Paper, stamps and photocopies of obscure documents are, alongside the sea, what Croatia is well known for. It seems the coronavirus crisis has forced Croatia into the 21st century, and not a moment too soon...

As Tomislav Pili/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of April, 2020, the current coronavirus pandemic has proven the importance of digitising a range of economic sectors, and Croatia is, rather shockingly, quite satisfactory in this area, according to an analysis by the European Investment Bank (EIB) entitled ''Who is ready for a new digital age'', which was presented on Monday.

Croatia is ranked among the 'strong countries' on the EIBIS Digitisation Index, given that the Croatian digitisation rate is above the EU average in the construction, services and infrastructure sectors.

Croatia earned 63 points according to the index and is in the company of Slovenia, Sweden, Portugal, Estonia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Austria. The highest value of 84 points was taken by Denmark and the lowest - 48 points - was taken by Lithuania.

In addition, the digitalisation rate in the Croatian services sector is also higher than even the US average, which generally stands better than the European Union, let alone paper-loving-stamp-needing Croatia, in terms of digitisation.

The EIB report states that 40 percent of Croatian companies in the manufacturing and construction sectors have been partially digitised, and 18 percent in manufacturing and 15 percent in construction have been fully digitised.

In the service sector, more than half of Croatian companies are partially digitised, and if fully digitalised companies are added, the share grows to more than 70 percent. In comparison, in the European Union, 40 percent of companies in the sector are partially digitised, and in the US, just under 50 percent of them are.

Among large companies, the rate of digitisation in the service sector in Croatia stands at an impressive 80 percent, while the US average is about 65 percent and the European average is about 55 percent. As expected, small businesses - defined by the EIB's report as having fewer than 50 employees - cannot afford to make major investments in the area, so 40 percent of them in the service sector are digitised, as opposed to every other one being digitised in the European Union and over in the US.

In what segments is Croatia still falling behind?

The extent to which the digitalisation of business brings positive effects is evidenced by the fact that the share of companies who have done so have increased their number of employees in the last three years, or they've at the very least remained more stable than companies that didn't start the process at all.

Namely, the average labour productivity of digitised Croatian companies has reached a value of 11.2, while in the European Union it is above 12, and in the USA it is very close to that same figure. At the same time, the median salary in a digitised Croatian company is around 15,000 euros a year, while the median salary in such a company elsewhere in the European Union is a very different 38,000 euros.

In general, European companies are less digitised than their US competitors, and they're particularly lagging behind in the construction sector. In addition, American companies are investing more and more in improving their business processes. It seems however, that both European and US companies perceive digital infrastructure similarly.

For more on business in Croatia, follow this page. For all you need to know about coronavirus in relation to Croatia, follow our dedicated section.

A more digital Croatia is on the horizon and a farewell to taking entire days off work to wait in pointless queues only to be told incorrect information by a poorly trained clerk could be closer than ever. The Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO) is another Croatian institution set to place a great big ''E'' in front of its services, and it can't happen soon enough.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes on the 7th of March, 2020, the tender for the first two phases of the digitisation of HZMO is now over, and the tender(s) for the following two phases is expected in the last quarter of this year.

The project, named the Modernisation of ICT Support of the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO) - or eHZMO, according to director Ivan Serdar, is one of the largest in the entire history of the institution, which truly isn't difficult to believe.

The Institute uses all available tools and channels in its communication, but it still uses traditional methods far more often than it uses modern ones.

''The Institute's large daily data processing system, which continuously caters to more than 1.5 million insured persons, more than 1.2 million pension beneficiaries and more than 150 thousand child allowance users (for more than 300 thousand children), requires modern information and communication technologies. That's why we launched the project and the EU recognised it by awarding more than 144 million kuna in grants for it,'' says Serdar.

The restructuring of HZMO's administration is a necessary step in the points of order launched by this project, especially since some processes date from the early 1980's and rely heavily on the concept of paper documents circulation, which is incredibly embarrassing when application solutions should absolutely cover the paper process exclusively in this day and age.

Unfortunately, the same can be said for the majority of institutions operating within the Republic of Croatia and that is why a digital Croatia that can drag the country into the 21st century is desperately needed. The country holding the rotating EU Presidency asking people for stamps and to take numbers and wait in line? It's more than just a little bit shameful.

As previously stated, the tenders for the first two phases of the project have now been completed and the evaluation of the submitted bids is currently in progress, but for the second two phases - which regards the implementation of the new IT system to cope with basic and support processes, the announcement is expected in the last quarter of 2020 and 145.3 million kuna has been secured for it.

Strengthening efficiency

The project, which is to be officially announced next week, claims to have a significant impact on the efficiency of internal IT processes, which will consequently significantly increase the quality of service to all users. “In layman's terms, it will reduce paperwork and red tape for users in exercising their rights through new and improved e-services.

It will then fully digitise the processes and all of the documentation, and by digitising, HZMO will transform existing processes and rearrange them so that the same or better results are achieved in a much more efficient way.

While it's rather embarrassing that so many processes and procedures in Croatia aren't digitised, it's great to see that a digital Croatia now appears to be closer to reality than it ever has been before.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for more on digital Croatia.

February 23, 2020 - As Google.org announces a second $400,000 for the Croatian Makers IRIM project, TCN talks to Rujana Bakic on empowering libraries and Croatian Digital Citizen 2.0. 

I have a very romantic notion of Croatian libraries. When I entered my first Croatian library back in August 2002 in Jelsa, there she was - a beautiful blonde assistant librarian with eyes the colour of the Adriatic. 18 years later, she is sitting across the room from me, preparing a presentation for me for a conference speech, my wife of more than 13 years. 

Back then, in 2002, we had a daily routine. As the library was the only place with public internet on her computer, she had to make it available for paying users, such as myself. And so our friendship started. 

Romance aside, one ageing desktop with eternally slow internet did not leave me with a lasting impression that Croatian libraries were a potential foundation pillar of digital change in Croatia. But, as with many things in Croatia, with the will and determination of a few good men and women, mountains can be moved. 

One of the most exciting projects in Croatia today, planting digital seeds for future and current generations is taking hold not only in Croatia but all over the region, led by Nenad and Rujana Bakic and described thus on the official website:

IRIM (Institute for Youth Development and Innovativity) is a Croatia-based non-profit organization (private foundation), which has developed and implements the largest extracurricular STEM program in EU – the Croatian Makers movement, encompassing now over 150,000 children in Croatia. Although IRIM originates from, and primarily operates in, Croatia, it has transposed its activities to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, where IRIM and local partners deliver IRIM-designed major projects (with initial funding from IRIM), reaching tens of thousands more children. Some programs are joint regional activities. Such cross-border co-operation is of utmost significance in the region which still suffers consequences stemming from the conflicts in the 1990s.

IRIM donates a large amount of equipment, but only as a foundation for wide and deep knowledge distribution using that equipment, through organized activities, teacher education (more than 3,000 teachers educated only in Croatia), content development etc.

The initial and still the core financing comes from local philanthropists, the Bakić family, but due to developing size and scope of its activities it has lately been attracting additional financing from external sources, including citizens (through public crowdfunding campaigns and general donations), companies, national and EU development funds. At the moment, IRIM employs 10 people, but has developed a strong ecosystem of educators ('ambassadors') and rich content platforms, enabling it to leverage its activities. 

Partnering with Google.org who dispersed an initial grant of $250,000 to IRIM back in 2018, Nenad and Rujana Bakic and the IRIM team have been focusing part of their efforts on transforming Croatian libraries from static and disconnected buildings which store books for hire to places of learning, innovation and empowerment. Apart from donating equipment, the project - which last week received an addition $400,000 grant from Google for the next year - is also heavily focused on education, training and workshops, empowering librarians with new digital skills to assist their library users.  

Empowered and well-trained librarians at the local level are in a great position to assist the local community and develop skills for the future - for all generations - and there have been more than 1,500 workshops just for librarians so far. 

More than 13,000 people of all ages have taken part in the project, taking advantage of the technology, expertise and equipment donated to the libraries by IRIM. 

The project is ambitious and is expanding rapidly, with greater 3D printer availability and the world's first 'makerspaces' in libraries in the world coming to Croatia soon. 

Rujana Bakic was among the speakers at this week's gathering at HAZU in Zagreb, hosted by Google.org and IRIM, which was attended by the US Ambassador to Croatia, Robert Kohorrst. Rujana hosted a panel talking to librarians and end users on their real-life experiences the IRIM library services. 

I am grateful that she found the time to explain the project to us in greater detail on camera in perfect English, and with great passion. 

Thank you both, and the entire IRIM team, for this fantastic initiative. Idemo dalje!

For many years, a more digital Croatia was the stuff of fantasies. How could this little country which loves the idea of making people take time off work to masochistically wait in lines to be told false information by poorly trained member of staff ever give up on that and opt for the ''do it yourself from home'' approach of more advanced countries? 

Amazingly enough, it seems Croatia is slowly but surely entering the 21st century, the idea of taking numbers and waiting in lines for hours on end are coming to an end, and a digital Croatia is now closer than ever.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 10th of February, 2020, the Institute has received 141.5 million kuna grants from the European Social Fund for the project of the digitisation of the pension insurance services, which should last for 46 months - meet eHZMO.

A co-financing contract for a project worth a total of 166.6 million kuna was signed on Friday at the Ministry of Labour. During the aforementioned 46 months, which is the project foreseen duration, the modernisation of the HZMO information and communication system and business processes will be carried out to increase internal efficiency and effectiveness for staff and individuals alike.

The new IT solutions, based in part on the use of artificial intelligence, will enable users to e-communicate with HZMO for most services without the need to take time out of their day to physically come to counters to speak to staff, and the consolidation of business after the completion of the project will provide a more proactive approach to users and have certain services made available regardless of opening hours.

"Considering the number of users that HZMO deals with on a daily basis and with today's digital environment, the quality of service depends largely on adequate IT support. An increasing number of citizens want to solve their problem with the service they need with a single click from their own home," said Ivan Serdar, HZMO's director.

For more on digital Croatia, give our lifestyle page a follow.

A digital Croatia was once a pipe dream and not much more. This country is worryingly infamous for its senseless, draconian bureaucracy and its love of turning what should be one sheet of paper into ten.

This love of paper, waiting, queues, being abused by salteruše (women who work behind counters in state administration buildings) and taking a number and waiting for hours is as masochistic as it is sadistic. Such is life in this country, Uhljebistan, from time to time.

It's difficult to understand how an EU country in the 21st century, where computers actually exist, still finds it acceptable to make people take entire days off work to sit and wait in queues in windowless, airless offices with numbers for their turn to be belittled by an unqualified salteruša who only has that job because she's someone's cousin's friend from school - just to get their hands on a piece of paper they're perfectly entitled to. A digital Croatia could prevent at least some of the idiocy of these types of experiences.

The tax office, MUP, HZZO offices and everything along those lines sends shivers down the spines of the experienced, who set out of their houses, having to drop all of their obligations, ready to be greeted with the expressionless pan face of an administrative clerk behind some dirty glass, prepared to have an argument over absolutely nothing after said salteruša reels off outdated or indeed completely false information as apathetic onlookers also awaiting their fate watch.

Could we finally be approaching the tail end of all of that utter nonsense and entering with the new decade into the era of digital Croatia? Maybe. 

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of January, 2020, this year, life will become much easier with the digitisation of the dreaded Croatian administration. Registering a newborn baby, applying for a permit to build a house or the issuing of ID cards and passports are part of 77 new services from e-Građani (e-Citizens).

Applying for access to land records, applying for construction and location permits, purchasing vignettes for a boat, and giving consent for a passport or child's ID card are all part of the new public e-services recently made available to citizens thanks to the birth of digital Croatia.

From the comfort of their own homes, as opposed to being trapped in a poorly decorated room with other victims of Uhljebistan, citizens will now be able to perform 77 e-services through the e-Citizens system, which was established back in 2015 and used by 804,881 citizens, as 24sata reports.

In order to be used, one must register with the central government portal. When e-Citizens started operating, only a few services could be used and there were few ways to sign up, but now things are beginning to expand, finally.

Each service that can be used through the e-Citizens system states what level of authentication is required, or in what way a person must be logged in to use it. More and more banks are making use of the e-Citizens system with registration through their token or m-token. Such registration has a security level of 3. It is sufficient, for example, to obtain a certificate of impunity or to report dependents and so forth.

A newborn baby can also be registered from home via the e-newborn (e-novorođenče) system, but the baby's mother must have a new ID card with an electronic signature verified in order to do so. If the father also has a new e-ID, he can confirm the mother's application from home as well, and if he does not have one, then it still needs to be done the old way, by going to the registry office. In addition to obtaining documentation without going to offices, the e-Citizens system also sends messages to your Personal Inbox to update you.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle page for more on digital Croatia.

The user of this, the currently most advanced public service so far in Croatia receives accurate documentation from public registers. Meet Start.gov.hr, the first real step into Croatia's desperately needed digital transformation.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes on the 2nd of December, 2019, Start.gov.hr, a new digital service launched by the Ministry of Economy to help people start a business, is designed to support as many as 200,000 users.

It has been available for public since the 1st of December, 2019, and it remains to be seen how many of the otherwise 15,000 new Croatian companies will choose to use this new service annually. It is currently Croatia's most advanced public service, integrating numerous partners, databases and registers, so it will only take two to three days to start a new business, as opposed to waiting in line after line and being asked for things which can only be described as insane by pan-faced state employees. At this stage, only what are known as ''physical'' persons from Croatia can use the service, but in 2020, it is expected that foreign company founders will also be able to utilise it.

IT solutions for Start.gov.hr have been developed by Fina and will maintain and develop a system whose benefits for the founders of small companies are enormous. In addition to being fast and significantly shortening the average of about 25 days to register a company, as well as skipping numerous visits to notaries, just one entry and one step is required. The e-citizen (e-građanin) system is accessed by the user themselves (there's no power of attorney) with a Level 4 credential to authenticate the certificate. Stepping into creating your own business now means merely filling out a unique online form that takes up to half an hour to complete.

What Start.gov.hr's form is, is a type of registry with the name of the company (there is a search engine to see what is taken and what isn't), activities and the TC amount, and a set of statements, one of which needs to be able to show the absence of any debts to the state. Specifically, the tax debt check is left for the first phase of the upgrade. For everything that follows and what sets the Start.gov.hr system apart from the rest of the market and from Hitro.hr, is that the user receives accurate and standardised documentation from public registers. This is an result of the interconnectedness of the relevant institutions, and the startup business is simplified.

After the application is completed, from the next click, everything is done by partner institutions, ie, for the first time all stakeholders are integrated, from the CBS, to the Tax Administration and HZMO onwards, in total there are about 10 institutions which are all connected. The cost is minimal and excluding the share capital payment (TC), the startup fee is 30 kuna for a simple d.o.o., 200 kuna for a normal d.o.o. and 250 kuna for an obrt. In order to reduce the possibility of errors, all fields filled in by the user, along with the instructions, have logical controls, and in order not to enter information for other persons there are ample security settings.

In the case of more than one founder, they receive a message from one that the documentation has been prepared and an invitation to sign a social contract with their OIB and to pay the TC. For this, a special account is opened to which the money is paid via credit or debit card (Visa, Maestro and Mastercard). The transfer of money will go to the transaction account as soon as it is opened, which is already possible with PBZ and Erste Bank, and according to announcements, will also soon be available with RBA, Addiko Bank and Zagrebačka banka.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more.

As Novac/Matija Boltizar writes on the 17th of October, 2019, Zagreb Holding is generally perceived by the public only through the services provided by that company. First and foremost, these are the collection and disposal of household waste, followed by the supply of drinking water and drainage, the distribution and the supply of gas, and the maintenance of the roads and public green spaces.

That being said, Zagreb Holding also deals with less well-known services such as holiday arrangements for children and young people and pharmacy services, but what few people may know is that this company has a specific corporate governance structure.

Zagreb Holding is a publicly owned company, 100 percent owned by the City of Zagreb, which is also the sole founder of the company. It has fourteen subsidiaries, owns eight companies and one institution, has about 7,700 employees, more than one million users and is, in terms of number and type of services, a truly unique company in Croatia.

Running such a corporation has many challenges, the biggest of which is balancing financial profitability with providing complete and equal service to all of Zagreb's citizens. What corporate governance looks like in one such company, Ana Stojić Deban, the President of the Management Board of Zagreb Holding, explained in an interview.

''Zagreb Holding operates in the public interest and, unlike the private sector, the primary objective of the business is to achieve the financial and non-financial goals and interests of the wider community. Regardless of the ownership structure, corporate governance should certainly ensure a balance between the financial and strategic goals of the company and the business based on the principles of sustainable development, which, depending on the sector of business of the company, best contributes to the development of the local and general social community,'' stated Stojić Deban. She also noted that special attention is paid to business transparency.

Among other things, all information about Zagreb Holding's work is publicly available on the company's website. The basic document in this segment of their work is the Corporate Governance Code. Its purpose is to establish, maintain and develop high standards of corporate governance and transparent business operations. The company also applies a strict Code of Ethics. Zagreb Holding also has a dual corporate governance model that is typical of all companies within that group.

Considering that a large number of activities are performed as a public service, Stojić Deban points out that there is no possibility for any type of different organisation, that is, of changing the ownership structure of the company.

''It should be noted that most of our services are in the category of services of general economic interest, which aren't performed for profit but to ensure the delivery of these services to end users in an efficient, economical and purposeful manner, at the lowest cost to the customers. In order to ensure a balanced development of the city and accessibility of services to all categories of users, investing in the city's infrastructure is crucial for our business, with which decisions on obtaining capital are inevitably connected,'' explained Deban Stojić, noting that Zagreb Holding has, in the last two years alone, realised a massive 1 billion kuna of investments and 323 million kuna of investments in public buildings.

Due to the nature of its business, Zagreb Holding is exposed to various types of environmental, social and management risks.

''These have multiple impacts on the business - there are factors that can be influenced and/or predicted, and there are also those that cannot be influenced. Managing risks is the responsibility of the Board. In principle, we can't influence regulatory changes, but the potential to nullify negative financial consequences lies primarily in the conversational corporate governance and use of synergy of the group, both operationally and financially,'' emphasised the President of the Management Board.

In addition to transparency, Zagreb Holding pays great attention to communication. In addition to regular communication with investors and employees, Zagreb Holding assures its customers the availability of all services and related information 24 hours a day.

An important role is played by the company's call centre. Users can call just one number at any time to inquire about all of Holding's services, instead of needing to find and call twenty of them. There are also customer centres and a mobile office - a specialised vehicle that allows citizens to contract services from the Zagreb Holding portfolio almost on their own doorstep.

Communication via Internet services, numerous public forums, educational activities, free guides and leaflets should also be mentioned.

Speaking of the future of the business, Deban Stojić says that development plans are related to the interests primarily of the users of their services and the employees themselves.

''These are processes that are carried out on a continuous basis with the aim of fulfilling the basic task of Zagreb Holding - the efficient and lasting provision of services of public interest with maximum environmental protection and protection of the interests of the local community. In addition, business digitalisation enables us to tailor our services to the needs of our customers and these are the processes that will characterise Zagreb Holding's business in the future as well,'' concluded Deban Stojić.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more.

How can not only the budget but the administrative mess in Croatia be overturned and managed rationally and sparingly so that it works for everyone, without us having to go to Estonia or Denmark? Believe it or not, there are some good examples in our own backyard. One Croatian city in particular is leading the way to change that is so desperately needed in this paperwork, tax stamp and queue loving little country.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of October, 2019, the continental Croatian city of Bjelovar saved one and a half million on the salaries of its employees last year, and they plan to save a further 2.5 million kuna this year.

We've rrpoted on Bjelovar's impressive and encouraging digital moves several times before, and now they are also working on the full digitisation of the city administration, making it the first Croatian paperless city. This small Croatian city also has a plan to make all entrepreneurs totally exempt from all taxes, levies and contributions, so as to encourage more people in that direction. Mayor Dario Hrebak, revealed to RTL Direkt the secret of the successful functioning of something that the majority in draconian Croatia cannot begin to comprehend.

"We reduced the wage bill by 1,150 million kuna. Today, there are ten less people working because they've retired. We digitised fifteen workflows, and we're planning for eighty. So, we balanced the work out with the people who stayed. We saved 1.5 million kuna. Maybe ten employees doesn't sound like much, but that's more than 10 percent in our city administration,'' explained Mayor Hrebak.

He added that in the City of Bjelovar they want to do more with the same amount of money because the modern economy cannot be based on such old and outdates systems. Ironically the ones Croatia loves and masochistically clings to so much despite all.

"People in Croatia have a wrong perception of digitisation. How much you save on toner and paper. We want to rationalise it all, we're standardising the processes. We've introduced an e-newborn system so that when a child is born, an e-citizen can collect all the documents and send them digitally to the city government,'' the mayor said. Such a move might not sound like much to those outside of Croatia, where the majority of paperwork is done online, but in the land of lining up for hours to be abused by an uljhe... sorry, I mean ''civil servant'', and told you're missing meaningless papers, this is a revalation.

Several similar processes are planned by the end of the year, which include enrolling children in kindergartens or applying for grants. Entrepreneurs will also be able to look online at the status of a building permit or similar permits for which they have applied.

"In Croatia, everyone wants to solve the problems that have been piling up for thirty years overnight. In Bjelovar in particular, for eighteen years, nobody dared to touch the surtax. Nothing gets altered overnight. We have now taken it down by 25 percent, by the end of our term, we will have no surtax in the city,'' Hrebak told RTL Direkt proudly.

He said that everyone needed the political will to see this through. He believes that total transparency is important and that every citizen must know where each kuna from the city goes. He added that politicians today have no vision and plan everything for one term, while he intends to hold at least two terms in office in this small but smart Croatian city.

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

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 2nd of August, 2019, the e-Financial Management project in the City of Zagreb has implemented its new paperless financial management process, with 12,500 city associates now issuing e-invoices more quickly and cheaper, with the added ability to monitor those invoices.

Digitising the City of Zagreb's financial operations has simplified its administrative process, increased its efficiency, and reduced general costs and processing times, said Miro Laco from the mayor's office.

It is, as he explained, a key city process involving more than 600 employees from all of the city's 25 governing bodies. The process is fully digitised for e-invoices, paper bills, and internal payment documents.

"The process itself has been significantly improved as the number of process activities has been reduced by 46 percent, and the process of digitising electronic bills takes just a few clicks," said Laco.

Considering the fact that there are 190,000 transactions which take place per year, or more than 70,000 accounts, with 15,000 internal documents printed so far and 105,000 transfers to budget users, we can say that through financial savings of about two million kuna a year and through a conscientious attitude towards the environment, we're operating in a correct manner,'' Laco added.

The digitalisation of financial operations in Zagreb simplifies the control and verification of accounts, as well as the creation of payment orders and the process of paying to accounts.

The main stakeholders in the digitisation of the City of Zagreb's financial business are the IT companies Apis IT and Omega Software, which have adapted their existing application solutions, and the information broker, a company called Electronic Accounts.

With numerous online services now available from the City of Zagreb, eFinancial business is a continuation of the process of digitisation the administration will continue to work intensively on it, Laco said.

"It's of primary importance that we want to have not only a smart Zagreb, but to make sure Zagreb is a city of happy people and entrepreneurs who can we shorten these administrative difficulties for, and help them to concentrate on the efficiency of their business. This enables management in accounting and allows us to know every single moment of where the process is and how we can intervene as needed,'' Deputy Mayor Olivera Majić said.

Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić has announced that he will soon launch the e-Permit e-service, which will serve, among other things, construction and issuing of permits for that field where many people come unstuck with ridiculous waiting times.

"We're left with two fundamental tasks - to be a true service to the citizens and to be a true logistics service to entrepreneurs," he said.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more. If it's just Zagreb you're interested in, give Total Zagreb a follow or check out Zagreb in a Page.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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