ZAGREB, 28 April 2022 - Visa on Thursday presented Digital Croatia, a project supporting SMEs and trade businesses with the aim of increasing card payments between them.

Visa's Croatian director Renata Vujasinović said the wish was to help small Croatian businesses in the recovery process. Digital Croatia, she added, is part of Visa's efforts at European level for more than eight million SMEs.

In Croatia, Visa's goal is to increase card payments by 25%, she said.

The main goal of Digital Croatia is to step up the development of a digital payment network, so for six months Visa will offer free POS terminals to Croatian SMEs and trade businesses which did not accept card payments until now, she added.

The project will be carried out over the next three years.

Robert Blažinović of the Economy Ministry said that during the COVID crisis Croatian businesses adopted new digital technologies and business models en masse, adding that Digital Croatia would help them switch to a more modern way of doing business.

He said the ministry would advertise a call at the end of June for HRK 206 million in grants for the digitalisation of Croatian businesses.

ZAGREB, 13 Feb (Hina) - As many as 20% of secondary school students have witnessed or experienced online sexual harassment, and nearly half have seen their peers share sexual content via chat, a profile or forum, according to results of a DeShame study.

The study has shown that children and young people send and receive sexual content (sexting) from people they know and from strangers. Nearly 40% of young people have received sexual content, about 10% of students send their own sexual content, and some of them do so persuaded by another person, because of blackmail or a threat.

Sexting, sexual harassment and violence have become a part of many young people's lives in Croatia, said Lucija Vejmelka, the research leader and professor at the Social Work Study Centre of Zagreb's Faculty of Law.

Sexual behaviour still taboo

"Sexual behaviour is still taboo, so children and young people don't turn to adults when they have a problem, while exposure to sexual harassment has short-term and long-term consequences for the victim. High exposure to violence can seemingly normalize such behaviour, which increases peer pressure and makes intervention more difficult", warned Vejmelka.

Young people are most often exposed to derogatory expressions and descriptions, sexual jokes and sexual jokes and comments about another person getting likes.

Occasionally, they are witness to sexual photos of persons their age being shared, websites or groups on social networks being created for sexual content or gossiping, and photos or videos of sexual intercourse of someone they know being shared, of which only 20% of them spoke up.

Girls experience sexual harassment more often, while young people in general most often experience gossips and lies about their own sexual behaviour.

The study was conducted by the Safer Internet Centre (CSI), with the support of A1 Hrvatska, and 2,016 students of the first and third year of secondary schools across Croatia took part.

The results were presented as part of an event marking Safer Internet Day, and the study was also carried out in Denmark, Hungary and the United Kingdom.

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ZAGREB, 26 Nov 2021 - Digitalisation is the key to increasing productivity in agriculture and the driver of developing domestic production, an analysis by the Smarter consulting company said on Friday, noting that digital technology can help farmers to work more precisely, efficiently and sustainably and increase productivity.

"In Croatia, less than 10% of farmers use digital systems to manage production. In developed countries that share is far higher - almost 40%...and about 30% use information technology and keep their records using digital tools," Smarter said in the analysis.

It recalled that in addition to EU funds, Croatia has the opportunity to invest in digitalisation through the NextGeneration EU instrument and the National Recovery and Resilience Programme, which has ensured about HRK 77 million for digital transformation in agriculture.

Of that amount, HRK 14 million is earmarked for the establishment of digital public services, HRK 50 million for smart agriculture and HRK 13 million for traceability, which can significantly contribute to the wider use of digital technology in agriculture.

Digitalisation can help Croatian producers to improve decision-making and increase ecological efficiency, which is a must based on the EU green deal.

Smarter recalled that the COVID pandemic has impacted the application of new technological solutions and a large number of farmers organised their own digital platforms to promote and sell their products. This, however, is insufficient as users do not have sufficient experience in using digital tools.

In Croatia, digitalisation is present in large companies and among young people who are continually introducing new technology and are achieving European results in yields and productivity. However, in Croatia, most farmers are older and are poorly educated and IT literate.

The best solution would be for all agricultural producers, regardless of their size, to use a national IT platform that would ensure the introduction of digital management of production that would be open to every farmer in addition to the existing commercial systems.

Such a platform would also enable the ministry to have insight into and plan and monitor production, while producers would be provided with the best practices in their sector.

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ZAGREB, 13 Nov, 2021 - Croatia has made slight progress in the digitalisation of its economy and society, moving up by one spot to 19th place in the European Commission's 2021 edition of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI).

"All EU Member States have made progress in the area of digitalisation, but the overall picture across Member States is mixed, and despite some convergence, the gap between the EU's frontrunners and those with the lowest DESI scores remains large. Despite these improvements, all Member States will need to make concerted efforts to meet the 2030 targets as set out in Europe's Digital Decade," the Commission said in a press release.

The DESI tracks member states' progress in digital competitiveness, human capital, broadband connectivity, integration of digital technology, and digital public services.

The best performers are Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Croatia lags behind Slovenia, but is ahead of Italy, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria.

Although Croatia moved up to 20th place on connectivity, it still lags behind the EU average, with a score of 45.4 against 50.2. It scored best on integration of digital technology, ranking 13th with a score of 40 against the EU average of 37.6.

Croatia placed 16th on human capital, with a score of 46.7 against the EU average of 47.1. It performed worst on digital public services, ranking 24th with a score of 52 against the EU average of 68.1.

"While Croatia has good fast broadband coverage (86% national and 39% rural), its overall fixed broadband take-up is slightly below the EU average. One of the positive developments in connectivity is the assignment of harmonised spectrum for 5G in August 2021. This is a stepping stone for further acceleration of the digital transformation and is bringing benefits to both businesses and individuals," the report said.

"The level of at least basic digital skills remains slightly low compared with the EU average. In contrast, for above basic digital skills, Croatia comes in above the EU average. Croatia is progressing its successful implementation of the e-Schools programme, with all Croatian schools (1,320) included in the second phase of the programme," it added.

Croatian enterprises continued to take advantage of the opportunities offered by digital technologies, and there has been a sharp rise in popularity of e-invoices, with enterprises’ usage up from 12% in 2018 to 43% in 2020, following the amendment of the Public Procurement Act which made e-invoices mandatory for enterprises.

The report notes that the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development expects to finalise the 2021-2027 National Plan for the Digital Transformation of the Economy mid-2022. The 2021-2029 Smart Specialisation Strategy and the National Plan for the Development of Artificial Intelligence are also under development.

The Commission says that Croatia has taken several steps to provide more digital access to the public administration, for example through the eID notification platform for electronic payment of fees, and that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan lays out an ambitious roadmap, with reforms and investments touching on all dimensions of the Digital Economy and Society Index.

"While Croatia is making modest progress to reach the Gigabit Society objectives, significant improvements are still needed. High right-of way fees are an impediment to VHCN (very high capacity network) deployment. Efficient VHCN deployment could be further facilitated by absorption of EU funds, implementation of the connectivity toolbox and addressing the lack of coordination in permit granting between central and local government, in particular on permit granting and fees. The recent assignment of harmonised spectrum suitable for 5G usage is an important step towards digital transformation, enabling Croatia to take full advantage of a digitalised economy and society, both for households and businesses," the report concluded.

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ZAGREB, 28 June 2021 - Croatia is near the very top among European countries in terms of development of the digital services it offers to citizens, and a total of 89 e-services are available to citizens, Jutarnji List daily reported on Monday.

According to data from the Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society, there are 1,281,911 users of the e-Citizens system in Croatia. During the pandemic, the number of users rose by as much as 50%. On 1 March 2020, there were 839,935 users, and by 26 May, the number had gone up by 441,976.

Interior Minister Davor Božinović told Jutarnji List that 2020, the year of COVID, had forced people or at least hurried them into looking for solutions in the digital world.

"Every time when we move the solution to a problem or the exercise of a right into the digital sphere..., we send a clear message to citizens: We appreciate your time, we are thinking of your health," Božinović said.

It all started back in 2014 with the issuing of new electronic ID cards and launching the e-Citizens system as a central place for e-services.

Of all the applications available, citizens use the application of the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) the most. To date, as many as 773,165 applications have been submitted, including 8,401 applications for an e-driver's licence, 3,965 for an e-passport, 4,149 for e-registration of temporary residence of Croatian citizens and 122,568 e-registrations of permanent residence of newborn children.

MUP's IT experts also launched the Enter Croatia project. It is used by foreigners who intend to stay in Croatia, and they can submit their data in advance via the website in order to reduce waiting times at the border. The program has now been upgraded with digital COVID certificate. Over the past year, 2,469,931 announcements of arrival in Croatia have been received through the application. The application also includes a portal via which digital nomads can apply for a temporary stay of up to 12 months. Thirty-six digital nomads have applied to date.

The Commercial Services Agency (AKD) has announced new digital projects, such as the new generation of ID cards and passports, biometric residence permits, and EU digital COVID-19 certificates.

"We will also establish a platform with electronic services for e/m-Signature and e/m-Stamp, create an ID mobile application and enable valid electronic signatures via mobile phones and tablets," said AKD CEO Jure Sertić.

As of 2 August, the e-ID card will be merged with the health insurance card but not with the driver's licence. Minister Božinović points out that an EU directive prescribes the appearance and content of the form of driver's licences and that an ID card cannot contain a driver's licence.

In September, the e-Citizens system will be upgraded to include the 2021 census of the population, households and dwellings. Citizens will be able to register using an electronic census questionnaire, Jutarnji List said.

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June 21, 2021 - An exciting new step for Croatian energy efficiency is happening at the Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar (EIHP), as the Institute makes significant changes to its building which will also help to educate other experts for energy efficiency.

As the Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar (EIHP) gave great support and input in REPLACE Project that brings energy efficiency to Rijeka and Kvarner region, just put a new log in Croatian energetic efficiency. The start of June saw the contract for granting non-returnable funds for founding nZEB- the National Training Center on Nearly Zero Energy Buildings, EIHP reported on its website. The project is financed from the „Energy and Climate Change“ Fund, part of the Financial Mechanisms 2014 – 2021 in Croatia, courtesy of the European Economic Area (EEA).

1,600,000 Euros is the total value of this project on which EIHP collaborates with the Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Zagreb. The goal is to empower all the actors in reconstructing buildings to meet the nZEB standard.

With the center being established in the building of the Požar Institute undergoing reconstruction at the moment, it will be a vivid example of the modern technologies that are implemented in nZEB design.

„We will show and share with the widest professional community the solutions that will be developed through this project. The whole process of reconstruction will be followed and documented, and detailed, and serve as an example in the training program as the Institute becomes the first public building in Croatia reconstructed in such a manner. With the appliance of green energy technologies (electrification of heating and cooling systems with a crane that uses shallow geothermal source, integrated photo charged electric plant on the roof, energy containers, efficient lighting), we also wish to include E-mobility, which is certainly the future of traffic as well as accomplish complete digitalization of all technical systems the building is using. That way, the building will be the showcase example of the double transition – green and digital“; said the EIHP headmaster, Dražen Jakšić.

Jakšić attended the signing of the contract, along with the regional development Minister Nataša Tramišak, Norwegian Ambassador Haakon Blankenburg (as Norway also supports the Financial Mechanisms 2014 – 2021), Ministry secretary of economy and sustainable growth dr. Mario šiljeg, and the Faculty of Civil Engineering dean dr. Stjepan Lakušić.

„After this pandemic, we will not develop by repeating the things from before. A historical change is afoot, and we will meet it with green development and with new 'Green Deal'“, concluded Jakšić while Minister Tramišak also pointed out that securing financial mechanisms for advanced technologies and energy renewal.

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April 8, 2021 - Nautical tourists will now be able to pay the fees related to their stay online thanks to the digitalisation of nautical fees as Croatia continues dragging itself into the modern era.

Tourist fees for nautical tourists in Croatia can now be paid online, reports Goran Rihelj for Hrturizam. The website Nautika E-visitor, available in English, Croatian, German and Italian, offers the ability to accept payments according to the size of the vessel, which can stretch from 7 to over 20 metres in length, as well as by the number of people. These options are aligned with the Tourist Tax Act.

The site was launched last year as a service of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport, and Infrastructure and allowed tourists to pay and download an electronic confirmation of payment of navigation safety fees online. The entire system has been updated in regard to the digitalisation of nautical fees, and there is no longer an option to pay the fee in person, which was the only way to do it previously.

''Croatia has a fleet of 4,300 vessels, more than 140 nautical tourism ports with over 17,000 berths and over a million cruise passengers. The average consumption of nautical tourists is 126 euros per day, and in the charter sector, 183 euros per day. More than 30 percent of that money is spent on other forms of tourism, from cultural content to wine and gastronomy,'' reads the article on HRturizam.

port, pixabay

It goes on to remind readers that Croatia.hr, the main website for information on tourism owned and run by the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ), also has a subsite for nautical tourits. The subsite, just like the main site, is available to view in Croatian, English, German, Italian, Czech, French, Japanese, Hungarian, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, and the Swedish language.

An important step in digitalisation development of Croatia has proven and continues to prove especially useful during the ongoing global pandemic, which makes frequent physical contact with other people risky.

As such, nautical tourists generally have an edge when it comes to being able to self-isolate and enjoy their holidays safely with a chosen group of friends or family on their private vessel. This is yet another argument for them to visit Croatia, along with the breath-taking coastal landscape accompanying clear Adriatic sea.

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August 28, 2020 - From September 1, 2020, every company needs an email address entered in the court registry. The digitalization of Croatia is just around a corner. But, in order to join, you'll first need to print out the forms and then return them. Via mail.

If you own a company in Croatia, you need to join the court registry, writes Lider.hr. The only thing they need from you is an email address. After applying, you'll be able to gain access to the so-called electronic mailbox to which the courts will send all letters. This is finally a step to digitalizing all correspondence between legal authorities and every business in the land. Although to join the new electronic system, you will first need to apply. By mail.

Registration mail address in the court register

The obligation to enter an email address and access the electronic mailbox exists for all companies, regardless of whether or not they are involved in disputes which require the services of the courts. The registration of the email address is free of charge. But first, you'll need the form. You need to print this out, complete it, and then return it by registered mail. The form must be signed and have the seal of the company, and if the company has more than one board member, all must sign it. Three days after sending, you must check if your email address is in the court registry. Remember to check the email address is spelled correctly.

E-communication

Once your email address is entered in the registry, you need to send a short letter to the email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in which you will write:

"Please, join the company XXXXX d.o.o. to the e-communication system."

In the letter, you must supply the OIB, company name, e-mail, and the name of the person or persons representing the company, with the personal data (OIB, address) of each.

You should also check with your bank or FINA that you have the technical prerequisites to receive letters electronically. The so-called 'level 3' credential is required, and it is held by larger banks, FINA, and other institutions. Here is a list of all institutions that carry this credential, so choose one of these services to enable electronic communication.

In addition to the credential, you'll also need to obtain a signed certificate. This is a certificate that is used to legally sign documents with an electronic signature - it has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature. The issuers of the certificate are FINA, AKD and the Ministry of the Interior, with FINA and AKD having both a credential and a signature certificate.

Once you’ve done all this, you can access your email inbox at the email address here. If the company receives correspondence from the court, a notification will arrive at the email address. 

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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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Click here for the original article by Novac/Jutarnji/Gradonacelnik.hr