ZAGREB, 1 Nov 2021 - A total of HRK 4.7 billion was spent on research and development (R&D) in Croatia in 2020, which is 6% more than in 2019, and there were 25,217 persons employed in R&D, which is 5.7% more than in 2019, show data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.

Of the total funds for R&D, the largest amount was spent in the business sector, 47.9% or HRK 2.3 billion, followed by higher education with 32.2% or HRK 1.5 billion, while the least was spent in the government and private non-profit sector, 19.9% or HRK 941.9 million.

Labour costs accounted for the largest share of expenditures for R&D, 64.4% or more than HRK 3 billion.

Other current costs account for 24.2% or HRK 1.1 billion of total expenditures, while capital expenditures account for only 11.4% or HRK 540.4 million.

As for funds for R&D for all sectors, the largest part was financed by units with internal funds, 41.2% or HRK 1.9 billion. Central and local government follows with 33.8% or HRK 1.6 billion.

An analysis by sectors shows that enterprises mostly finance R&D with internal funds (72.7%), while the government and private non-profit sector (63.6%) and higher education (62%) are mostly financed by the central and local government.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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May 15, 2021 – Croatian students in the category of under 17 years of age, participated in the European Olympiad of Experimental Science. Not only that, but they returned as winners.

Young Croatian competitors at the European Olympiad of Experimental Science did not disappoint. Displaying great skill in handling experiments, data compiling, and problem-solving, Croatian teams managed to win gold and silver medals.

Tportal reports this year's competition ran from May 9th to May 14th. The host city this year was going to be the Hungarian city of Szeged. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic forced the organisers to change the format of the competition. With travelling restrictions in place, Croatian participants worked on their experimental competition tasks in Zagreb. They used the facilities of the Faculty of Science, a part of Zagreb University.

The European Olympiad of Experimental Science is an annual competition by the EOES association. This is a non-profit association for the promotion of science education in high school students in the European Union. Their official website describes the competition as a mix of „experimental and laboratory activities in the fields of biology, chemistry, and physics.“ In order to compete in the European Olympiad of Experimental Science students must first win national competitions in the related fields.

Results and Team Members

There were 120 students competing in this year's edition. They formed 38 teams. Croatian teams captured 6th and 7th positions in the team rankings. The gold medal went to Team B which was made up of Borna Perkovic (III Gymnasium, Split), Lovro Mirkovic, and Jelena Glasovac (XV Gymnasium, Zagreb). Team A won silver with Filip Vucic (I Gymnaisu, Zagreb), Petar Jukic and Nika Tretinjak (XV Gymnasium, Zagreb) in the roster. Mentors in charge of preparing the students, setting up laboratories, and translating the tasks were also a very important part of this result. They are the Faculty of Science members Tajana Begovic (chemistry), Andreja Lucic (biology), Petra Cvjetko (biology), and Kreso Zadro (physics).

Learn more about Croatian inventions & discoveries: from Tesla to Rimac on our TC page.

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