April the 15th, 2022 - The most well known Croatian hacker, Denis Perisa Darkman, has come up with something rather innovative and creative indeed - a new smart house of sorts.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian computer scientist and hacker Denis Perisa Darkman now has a new brainchild. To be more specific, he has devised a system of sensors that can automatically close windows in a house as soon as the first drop of rain starts falling outside.

This idea came to him thanks to no less than his pet cat, who may get into bother when left alone at home.

When it comes to Denis Perisa Darkman's cat-inspired idea, the blinds close on their own in the ground floor apartment if it starts to rain outside. Denis placed a small optical sensor on the roof of his building in the Sibenik neighbourhood Krvavice, where he lives, and that does the job, RTL news writes.

"When the first drop of rain falls down and hits the sensor, it sends out information that it is currently raining in this neighbourhood. The second phase takes place anywhere. So, I put that information publicly, online, so that everyone can use that information for their own projects,'' said Denis Perisa Darkman, a computer scientist and hacker.

Denis' cat helped him come to this idea, as he wanted to make sure his beloved pet was safe whenever he wasn't home with him. Just before the sensor on the windows closes the blinds in case of rain, a sensor from inside the apartment shows whether or not his cat is inside or outside, as well.

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September 7, 2020 – As Dalmacija Danas reports, young students from the Center of Excellence (Centar za izvrsnost) in Split have designed a device to fight the spread of coronavirus. The multi-purpose device has a contactless disinfectant, LED screen, and an ecological tank for old batteries and mobile phones, and could soon be found at the entrances of approximately 20 high schools in Split.

“The project is called Greenbox, it is a 3 in 1 solution, it includes an informative LED screen, a hand disinfectant, and an eclectic waste disposal area. We perfected it within the Center of Excellence, and the device is currently in 11 schools in Split,” explained Antonio Nikolić, a student at III. Gymnasium high school.

“In the programs, we have 430 students and 109 mentors, and they deal with topics related to mathematics, informatics, new technologies, and science. We also have the Center of Excellence for Entrepreneurship,” explained Ivica Zelić, director of the Center of Excellence of the Split-Dalmatia County.

He emphasized that a public call for testing students for this school year has been published. What they want, he says, is that students practically solve the problems that are set up to them.

Ilija Krišto, the assistant headmaster, believes that gifted children, but also capable and hard-working professors in the regular system, do not have the opportunity to show their potential.

“That is why the Split-Dalmatia County created this Center of Excellence and gives gifted children the opportunity to turn their ideas and potential into a complete project. The concept of Greenbox is just one of their many ideas. They have so many that we can't follow them,” Krišto revealed.

“It's all a challenge. You have a task and you need to solve it,” Antonio explained why he is happy to deal with such problems.

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This unique system from Croatia speaks Croatian and its possibilities can also be applied in tourism, trade, the hospitality industry, and even further. Meet Barica.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes on the 6th of December, 2019, a lot of physical work and skills in assembling components and an enormous mental effort with the application of expert knowledge led to Barica. Or - as it was born - B.A.R.I.C.A.

In the continental Croatian town of Varaždin, more specifically at the Faculty of Organisation and Informatics (FOI), Barica was ''baptised'' as artificial intelligence by the ''father'' Prof. Dr. Markus Schatten from FOI, and the "mother", former student Tajana Šokec.

The entire team of scientists and students within AILab at FOI is also responsible for Barica coming into the world. The ''being'' in question has a name which signifies something in English: Beautiful ARtificial Intelligence Cognitive Agent (the acronym B.A.R.I.C.A., or Barica as it's informally known). It is a cognitive artificial intelligence agent who currently resides in the aforementioned Varaždin faculty's hall, where it informs students and visitors about professors, schedules and more.

''The ''culprit'' responsible for the creation of the system is Tomislav Kotnik, editor-in-chief of Vidi magazine, who asked me to give a lecture on artificial intelligence at the BIG3 conference. He asked me if I could use some attractive avatar/chat bot/artificial intelligence. After searching for solutions that were not satisfactory, I decided to implement my own artificial intelligence, which will speak to me in Croatian during a lecture.

One sleepless weekend later, the first version of Barica was born. I showed the system to my colleagues and students and it aroused great interest from them. At the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AILab), we refined and expanded it, and the even the board fell victim to Barica's charm, so it received an official ''workplace'' at the faculty,'' explained Schatten, emphasising the merits of everyone on the team, as well as the aforementioned Tajana Šokec, who also received an award in regard to Barica.

Schatten himself implemented the framework of the system, and this first required a Hadwer modification, which included what could be referred to as a kind of carpentry work. An old makeup cabinet was purchased, as was an old television, a bakelite telephone and a computer.

"I bought some stuff that had already been used through ads, I found some stuff in the trash, everything is completely recycled parts, except for a monitor bought by the college. I repaired the makeup cabinet, removed the mirror, disassembled the TV and shortened it down, installed the monitor, disassembled the phone, connected the headphones to the PC cable and mounted it all, everything was turned white to give a quasi shabby chic and retro look, so the physical incarnation was created in a month and a half,'' the Varazdin professor explained, adding that the software part, which is more intellectual, lasted about half a year and that the idea was still developing.

Technologically and software-wise, Barica, has a system for text-to-speech, a natural language processing system, speech synthesis, generated video expression for the face and lips (lip sync, animation made with a tool from an ordinary static image), faculty knowledge and a graphical interface. One of Barica's most important features is that it works in the Croatian language, which was the main reason for its emergence, as such systems are very rare, as was pointed out by the lecturer of Theoretical and Applied Fundamentals of Information Sciences of FOI.

"I have no information that there is any similar system in Croatia in higher education institutions," he stated. Barica answers four questions as a basic aid to students and that is its main function, but Schatten says she has a much larger vocabulary and that the plans are to work on that.

Could Barica or maybe some future T.E.F. become a ''professor'' and thus replace him and other people?

"So far, only partially. The technology of talking agents like Barica and artificial intelligence generally has its limitations. We can do a lot, but we can't do much moe [than we have]. A (good) system can give a lecture and even respond to students' questions related to the material, but it cannot respond to unforeseen situations or creatively solve a new problem. Although artificial intelligence technology seems to be very close to human intelligence, we're still very far from it. This, of course, doesn't mean that very useful systems cannot be built with the help of artificial intelligence,'' concluded Prof.Dr. Markus Schatten.

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The Croatian-made robots from an Osijek startup can carry up to 800 kg of goods and are fully integrated into the company's system.

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 11th of July, 2019, Atlantic Group (Grupa), a food and distribution multinational based in the Republic of Croatia has started testing robots made by the Osijek startup Gideon Brothers in its new logistics and distribution centre in Velika Gorica near Zagreb.

Gideon had previously contracted testing in Atlantic Group, Orbico and Tokić. For this test, the Croatian company has stated that their other pilot project is still in production conditions.

Mladen Pejković, senior executive director for transformation and information technology at Atlantic Group, says that with this move, they've confirmed their leading position in this industry.

"We can see the many advantages of using Gideon's robots, such as increasing efficiency, alleviating the problem of employee scarcity, which is felt not only in tourism and manufacturing, but also in distribution, and here we break this idea of robots taking jobs from humans, because the that is actually true is cooperation between humans and robots, where repetitive and boring tasks are taken over by clever machines and thus enable people to focus on more creative work and control, increasing employee satisfaction, as well as business efficiency,'' stated Pejković.

The warehouse in Velika Gorica is fully automated. These Croatian robots, which can carry loads of up to 800 kilograms, are, in fact, integrated into Atlantic Group's warehouse management system. For that purpose, Gideon cooperated with Symphony RetailAI, whose software enabled the robots to perform such tasks.

Milan Račić, CEO of Growth and co-founder of the successful Croatian startup Gideon Brothers, says that in this way, Atlantic Group is following the world trends in digitalisation of business and e-commerce. The Gideon Brothers company was founded just two years ago. Its success has been great, and it currently boasts 55 permanent employees, including very highly qualified individuals. Investors from Croatia and abroad have so far invested an enormous 16.3 million kuna into this company.

Matija Kopić, executive director and co-founder of Gideon Brothers, says he is happy that Atlantic Group is using their robots.

"Our advanced visual perception technology raises the bar of what autonomous mobile robots can do in the right warehouse. We have excellent performance in industrial environments which the competing technology can't handle - and this proves the robustness of our technology,'' Kopić concluded.

Follow our dedicated Made in Croatia for more information on Croatian robotics, Croatian companies, Croatian startups, innovation, inventions, and much more.

Croatian innovation seems to know no bounds (other than state bureaucracy that is), and is continuing to go from strength to strength with an impressive wave of technological inventions and solutions, winning acolades and recognition from around the world.

As Samo Pozitivno writes on the 22nd of May, 2019, Croatian-made flight control software, Vibe solution, has been declared the world's best technical solution by the expert IFATCA jury, an international flight control association. As far as the acknowledgment for this piece of innovation, the representatives of Vibe and Croatian air traffic control received an award during the first day of the IFATCA58 event, which took place from the 20th to the 24th of May in Costa Rica.

To win the title of being the absolute best of the best, this Croatian software was carefully chosen among technical solutions from more than 130 countries worldwide. The jury awarded their recognition to the Croatian multi-briefing system, which is one of the brighter examples of cooperation between the private and public sectors.

''The idea was to develop a system that will enable the easier and faster information flow between departments in air navigation control so that decisions can be made timely and precisely on the basis of "in-time" information, but also to maximise the performance of the department. Croatia's air traffic control has proven to be an excellent partner, as it recognised this idea five years ago and helped us to develop a system that has made the experts proclaim it the best in the world,'' said Marko Emer, the creator of Vibe Solution software upon receiving the award which was handed over by Philippe Domagal.

The value of this Croatian software was recognised by most of the 50,000 members of IFATCA from more than 130 countries around the world, consisting of aerospace and flight control professionals, making this success even more significant.

"It's always nice to get praised for some work, but when that praise comes from the experts, and when the choice is between the solution made by an IT company from Croatia and hundreds of other software developing companies from some of the richest countries in the world, then that feeling of satisfaction is far greater. This award for Vibe Solution once again proves that Croatia can truly prosper by investing in IT and providing opportunities for digital transformation through our innovations,'' emphasised Emer.

In the following four days of the IFATCA58 conference, numerous meetings took place between representatives of air navigation control from around the world, and there were certainly be opportunities for Croatian representatives to elaborate more closely on their experience with Vibe Solution software.

''Now the Croatian air traffic control officially uses system uses the best multi-briefing software in the world, which surely brings extra credibility among colleagues from around the world,'' added Emer, adding that he hopes that this Croatian software will soon be adopted by yet more countries across the world.

Make sure to stay up to date on more Croatian inventions, innovation, products and services and much more by following our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages.

Click here for the original article by Slobodna Dalmacija

This Croatian startup currently employs 45 people. Its income in 2013 was thirteen million kuna, last year it reached 35 million, and in 2019, 50 million kuna is expected.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 20th of May 2019, the Croatian startup Zipato develops and manufactures smart home systems, which results in a Croatian solution that can compete globally with the likes of Apple, Google and Samsung. Just recently, 10,000 central ''Zipabox'' smart home computers have been delivered to the USA from right here in Croatia.

With that contract, the Croatian company concluded its single biggest job so far. Sebastian Popović, the co-founder of the former Vodatel, who is today the co-founder and director of Zipato, didn't want to delve too deep into the details of this contract, but he emphasised the fact that it was so significant that the production of Zipabox systems has moved to Zagreb.

For nine years now, 30,000 pieces of the same product but in its smaller series were sold across the Atlantic in America. Since then, far bigger orders have been dealt with by developers and OEM partners who have been equipping a larger number of apartments and various business premises with Zipabox's system.

"I expect there will be more similar contracts," stated Popović.

Sebastian Popović, along with Damir Sabol, is the only Croatian entrepreneur who has managed to build a profitable startup on the Croatian telecom market and then sell it successfully. Sabol sold Iskon to Croatian Telecom for 100 million kuna back in 2006, and Popović sold Vodatel to the former Metronet (currently integrated into A1 Croatia) for 80 million kuna just one year later. While he was in Vodatel, he developed the "eTV media centre", a computer that is the counterpart of today's well known IPTV set-top box.

Moreover, his former Vodatel was the first in Croatia to launch IPTV as a commercial service back in 2005. It had almost all of the functionality of today's IPTV, including video on demand. After the sale, Vodatel briefly moved to the building industry, but the global financial crisis, which hit Croatia in 2008, pushed that Croatian company back towards technology.

"We started nine years ago when we imagined ourselves quickly developing hardware and offering a smart home service in Croatia. However, we needed three years just to be able to show the first version of Zipabox," Popović noted.

He added that despite this, the hard work and effort definitely paid off. Although there were already many devices on the market and various smart home sensors around, either they weren't properly compatible with each other, or their installation and connection required large and burdensome investments.

"From the outset, we attracted the interest of customers from different parts of the world, mostly from some of the most developed countries, and they started contacting us and distributing and promoting Zipato in their countries," Popović said.

Today, the Croatian Zipato is present in an impressive 89 countries and across five continents. On its platform, more than 300,000 IoT devices are currently connected to 50,000 households and other spaces. The big business opened up its doors when this Croatian startup started to work directly with integrators and developers in the construction industry, instead of just with individual customers and distributors, who were so well equipped with new builds.

Popović emphasised the fact that they have had contacts with such companies in that industry since as far back as the year 2000.

As stated at the beginning, this impressive Croatian startup employs 45 people, it saw income of thirteen million kuna back in 2013 and as much as fifty million kuna is expected this year. In the last four years, they have also begun to contract OEM deals for telehandlers, power companies and other utility companies.

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

Click here for the original article by Bernard Ivezic for Poslovni Dnevnik

At the beginning of 2019, the Croatian company Include signed a two-year distribution agreement with one of the largest global providers of telecommunications services - Deutsche Telekom.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 4th of April, 2019, 42 global markets, six continents, 260 cities across the world, more than 1000 smart benches installed, cooperation with major global corporations, the European Parliament, Deloitte, Forbes... all in just four years - this is just part of the successful results the Croatian company Include from Solin has achieved since May 2015, when the first smart bench was introduced, until the beginning of 2019.

In the first quarter, Solin's Include didn't manage to acheive any real or significant results, as most markets were still covered by snow, and the first installations usually only begin in spring, but in 2019, Include achieved significant export performance. The amount of ordered benches, when compared to the first quarter of 2018, just one year ago, increased by an impressive 109 percent to  a staggering 2.3 million kuna, while total revenues increased by 115 percent.

At the beginning of this year, Include signed a two-year distribution agreement with one of the largest global providers of telecommunications services, Deutsche Telekom. The contract was signed for fifty global markets, and Include became one of the few Croatian companies with this type of somewhat prestigious contract.

In January this year, 44 Steora smart benches worth over 1.1 million kuna were sold and a new market opened its doors, Poland. The largest share of the bench sales relate to exports, and the Steora smart bench has found its way across Europe, having been delivered to Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Spain.

In February this year, Include continued its export activities - with new orders from neighbouring Montenegro, a new market opened (Chile, with two Steora Standard benches) and the month ended with deliveries of 27 smart bench to Greece, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Italy, and Hungary.

March 2019, as the ''test polygon'' for spring, resulted in orders of a new product from Include's sales portfolio - the Monna cyclo tables for Dublin. The new product was presented at the Smart City Expo World Congress in mid-November 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. In addition, two new distribution agreements were signed (Slovenia - 50 benches, France - 72 benches), five Steora benches for Chile and Bermuda were ordered, as were 38 benches for other European countries - the United Kingdom, France, and Montenegro.

It's certainly important to highlight the continuation of Include's global digital outdoor advertising project via the Steora Urban+ smart benches. After they started the project with the installation of fifteen Steora Urban+ benches in Bratislava (at the best locations in the city), at the end of 2018, the project increased its pace in March this year with the another fifteen new Steora Urban+ smart benches, this time in Dublin, Ireland.

Currently, two major cities in the European Union are using Include's external digital advertising system through the Steora smart bench, it is an advanced DOOH system developed within the company itself. The system works using Facebook-like technology, enabling you to choose multiple advertising screens at the same time, set marketing campaign goals, and track advertising results in real-time.

Croatia's Include expects significant business results in the upcoming two quarters, and in addition to that, the realisation of a new investment round is being prepared, followed by the expansion of production capacities and the recruitment of new employees.

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At the Croatian Maritime Museum in Split, the most valuable specimens of torpedo weapons have been being exhibited from the world's first torpedo factory, in Rijeka. This British-Croatian invention took the world of naval warfare by storm, and its two creators, one from Rijeka in Croatia and the other from Bolton in England, are being honoured.

As Morski writes on the 30th of March, 2019, the museum's curators Petra Blažević and Ljubomir Radić formed a new museum exhibition of the torpedo collection back in 2016. The occasion was the 150th anniversary of the emergence of torpedoes, which was once the most prominent weapon to have existed in naval warfare, the prototypes of which were created by Giovanni Biagio Luppis Freiherr von Rammer, sometimes also known by the Croatian name of Vukić, a Croat born in Rijeka, who served in the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

We often hear that the torpedo was entirely invented in Croatia, but in terms of international recognition, that honour goes to the the British public, more specifically to Robert Whitehead, an English engineer born in Bolton in northern England, who gained his fame for the development of the very first effective self-propelled naval torpedo.

Luppis, born in Rijeka with family ties to the southern Dalmatian region of Pelješac, had the desire to create the so-called "coast guard,'' which was a self-managed ship loaded with an explosive to protect the coast from attacks coming from the sea. Since he had no funds for the development of such a project, nor did he have the proper engineering knowledge for the task, he connected with the manager of the Rijeka metals factory, Robert Whitehead, a Brit.

From their friendship and cooperation there came a weapon called a torpedo, and how frightening it was to gaze upon this newly-made weapon, French travel writer Victor Tissot testifies, who, after his stay in Rijeka, referred to it as "the most terrible of all sea monsters".

Soon after the ''birth'' of the torpedo, Luppis went to live in Italy and sold his share, production remained in the hands of his friend Robert Whitehead, who was still across the Adriatic sea in his factory in Rijeka. By the end of the 19th century, most of the world's navies started to acquire the Rijeka-made torpedoes and warfare at sea became unthinkable without the use of this weapon, at least until the end of the second world war.

As a natural continuation of the valorisation of this truly outstanding torpedo collection, which has been inherited by the Croatian Maritime Museum in Split, the authors of the exhibition have created a book with a catalog of the collections.

''Both the exhibition and the book bring out the historical context of the torpedo's creation, the biographies of both Luppis and Whitehead, and a series of interesting uses of torpedoes on torpedo boats. The bilingual book, which in honour of the torpedo's British and Croatian creators, has been published in Croatian and English, was promoted to the public back in February at the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum in Zagreb and then again in March in Split,'' said Radić.

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