On May 27, the Startup Incubator and Artificial Intelligence Accelerator was officially opened in Lipik. This is already the third building within the Lipik Center for Artificial Intelligence, which was launched in March 2021, and it has been renovated to include 400 square meters of office and shared spaces, as well as an artificial intelligence laboratory.
More than 70 people in Lipik are engaged in artificial intelligence.
People from all over Croatia come to Lipik for a six-month training program for artificial intelligence developers, from Dubrovnik through Istria, Zagreb, and Međimurje to Osijek. So far, 45 young people have been trained in two generations to become developers for the application of artificial intelligence, and the third generation of 27 people has recently started training.
Some of these young people have moved to Lipik and opened their startup companies. To date, 14 companies have been established, employing over 30 people. Along with the trainees, professors, and employees of Lipik’s IT companies, more than 70 people are engaged in programming and artificial intelligence in Lipik, just one year after the launch of this project.
Artificial Intelligence Startup Academy
With the official opening of the Startup Incubator and Artificial Intelligence Accelerator, Lipik’s startups have gained a new home, and starting next month, a new training program for startups called the Artificial Intelligence Startup Academy will begin in Lipik.
Among numerous guests, the opening ceremony was attended by Antonija Jozić, envoy of the Prime Minister of Croatia and the prefect of Požega-Slavonia County, Bernard Gršić, State Secretary of the Central Office for the Development of the Digital Society, Davor Huška, envoy of the Minister of Regional Development and European Union Funds, as well as the mayor of Lipik, Vinko Kasana.
Mayor Vinko Kasana recalled the very beginnings of the establishment of the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Lipik, emphasizing that this project has proven to be a complete success.
– Young educated people from all over Croatia come to our city, stay here, open their companies, and fulfill their ambitions, and the City of Lipik provides them with full support – said the mayor, expressing gratitude to the Government of the Republic of Croatia, Požega-Slavonia County, the Croatian Employment Service, and all the wonderful people who have supported this Lipik project from the very beginning.
The mayor also revealed a sort of exclusive news, stating that the City of Lipik has purchased the so-called Osijek Villa on Marija Terezija Street in Lipik, a historical building of about 2,000 square meters that will house the future headquarters of the Center for Artificial Intelligence.
Dejan Iličić, the head of the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Lipik, also spoke about the beginnings and rapid development.
– In these spaces located in the Startup Incubator and Accelerator for Artificial Intelligence in Lipik, we want to create an ecosystem, a community of people who think and create similarly and engage in this future-oriented activity – said Dejan Iličić, emphasizing that everyone who starts a startup in Lipik will be provided with initial funding, mentoring support, and advanced training as part of the new program of the Artificial Intelligence Startup Academy.
In the incubator and accelerator in Lipik, where all office spaces were occupied immediately after opening, training will be conducted by experts in the field of artificial intelligence from around the world, featuring owners and employees of well-known Croatian startups, as well as other eminent representatives of the IT scene.
