September the 26th, 2021 - The Republic of Croatia is set to present APIS IT, headed by Sasa Bilic, at an upcoming summit in the Belgian capital of Brussels at the end of this month.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Lucija Spiljak writes, the development of a cloud strategy and the application of open source and cyber security issues are the main topics of the EURITAS summit entitled "Ensuring Digital Sovereignty of European Governments" which is set be held on the 30th of September in Brussels.

EURITAS is an organisation of European providers of IT services operating within the public sector that brings together eleven IT companies in majority public ownership from eight countries. Along with Croatia, those countries are Austria, Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.

Croatia will be represented at the summit by APIS IT (Agency for Support of Information Systems and Information Technologies), whose President of the Management Board, also Vice President of EURITAS, Sasa Bilic, will participate in the discussion on digital sovereignty. This is a close area to APIS IT, considering that it is Croatia's leading state-owned company for IT solutions for state administration and local self-government, which participates in the development of the national cloud strategy.

As a publicly owned company, APIS IT is focused on the needs of public administration, so the biggest users are the Ministry of Finance, ie Tax and Customs Administration, the Ministry of Justice and Administration and the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property for which APIS IT has built and maintains complex information systems.

On the other hand, in cooperation with the Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society, APIS IT is collaborating on two significant EU projects - the establishment of the Shared Services Centre (CDU) as a state cloud, and e-Business.

As the cloud strategy is one of the key topics of the summit, Sasa Bilic gave a brief overview of cloud services in Croatia and in Europe, but also specifically in the company he leads.

"According to Eurostat data, Croatia's use of cloud services is above the European average, ie in the upper third of the table. This, however, applies to the economy, while we as a technical partner to the Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society in the cloud platform construction project are particularly focused on public administration. Here we can say that in less than two years since the beginning of the project, we've reached 200 public administration bodies that use the infrastructure and services of the Shared Services Centre, which is an excellent indicator of the justification of the project implemented by the Central State Office. Namely, the planned performance indicator that we need to achieve by the end of 2023, when the project officially ends, is 300 users, which speaks volumes about the interest and needs of public administration bodies,'' explained Sasa Bilic in a bit more detail.

Sasa Bilic also explained why the summit's focus is on primarily digital sovereignty. For the European Union this issue is becoming increasingly important given that 92 percent of the data from the Western world is stored on servers owned by companies outside the EU that aren't subject to European laws on personal data protection, while at the same time, among the largest 20 technology companies have none from the EU.

"Such a state of affairs and dependence on monopolistic suppliers who aren't subject to the European Union's rules of the game is an obvious strategic weakness of the EU, which the prime ministers of Germany, Denmark, Estonia and Finland warned about in a joint letter sent to the European Commission a few months ago.

Control over data, but also hardware and software, they pointed out, is not only an important economic but also a first-class social and security issue. Therefore, the leaders of the four countries, led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, called on the European Commission to adopt an action plan based on a new digital policy that will be open to cooperation with all, but whose main motive will be digital independence and self-determination.

The Croatian IT giant, which records revenue growth every year, has secured two national data centres in Zagreb and Jastrebarsko that meet the strictest TIER3 security and availability standards.

"Thanks to such a level of security, we can be the first choice for storing all IT systems, applications and data, so, for example, data about people will not have to be stored outside of Croatia. However, an equally important aspect of this topic is that through the construction of digital independence, we can provide and retain high value jobs, which creates the preconditions for the further development of society as a whole,'' explained Sasa Bilic.

The guaranteed availability of data centres stands at an impressive 99.98 percent per year, they have more than 1800 square metres intended for the storage of IT equipment, with the possibility of further expansion, while the delivery of 1.6 MW of electricity is guaranteed through the installation of four electricity sources with a total capacity of 7.2 MW.

This provides capacities that can successfully follow the growing needs of public administration, but also the private sector in the next medium term. According to the company, both data centres have redundant power sources, cooling systems and telecommunications networks, which can guarantee their customers uninterrupted operation and business continuity in all circumstances.

For more, see Made in Croatia.

May 24, 2021 - The new method, me.mum, only needs a drop of saliva for analyzing hormones and predicting fertility. The project aims to present a reliable solution for all women and couples who are planning a pregnancy or trying to conceive but are experiencing difficulties.

As we hear about the latest technological advances and discoveries, the first thing that comes to mind might be a Tesla truck or a new social network available in the app store. Thus, we wonder, what purpose does technology serve? We believe, therefore, that today's progress in the technology industry is dictated by the latest trends, whims, and social needs of the human being (and it is worth clarifying that it is not all bad).

me.mum

But it also depends on where we look, because not every day people and ideas appear willing to change the course of, for example, the way we know about family planning and predicting fertility. A Croatian entrepreneur, based on her life experience, decided a few years ago to take action on the matter and revolutionize the way in which women can better know their bodies and plan the desired pregnancy with their partners through an innovative method, and it only requires an easy-to-use device and a mobile application.

In 2015, after two years of expectations, disappointment, and hopes, Maja Bujas felt pushed towards four years of developing me.mum, which is an innovative portable fertility monitor and app that can accurately predict women's fertile days by analyzing the levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) from saliva. Its technology is built from scratch, and provides personalized insights into women's hormone profile, and detects the most fertile days, which significantly increases the chance of conceiving. Chances of getting pregnant are higher when women can identify their fertility window. me.mum combines the most popular methods of determining the fertile days: period calendar and measuring luteinizing hormone (LH) from saliva, instead of urine.

Maja Bujas, founder of me.mum

After conceiving the idea, the research and development stage followed. In 2017, the first functional models and app were designed. In the two following years, two prototypes of me.mum were developed, and in December 2020 the final product was completed. That way, after four years of development and two prototypes, Maja can finally share one simple to use solution for all women and couples who are planning a pregnancy or trying to conceive but experiencing difficulties. When you are trying to conceive, the most important thing is to determine your fertile days. With me.mum you will do it easily and simply.

Its use is very practical and easy to learn for all those interested in predicting fertility in few steps. The best time to use me.mum is in the morning, but you can use it during the day too. Before using, it is important not to eat or drink anything, except water. That way your saliva will be clean. According to Maja and her team of developers, the process of using me.mum can be summed up in only three easy steps! 

Currently, the product is already on sale in the early-bird mode, in which all those interested in buying it can access an exclusive price. The market price will be €119, but at this time one can order it through two packages: one for €59, which includes the smart fertility monitor device and the me.mum app. The other, for €69, also includes an online nutrition course for boosting your fertility. The estimated shipping date worldwide will be July 2021. The app will be available as soon as the first me.mum devices are delivered.

Likewise, the me.mum crowdfunding campaign is still in effect, with 25 more days for all those willing and interested in collaborating with its developers, who would like to hear feedback from the early users and grow the me.mum community. Also, through their crowdfunding site, you can learn more about me.mum, the team behind its development, how to use it, any updates in purchasing and shipping, and more!

For more, follow Made in Croatia.

As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of October, 2019, the ACT Group's director Teo Petričević stated that ''individuals who build a value framework with a strong, proactive message create great social change,'' at the Zagreb Innovation Centre (Zicer) at the Zagreb Fair (Velesajam), where the winners of the Social Impact Award Croatia awards were announced.

The aim of the program is to encourage students and young people between the ages of 14 and 30 to be part of the development of social entrepreneurship in the world through the realisation of their own entrepreneurial ideas, which will aim to solve social and environmental problems. A jury of social entrepreneurs, faculty lecturers, business advisers and program partners awarded three teams.

The jury handed out awards to Invisible Zagreb's projects - which the first educational tour in the Republic of Croatia led by former and current homeless people, Clear Coast - a mobile application for locating, reporting and forwarding information on illegal dumping sites and landfills to the competent waste management and marine and coastal pollution services, and Service4you, where people explore their skills and satisfy their various needs.

Finaktivci also won votes from the audience, and this is a project aimed primarily at educating pre-schoolers about finances and teaching them how to use their money more wisely. In addition to the cash prizes, the winners of the competition were awarded free participation in the SIA2019 international conference in Kiev, Ukraine, as well as priceless mentoring support.

"We want to give young people a sense of social entrepreneurship and teach them how to start a business and turn their mistakes into something good. We have provided them with mentors who have guided 158 young people through five workshops this year in Zagreb, Osijek and Split.

If you have a good idea, get started with it, you can count on our support,'' said Renata Glad, National Coordinator of SIA Croatia. The Social Impact Award program is otherwise implemented in more than twenty countries in Europe, Asia and Africa, and involves more than 8,000 students and young people annually.

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia page for much more.

Earlier this year, there was even talk that Konzum and Lidl's checkouts could end up accepting Bitcoin. Could a unique Croatian solution make that a reality?

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Bernard Ivezic writes on the 15th of September, 2019, of course, the aforementioned stores don't offer this payment possibility yet, but the first Croatian product that could potentially enable it has now officially appeared on the market, and (miraculously) in full compliance with stringent Croatian laws.

Meet Adeo POS box office. Behind this piece of Croatian innovation is the director of one of the oldest brokerages in Croatia and a financial expert who was very interested in taking over the Zagreb Stock Exchange just last year, Milan Horvat.

Its entry into the payment system, through Fima Plus, which is managed by Fima Pay, coincides with the entry into force of the Union PSD2 Directive, which opens up practical space for the development of fintech in Croatia. In cooperation with the Zagreb-based software company Neoinfo, Horvat launched the first Croatian crypto box checkout on the entire market. Fima Plus CEO Milan Horvat says that Zagreb's Neoinfo was the first to recognise the potential of such a solution.

"Following the successful implementation of Fima Pay, both companies want to continue their business cooperation by developing new joint projects," Horvat says. Igor Vukmirović, the director of Neoinfo, confirms that this is his goal as well, as Adeo POS cash registers are used by more than 1700 users, including Franck, Koncar and BSH events. He adds that this doesn't mean that these users already have this service, as crypto payments will do have to be contracted separately.

"Our vision is for Adeo POS to be the most technologically advanced cash register on the regional market, and consequently, we're following the latest trends in the world of sales and payments," says Vukmirović. He adds that that's why they've already offered, along with their POS checkouts, support for payments made with Google Pay, Apple Pay, Garmin Pay, and then M2pay card processing. In addition, they offered mobile payment through Settle from the Norwegian company Auka, which also wants to solve the problem of converting other currencies into kuna directly at the site of actual payment.

Horvat says that it is now thanks to the support offered by the Fima Pay cashier service, that Adeo POS can also support payments with Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether and Bitcoin Cash.

In the case of all these payments, the merchant receives kuna in their account, but Horvat's goal is much higher that that.

"The plan is to extend the use of Fima Pay to all companies that have recognised the importance of digital business transformation and to enable them to receive payments in cryptocurrencies, as every company in the world, including those registered and operating here in Croatia, can accept the payment of their invoices and bills in cryptocurrency," Horvat concluded.

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

Vee Mee, a Croatian company based in Zagreb, is contributing to the traceability of food production with a mobile application (app).

As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of September, 2019, ''Letting our kids know what they're eating'' was the guiding principle behind the development of VeeMee, a Croatian digital platform in the agricultural and commercial sector that, in just a few clicks on a smartphone, gives consumers complete transparency about the origin of the products they're buying.

A large number of Croatia's residents usually fill their fridges with fresh fruit and vegetables from local markets, with greater confidence that they will find local produce here. But occasionally there are some imported products,, which we cannot know about unless we peek under the table to check what is written on the boxes where the groceries came from. However, one Croatian company has made sure that with the use of the swipe of a finger alone, people are able to check the origin of the products they buy.

The founder of the idea is the Croatian company VeeMee, whose co-founder and CEO, Marko Kozjak, explains that the platform is a specialised search engine for the agro-economic sector, which links complete chains of stores, contributes to the transparency of sales in food stores, and enhances consumer loyalty and security.

The platform contains the so-called PID profile (producer/profile identity) or "producer identity" profile that serves to standardise relevant information about the grower and the crops they grow. By scanning the QR code on the product, Kozjak explains, the consumer quickly obtains complete information about the farmer and the food they're buying and consuming. All data on the platform is standardised and transparent to all users.

"PID is the identity of the manufacturer clearly defined by the standard we set, that is, the relevance of the data to everyone in the store chain. The primary data was collected from the manufacturers who then verified it through our mobile app, or by using the VeeMee search engine,'' Kozjak explains. He has been working on the idea since back in 2010, and the methodology and processes developed were merged in 2017 with the founding of VeeMee.

"With our standardised traceability, more than 1,500 tonnes of food from three EU countries have been marketed. Over 250 tonnes of food has been rescued and over 1,100 tonnes of smart logistics have been completed. The data says that a transparent system specialised in the food sector is needed in the European Union and in the world.

The platform brings the producer closer to the end customer, gives them the opportunity to get to know them, provides the manufacturer with their own brand, the individual's brand and their distinctiveness, opens up options to a digital world that is faster, more personal, more transparent and more accessible, and provides an overview of food surpluses/deficits in the region and guidelines for further development,'' noted Kozjak.

Therefore, PID, ie a neutral designation of origin, is used by farmers in the three EU countries, and by the end of the year they hope to increase beneficiaries in EU countries, as well as more Croatian users. The reactions they have received have been excellent, especially since the company is in its beginnings of development and recognition.

"The revenue side is sustainable and organic, the company has been recapitalised this year, and with the development and the upgrade of the platform, we're working to increase revenue and recruitment.

We currently have more than 1,100 different profiles that almost cover a complete range of fresh farm produce. In addition to the fresh assortment, manufacturers also have processed products such as oil, milk, honey, prosciutto and more,'' says the Croatian company's director.

With regard to import and export goods on store shelves across Croatia, Kozjak says that the data shows that we're not sustainable and that in some segments we have a surplus/production deficit.

"The system we're developing should provide answers. In order to properly convey information on the surplus or deficit of imported goods, all domestic production parameters are required, primarily focused on four basic questions: Who? What? Where? How much?'' Kozjak explained.

"We're digitising complete smart logistics processes to address unnecessary costs, CO2 emissions and food waste. In addition, we're developing AI-enabled digital declarations, which will reduce food waste over the long term and ensure faster and more transparent traceability. If we're planning to use blockchain in the future, we don't want it to be an agricultural statistic that someone manually enters, as has been done so far,'' concluded the Croatian company's director.

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia page for more information on Croatian products, Croatian technology, Croatian innovation and much more.

As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 13th of August, 2019, after CRANE invested 100,000 euros in them, the young Croatian team got a spring in their step and and created a game that has become a worldwide hit. The director has announced the completion of the game this year.

Last November, eleven members of the Croatian Business Angels Network - CRANE, invested 100,000 euros into a gaming studio and startup called Hyperion Studio from Jastrebarsko, which released the computer survival game ''Journey of Life''.

Not even one year later, this Croatian game found itself on Steam's list of the world's top 250 bestsellers. This is a great success not only for Hyperion and the game itself, which is not even finished yet, but also for the Croatian gaming scene as a whole.

"The players have recognised the potential tjhe game has and we'd like to thank them for that. We're working to improve it each day, and feedback is extremely important to us during this period," said Adriano Žeželić, Hyperion Studios' director and the conceptual founder of the game.

CRANE supported Hyperion with the aim of encouraging the Croatian gaming industry and the development of the Journey of Life game, and as Žeželić said, they were given a a spring in their step, mentorship, and financial support when it was needed most. It's now on this young Croatian team to justify the confidence of those who have invested and complete the game by the end of the year.

"The collaboration has been extraordinary from day one and I can say that I'm extremely pleased. It took us a while to adjust to all the circumstances, but without their support we wouldn't have gotten into the situation we are in today.The investment we received allowed us to bring the game to the level of competitiveness and successful results. We also agreed with CRANE that the company needs to expand and work on other products,'' the conceptual founder revealed.

This Croatian startup has three people in charge of the game's development and one public relations person, but, as the young director reveals, they plan to hire another developer so they can be even more productive when it eventually expands, which is planned. Otherwise, this unique survival game takes place on an island in the Pacific where the main character has to build basic tools and components for survival out in the wilderness, learn to hunt, and manage life in a dangerous environment.

This Croatian game is currently only available for PCs, but Hyperion Studios has announced that it is preparing mobile travel versions of the game, which will be available in the second half of this year. All of the income, as they pointed out at Hyperion, is being returned back to the company for the best possible game development. "So far, about 12,000 units have been sold, with 2,500 units sold during the first seven days of August. Our goal is to finish the game, followed by a major promotion that should bring significant results," Žeželić explained.

The team received significant support from players and users from around the world, and the game, according to its co-author, has been sold in more than eighty countries worldwide.

"The biggest interest in the game comes from North America and Germany, and in Europe we have sold at least one copy in all countries except Macedonia. All of our resources and our main focus are currently on Journey of Life, so we don't plan on embarking on a new story before this one arrives to its Beta version,'' concluded Adriano Žeželić.

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia page for much more on Croatian innovation.

As Lucija Spiljak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of May, 2019, the Zagreb software company Ingemark and the RoomOrders startup, launched by Croats despite having been registered in America, created the first application (app) for ordering food from hotels to hotel rooms and started to conquer the many challenges of the huge global market. They began with the development of this application at the end of 2017, and back then, as a pilot project, they first tested it out at the Hilton Hotel in Boston.

According to them, they will launch RoomOrders at the Hilton Sydney hotel, and then in Belgrade's Hilton in Serbia by the end of the month. The application's software, in which 2 million euro has so far been invested was started by the Zagreb-based company Ingemark, which has been in existence since as far back as 1990, and as of 2006, it has specialised in software development by order.

Funds for the application's development have also been withdrawn from EU funds. In the list of references are big clients such as Agrokor, Adris, HT... One of the most significant cooperations was, as they say, one in the Middle East where clients developed a platform that distributed multimedia content, and soon their latest project, ZorroTines, a regional music platform, will see the light of day right here on the Croatian market. Right now, it seems that this Zagreb company's RoomOrders app is going to go very far indeed.

As Eugene Brčić Jones, the marketing and sales manager at RoomOrders revealed, last week at the International Hotel Technology Forum in Zagreb, the company negotiated with numerous hotel industry leaders about integrating their products.

"We've intrigued the leading world chains and deepened the existing relationships, about which we're certain will bring us to the position of ''disrupter'' of the in-room dining segment within the hotel industry," Brčić Jones said, adding that he believes that in several years, it will be present in a number of world hotels which boast 4 and 5 stars.

"With the help of the RoomOrders application, guests in hotels can order food to their rooms in a few clicks and not in the ''old fashioned'' way. In addition to it having a faster mode, hotels can embark on this project without any large investments," explained Ingemark's director Jurica Mikulić, adding that the application has managed to receive some excellent initial customer reviews and financial results for the hotel. Hilton in Boston has increased its average order value by as much as thirty percent.

''We offer a simple solution that not only increases revenue, but promotes hotels through user-generated content and facilitates analytics. The greatest benefit is that this solution can be implemented without disturbances to the processes involved, and it provides almost instantaneous results,'' Brčić Jones added.

The author of the application, Haris Dizdarević, explained that the creation of RoomOrders was triggered by the current rather obsolete ways of ordering and the obvious need for faster selection and the changing of the menu that guests want in the room.

"We realised we should digitise the offer and thus expand it. The simple idea has become a complex but a successful project," said Dizdarević, explaining that the positive signal was the fact that hotel guests continue to use the application after the first time of using it, and for several days in a row. Although they acknowledge that the Croatian market is not really a priority, they're still negotiating with several Croatian hotels in Dubrovnik and with Maistra, Blue Lagoon (Plava Laguna) and Liburna, and that soon, the application will be launched in Sheraton, part of the huge global Marriott hotel chain.

Otherwise, RoomOrders was introduced DoubleTree by Hilton in Zagreb a few months ago, but then it was a modified version of the app.

"With the new application or system, the guest can, as soon as he is given the room after booking, in advance, even when travelling, immediately choose a range of dishes and orders so that it's ready and waiting in the room upon their arrival. The guest doesn't need to order it from the hotel room, they can do it in advance and choose from a simple and flexible application where all the photos, descriptions and the prices of the food and drinks in the hotel's offer are,'' they explain from hotel Sheraton where this new type of offer and service will be on offer by the end of May, which will, as they say, bring about improvements.

"The application also enables sharing of guest experience on the platform, real-time appraisal of food and services so that the hotel can almost react at the same time to all guests' comments and adapt to the current wishes and preferences of the guest," they added from Sheraton.

"We're sure that at some point there will be some competitors in this segment on the market, but we believe that we're strong and already ahead of them all. We're focusing on the development of this product which we want to make perfect. Along with marketing, the analytic component is the most important, to be more concrete, the analysis of the reactions, comments and the number of orders, so, the entire internal process. We hope to conclude this year with good results and continue to expand successfully,'' Brčić Jones concluded.

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

Click here for the original article by Lucija Spiljak for Poslovni Dnevnik

As Mia Biberovic/Netokracija writes on the 5th of April, 2019, Snapchat's camera is set to become even smarter, as was stated yesterday at the Snap Partner Summit. Namely, an expanded reality platform was presented for developers under the name of Scan, and among the first partners is Croatia's very own Photomath, which will now enable Snapchat users to easily solve mathematical tasks.

For a while now it has been able to be seen that Snap has been heading in the direction of expanded reality more strongly. This was yet more visible when the wildly popular app introduced real-world scanning, recognition abilities, and the possibility to purchase through Amazon, directly via the app. In addition, Snapchat's camera enabled song recognition through Shazam, and new, more interesting camera applications were presented yesterday, this means that Giphy will be able to recognise real-world objects and include a convenient GIF to match, and Photomath will recognise maths problems and offer users a solution.

Croatia's Photomath application has already risen to extreme levels of popularity. Back in November, Netokracija exclusively wrote about the Croatian app's impressive 100 million downloads. In addition, founder Damir Sabol then announced that they received a six million dollar investment. This partnership with Snapchat, which, when announced at Snap's event for partners, received a special applause, and will surely help make these already impressive figures even higher.

As Damir Sabol, the founder and CEO of Photomath told Netokracija, this collaboration is well positioned for targeted users because Snapchat and Photomath have very customised user bases and naturally coincide.

Sabol: The basic features of Photomath will be available through Scan.

Among other things, Sabol revealed that only one part of the application's functionality will be integrated into Snapchat's Scan:

Only the basic features will be available on Snapchat - specifically, getting solutions for whatever is being scanned. For all of the other features, and mostly for step-by-step explanation, Photomath is there. Thus, Photomath's founder believes that such a cooperation will open the way for new users because Photomath isn't intended for offering only the ultimate solutions to mathematical tasks, but a higher educational value through the solving process, and this can only be achieved through the Photomath application itself.

When it comes to the number of users, Snapchat is still lagging behind Instagram, but CEO Evan Spiegel revealed, as TechCrunch writes, in the US, Snapchat reaches nearly 75 percent of all people between 13 and 34 years of age.

We reach 90 percent of people between the ages of 13 and 24, in essence, we reach more people of that age than Facebook and Instagram in the United States, the UK, France, Canada and Australia does.

This also proves Sabol's assertion that the target group matches them. However, on the sidelines, what Snapchat's greatest asset is the will of the user to explore the world of expanded reality, which is something other social network platforms have not yet achieved. In addition to being an inevitable source of customer entertainment, this is also a great opportunity for partners, and examples of collaboration were presented yesterday, such as those with Netflix, or with the well known GoFundMe platform, to share news of various charity campaigns.

Scan will allow us to scan everything around us in order to interact with objects and living creatures, whether it is banknotes, monuments, or our pets in expanded reality. Otherwise, Scan was created based on the startup of Scan.me.

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

Click here for the original article by Mia Biberovic for Netokracija