Croatia Needs to Turn to Knowledge and Innovations

By adopting guidelines for conclusions on how to improve the Croatian economy, which will be sent to the Croatian Government, the first media-economic hi-tech summit was held on Tuesday organized by the publishing house Vidi.

Numerous recognized experts spoke about the current economic situation and how it should look in the future. Ozren Jureković, the CEO of VERN, presented an interesting fact. Namely, only in Croatia can it happen that 35 thousand high school graduates are waiting for 36 thousand places at universities. – They will study for 12 years, and only 30 percent of those enrolled will graduate. After they get employed, it will take them another two to three years before the companies that hired them start to pay off. This is definitely unsustainable, and state institutions need to value knowledge so that it will start to pay off for them – concluded Jureković. Renowned global scientist Ivan Đikić stated that investment should be made in people, not infrastructure. He added that science can be used in building society, and this can only be achieved by investing in experts, responsibility and vision, creating a creative environment, interdisciplinarity, and developing hi-tech.

Davor Majetić, director of Atento, said that knowledge, innovations, and work are currently not valued in Croatia and that this needs to change. – It is difficult to commercialize knowledge in Croatia because it is not recognized as a value. And it is needed at all levels, not just for highly educated personnel. Instead of talking about people who do something, the situation is reversed – said Majetić. Gordana Kovačević, president of Ericsson Nikola Tesla, also believes that investment should be made in knowledge and innovations. She supported this with the example that the company she leads has been investing in knowledge for 60 years, resulting in an export level of 70 percent.

– Young people need to be taught that it can be better, and Croatia can be a knowledge-based country, but state institutions need to create the prerequisites for this. We must be innovative and look ahead because only in this way can we be competitive – said Kovačević. When asked how to bring young experts from Sweden to Croatia, she replied that an innovative corporate culture should be created, hierarchically from top to bottom. – Young people need to be provided with a reward system, not just in money but also to participate equally in the company’s work – concluded Kovačević.

In order to spend more, we must export more, and this will be achieved if Croatia adopts a clear export strategy in 2010. Then we will be part of the consumer spirit. 
– said Miodrag Šajatović, editor-in-chief of Lider. In response to the claims of Anđelko Milardović, head of the Center for Political Research, that the media in Croatia are not free because they are mostly foreign-owned and are a typical product of globalization, and are part of a social spectacle where the race for money and the creation of chaos are above all, he replied that Lider is not yellow journalism, and that he is not the only such media in Croatia. Tanya Rukavina, CEO of the consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, stated that there is a thin line between truth and falsehood in Croatian media. – A lot of information is released to the public, and the media have a great responsibility. While in Canada, where my company’s headquarters are located, it is normal for the headline news to be about a beached whale, in Croatia only scandals are published – continued Rukavina.

Damir Šlogar, owner of the Canadian company BigBlue Bubble, added to her words that it is difficult to judge who is yellow and who is an expert in Croatia, while in the country he comes from, this is not the case. Regarding entrepreneurship, he added that Canada, unlike Croatia, stimulates entrepreneurship. – Half of my employee’s salary is subsidized by the state, and it guarantees that it will compensate for all our export jobs. Šajatović continued to defend the profession, inviting all critics to come from Canada to Croatia and create newspapers. – In Croatia, unlike Canada, newspapers are produced for a market of 4.5 million inhabitants, and there are more important topics than beached whales – said Šajatović. Speaking about how Croatia should look in the future, he cited the example that even in socialism, there were between 10 to 20 percent successful entrepreneurs in Croatia, but that was not enough. – We need a visionary prime minister who will kickstart the economy – concluded Šajatović. (Mislav Nekić)