The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, Martina Dalić, stated on Tuesday that innovation and the development of an innovative environment is one of the most important topics for the future of the Croatian economy, as only keeping pace with competition can ensure stable and lasting economic growth.
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Participating in the 3rd Scientific Forum “Smart Specializations for Smart Economic Growth” at the Faculty of Economics in Osijek, Dalić said that the Smart Specialization Strategy, adopted by the Government in March last year, aims to direct the economy to areas where the strategy assessed that there is significant room for innovation in creating new products and services, using modern technologies.
Essential instruments for implementing the strategy
Grants for research and development activities have been awarded to companies ‘Dok-ing’, ‘Rimac Automobili’, ‘Altpro’ d.o.o., ‘GDI’ d.o.o., and ‘Infodom’, and so far a total of 22 contracts have been signed, with a total value of 252.4 million kuna.
She warned that this strategy cannot be realized without modern technologies and that Croatia cannot be satisfied with the amount allocated for research and development, given that official statistics show that total public and private expenditures for this purpose amount to 0.85 percent of GDP.
There are two essential instruments for implementing this strategy, which are financed from EU funds, namely public calls for research and development projects for large enterprises and calls for the establishment of competence centers and innovative environments. For these purposes, 300 million euros is available, Dalić reported, adding that contracts with large enterprises are already being signed, and the first contracts for the establishment of competence centers are expected soon.
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Creating a better environment for smart specializations and high value-added products is not only related to the use of funds, Dalić noted, and therefore a draft law on support for scientific-research work in the economy has been prepared, which should be in the adoption procedure by the end of the year, aimed at providing tax incentives and support for research and development projects in companies.
Minister Dalić also expects that by the end of October, amendments to the law on encouraging investments will be in the Government’s procedure, which will supplement the law with two types of support for industries in the field of information and communication technology, including a 50 percent reduction in corporate income tax obligations for a period of 10 years for investments over 50 thousand euros.
Better cooperation
The President of the Croatian Economic Society (HDE), Ljubo Jurčić, stated that it is not enough to just provide money for certain projects, but that the state needs to establish better cooperation with the private sector and local government units, as only in such coordination is it possible to develop production and create jobs.
– We in Croatia have not yet reached such a combination. The state needs to know what can be done and produced in which area, and then develop infrastructure with local government to create adequate educational and other institutions that would support the private sector, Jurčić assessed.
The President of the Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP), Gordana Deranja, emphasized that HUP is dissatisfied because the reform process has slowed down and that the atmosphere in the country needs to move away from topics that do not create jobs, employment, and stop emigration. It is necessary to determine in which direction Croatia should finally go, so as not to be at the bottom of the EU, Deranja stated.
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Before the scientific meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Dalić signed five contracts under the call “Monitoring the Development of New Products and Services Arising from Research and Development Activities”, with a total value of 78.4 million kuna.
Grants for research and development activities have been awarded to companies ‘Dok-ing’, ‘Rimac Automobili’, ‘Altpro’ d.o.o., ‘GDI’ d.o.o., and ‘Infodom’, and so far a total of 22 contracts have been signed, with a total value of 252.4 million kuna.
Deputy Prime Minister Dalić stated that projects that these companies are working on independently or in collaboration with scientific-research institutions are supported, in order to increase the competitiveness of the Croatian economy by promoting innovation.
