they're the best and the most tasty. The delight of visitors when they enter our greenhouse gives us the most satisfaction. They tell us that you literally get the impression that you've stepped in to heaven for all of the senses. The scent of our tomatoes takes them back to their childhood and we're proud of the fact that our products are a symbol of a healthy, home-grown diet that we all should try to get back to,'' he added.

However, the challenge facing this business is the same one facing most of types of industry in Croatia - the lack of a qualified workforce.

"At present, we have 74 workers, and we need to increase that number by another twenty percent, but finding people is a big challenge for us. Until 2016, there was no problem, but in recent months, it's extremely difficult to find new workers because there are no locals. As we've increased our capacity by one hundred percent, we have less skilled workers so we'll have no choice but to turn to the foreign labour market. We're aware that our competitiveness on the market depends primarily on the quality of the people we employ and that's why we always try to provide the best possible conditions for our employees,'' Belić stated.

The process of training and educating new workers lasts about three months, so that at the very beginning, according to the director of this Croatian company, there's a real need to properly invest in employees.

"We want to give every employee a chance for development and progress, and this approach has been rewarding to us and we've got people who have been with us for years, we're particularly proud of them and we're delighted that they're a part of our story and success. There are open quotas for foreign workers in the agricultural sector, but importing workers involes considerable costs for accommodation, education, and more, as well as the time needed to adapt.

Of course, the simplest solution is to employ local people, we've always made them our priority, but as there aren't any, we were forced to look at other options. We're currently working on the import of our first [foreign] workers, and there are no problems with getting them their permits because we're using the services of a foreign employment agency,'' Belić explained.

''We've also come across the long-known problem of importing low quality tomatoes and lowering prices that endanger Croatian producers with bad product declarations. Some products clearly state the country where the products are packaged, but not where the food was produced or grown, so customers can't identify what is and isn't a Croatian product, and some don't even have a quality mark,'' Belić said.

In the near future, as they have stated from this Croatian company, they are planning to expand to other markets and recruit an additional workforce, and their most important and long-term goal is to provide their faithful and new customers with continuous quality and freshness of their products, with an awareness placed on the benefits of healthy eating and the importance of ecological sustainability.

"These are the principles and standards that we won't give up on. Rajska tomatoes aren't just tomatoes, they're also part of a global effort to return to nature and to local, healthy nutrition," concluded Zvonimir Belić.

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More Croatian innovation continues to impress not only those in nearby Western Europe but those across the Atlantic in the United States.

As Marta Duic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 22nd of June, 2019, the Croatian company Agency04 agency is a Zagreb-based software development company that generates more than sixty percent of its revenue on the markets of Western Europe and the USA.

This successful Croatian company was founded five years ago, and today their team consists of seveny experts from Mobile, Web and Java development, user experience-UX, automatic quality control and so-called Agile counselling.

"All of [the company's] founders are people from the world of development, and we believe that this is one of the reasons why the quality of the solutions we deliver is primarily recognised. Our greatest achievements are our colleagues, all of seventy of them. Last year, that year was once again marked by the growth in the number of people in our team and an increase in the number of our clients. We ended [2018] with a 137 percent larger team than we had in 2017, and this year we expect to go down a similar path,'' stated Domagoj Madunić, the director of Agency04

This Croatian company is going from strength to strength, and it is currently focused on the markets of Switzerland, the USA, Austria, and Germany where they work for companies such as Strabag and ELCA, XebiaLabs, and in Croatia, they work for large companies including Iskon and A1. New markets that interest them are other European ones, and they include the British and Scandinavian markets, as well as those of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

"We gave our vision the name five star service, namely, we want to offer customers something that they'll be impressed with process of, as well as with the communication and the quality of the products they're buying from us. Something that sets us apart from all of their previous experiences. Our industry is changing quickly, and that level of service is like a moving target. The growth of our size and portfolio is likely, but only if we stay true to the highest level of service,'' explained Madunić.

Growth is clearly visible when looking at this company's impressive figures, revenues have risen from 6.95 million kuna back in 2017 to a massive 13.5 million kuna last year, with more than double the growth of employees, from 29 in 2017 to 71 who are currently working for this Croatian agency.

"We recently started working on our new website, and we decided on a somewhat brave concept and asked all of our customers for a video statement or a written statement. When we made a contact list, we counted that seventy percent would be willing to give a written statement, and maybe fifty percent would be willing to stand in front of a camera and record a video statement.

Not everyone likes such exposure, and it's not easy to get in front of the camera. We have taken into account that our customers are big companies and that we will have challenges and a long process of approving such statements. We were shocked when we got literally all positive responses, and 100 percent of the people asked about cooperation with us in some way or another. Such a relationship with customers can't be purchased with good sales and marketing, but only with good deliveries,'' said the company's director.

''This year, for the second summer in a row, we'll host a free summer school that will provide students with a theoretical and practical insight into Java application development using the Spring Boot library suite during five weeks. The course will take place online during the week, with personal meetings with lecturers taking place at weekends, and at the end of the school, participants will be able to show off what they learned during their time at our summer school in a two-day hackathon.

We've been looking for young and ambitious people because there's a large gap between academic and practical knowledge in Java programming, and among other things, we want to give young people the opportunity to learn something that will be practical to use.

Along those same lines, it's a great opportunity for us to reach some high-quality employees, last year, thirty attendees participated in this summer school, and from them, we've given permanent employment to four people,'' noted Domagoj Madunić.

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As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of June, 2019, one of the first ''tenants'' of the Zagreb Technological Park is a very successful Croatian startup called Altpro, which, in its 25 years of operation, has grown into a more than impressive organisation of 147 employees and exporters who sell their products in fifty countries across all continents except for Antarctica. In addition, this company has just become the first Croatian IoT solution maker for megalopolises.

The Croatian company Altpro has now released its monorail tracking device, which is not only the first such device in Croatia, but the first on the international level. This Croatian company based in Zagreb is now entering into the world of extremely valuable international partnerships. One of these partnerships is with no less than Mitsubishi, the largest Japanese company to be listed on the stock market. The European Commission (EC) has also included Croatia's Altpro on the list of 22 key technology companies that dictate railroad development on global level.

Altpro is currently developing a device that will enable railway companies to quickly and cheaply switch to the new EU security standard called ''ETCS'', which is expected to become a global standard and expand much further than Europe, because it is slowly being taken over by Japan, China, Indonesia, India and the United States.

It is now being claimed that the Croatian company Altpro is at the beginning of experiencing exponential growth and that it has transformed into a new Croatian industrial giant. Poslovni Dnevnik sat down and talked to the tireless founder and director of this impressive Croatian company, Zvonimir Viduk.

What's your plan?

After 25 years of growth in the terms of the size of a medium-sized company within the Croatian framework, I want Altpro to become a medium-sized company within the global framework over the next 25 years.

There's talk about you preparing for growth, for 1,000 employees over the next two to three years?

I think we've grown slowly. Large growth can only be permitted with large product orders, and on large markets. For the past fifteen years, we've been working on the market(s) and potential business in China and India. In the last five years, we've been exhibiting intensively over in Shanghai and Beijing. In the meantime, we've found quality partners not only in China but also in Japan, the USA, Indonesia, India, and even in large European countries.

If everything goes according to plan, according to the existing market needs in the next two or three years, we'd potentially have the capacity to look at further employment. And here we're talking about the growth of just one of our products.

Does this mean that everything depends on just that one product?

In our offer, we've got more products with which we're completing many years of development, homologation, and for which we know the global market with all its significant diversity and specificity. Being customisable and universal is of utmost importance today.

What can you say about this product for megalopolises?

This regards our infrastructure product for detecting monorail trains.

It's a globally unique product that detects the speed, direction and position of monorail trains and exchanges this data with other infrastructure subsystems. We developed it from our existing detection system. Monorails are a piece of technology in megalopolises, meaning cities with over ten million inhabitants, and which are busy and congested with traffic. In 2010, there were 25, and 2017, 47, with a tendency of further growth. Now, we can see that towns and cities with less than ten million inhabitants are also moving towards this system. Only China has 100 such strategic projects, and this technology is spreading around the world.

Who are your partners?

Several major companies from different countries from France to China, the United States, Japan, and all the way to Indonesia mean those who have noticed our specifically innovative solution.

In collaboration with them for the past three years, we've made joint installations and development tests and adaptation to their traffic control systems. For example, in India, after fourteen years, all of the testing is done, we've got all the permits, and now we're entering a joint venture with a local player.

It's the only way of entering with technological equipment in such large countries. We will have some production in India and there we'll work on the modernisation of their railways. We applied the same model in China and the partial localisation of production is already being prepared. Furthermore, Altpro has been the largest Croatian exporter in Indonesia for some time now. We've modernised more than 80 stations in four years. And there, we conduct our work through joint ventures with our largest technology company - Končar.

Last year, based on the results, that part of the business was raised to an even higher level. We signed a strategic partnership with the Indonesian partner, together with the Czech Škoda and the American Progress Rail, a member of the Caterpillar group, at Innotrans, the largest international fair in Berlin. Our plan is to develop even more business in Asia on classic two-track railways.

How long have you been building these business relations?

The high technology for infrastructure, such as railways, has been being developed for years. You have to prove not only things in a technological sense, but also in a business sense, you have to make huge investments before you even get a chance at getting your first job. We first tested our monorail sensory technology back in 2010 with a French partner, then with an Indonesian partner, then a Japanese one, then Chinese and American ones.

Do you have support from the Croatian Ministry of Economy?

The Economy Minister, Darko Horvat, is also an engineer and a businessman himself, and he's made it clear that he wants to help and emphasised the fact that such an industry is in the focus of interest. But more importantly, that ministry is actively working on incentive measures, such as removing obstacles, and communicating openly. An example of this are TIVs, an advisory team of the minister composed of manufacturing exporters themselves.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more on Croatian startups, Croatian companies, Croatian products and services, as well as all of the measures the Croatian Government and the competent ministries have put in place to aid entrepreneirship and innovation in Croatia.

Croatian companies are often forced to deal with cruel bureaucracy and draconian laws governing that red tape. Many would-be entrepreneurs sadly end up with a bitter taste left in their mouths after an attempt to get their ideas of the ground here in Croatia, but not everything is quite so bleak. Meet Orqa, a Croatian startup from the Eastern Croatian city of Osijek, which is the fastest growing Croatian Kickstarter campaign so far.

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 18th of June, 2019, this Osijek-based startup Orqa has enjoyed the fastest growing Kickstarter campaign in the Republic of Croatia to date. In less than 24 hours, Orqa managed to collect a record 1.5 million kuna in a mere 25 hours for its very first product - Orqa FPV.One.

The Orqa FPV.One is, or perhaps it's better to say are, the most advanced glasses for the operation of drones from a distance in the entire world. This was stated by Osijek's Orqa, and they have started to validate that bold claim via Kickstarter quite effectively.

Orqa is entering the market of First Person View (FPV) devices that are becoming more and more popular worldwide due to the increasing number of drones and remote managed devices that users have so far managed over cell phones, tablets, or other devices.

This group of innovative entrepreneurs from Osijek have plans and goals that are far from modest, and this includes their startup's very name. Orqa, or orca (killer whale) in English (orka in Croatian) is the name of the only known type of whale that can and will go out of its way to hound and kill a shark.

Currently, the best-selling FPV glasses are produced by the Chinese company Fat Shark, which is in itself an ironic name given the name of the Osijek-based startup.

Ivan Jelušić, operations leader and Srđan Kovačević, Orqa's executive director, who began their cooperation with the creation of a wall-mounted USB charger, won the Idea Knockout competition with their glasses last year and, thanks to this, they were able to go ahead and present their product across the Atlantic in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia and business pages for much more on Croatian products, services, startups and other companies.