This year’s AGORADA+ edition was hosted by SIMORA, the regional development agency of Sisak-Moslavina County with the support of other EURADA Croatian members. Altogether, the event was organised within the Clusters Meet Regions series of the ECCP and ultimately aimed to explore how clusters, regional development agencies and other actors could foster stronger collaboration in the implementation of regional and national economic development policies, specifically with the purpose to further promote digital transformation and interregional cooperation in Croatia. More than 100 participants from 14 countries joined the workshop, exchanged best practices, and found new potential partners. Zagreb is a place of innovation and start-ups, making it an ideal location to bring together and connect stakeholders from Croatia, the EU and beyond.
AGORADA+ - DAY 1
The opening session included representatives from the European Commission, EURADA and the Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds from Croatia.
According to EURADA President Bogdan Chelariu “Competition from third world countries is increasing and they have different ways of organising their economy. In our economy, clusters play an important role, helping to make SMEs more competitive on the world stage.”
Ulla Engelmann, Head of Unit for Industrial Forum, Alliances and Clusters, European Commission (DG GROW), closed the opening session by presenting some EU initiatives to tackle the green & digital transition. These included the recovery and resilience facility, Re-Power EU and the Winter Preparedness Package.
The following panel discussion focused on how regional development agencies can facilitate cluster development though S3 priorities. This session was moderated by Solange Mifsud, Economic and Policy Analyst, European Commission (Joint Research Centre). According to Marija Rajaković, Head of Sector at the Croatian Ministry of Regional Development: “In Croatia, we have very unbalanced regional development. The Pannonian, Adriatic and North Croatia regions are developing at a rate that is 60% slower than the EU’s overall development. This is why we have introduced the process of industrial transition. It will give these regions the chance to become more competitive players.” On the other hand, EURADA memberIngrid Meijer, Project Manager at Business Development Tech, Oost NL said: “Our regional development agency focuses on internalisation as it offers internationally operating companies a ‘soft landing’ in our region.”
Immediately after a well-deserved coffee break, a session on Improving Collaboration between Clusters and National & Regional Authorities was held. Dr. Jan-Philipp Kramer, Team Leader of ‘Data & Policy’ in the ECCP introduced a new session debate focused on how to improve collaboration between clusters and national/regional authorities. He presented the recently published Input Paper on Croatia, explaining that “Croatia can be defined as an agriculture-driven economy with an industrial ecosystem specialisation in agri-textile and agri-tourism.” Moreover, according to their findings, “Croatia is still emerging, and it will be important to provide continuous public support and increase professional service levels while orchestrating the cluster ecosystem.”
Marina Dujmović Vuković, Director of ZADRA NOVA, one of the five Croatian members who jointly co-organised AGORADA+, proposed that: “To overcome any challenges associated with the collaboration between clusters and public authorities, it is essential to raise awareness, improve the number of regional development agencies and boost the industrial transition of Croatian regions."
Following the networking lunch, the afternoon started with an engaging pitching session that offered many collaborative opportunities. The session gave clusters and regions five minutes each to present themselves, their projects and collaboration proposals. Four EURADA members (Malopolska Regional Development Agency, Oost NL, Regional Development Agency ROD Ajdovščina and ZADRA NOVA) presented the profiles and the activities of their RDAs with a special focus on their priorities for 2023. A total of seven presentations were given by representatives coming from different sectors.
The next panel session focused on the health and welfare innovation ecosystems and clusters. Speakers presented the most recent challenges and solutions relating to cross-border cooperation.
Andrea Čović Vidović, from the European Commission Representation in Croatia, gave a preview of the next EU global health strategy, which was officially announced the following day. According to Alina Capitanu, Project Manager of MEDIC_NEST (Romania): “Health innovation is about new and improved health innovation policies, health food dedicated services and technologies and also about how we deliver services to our patients. For this reason health innovation has to address efficiency, effectiveness and quality, but also sustainability in terms of the way healthcare is delivered. It means that our services have to be affordable for our patients.”
The last panel discussion of the first day of AGORADA+ focused on clusters driving the digitalisation in key Croatian sectors. Key topics were: Artificial Intelligence, gaming industry, cultural/creative industries and tourism.
Krešimir Partl, State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Media: “In some fields, Croatia takes the leading role at the EU level. In the gaming industry, for instance, we were the first in 2009 to draft a law on audio-visual activities and to include a gaming cluster in the process. This really improved the dialogue and enhanced the industry.” He also highlighted that: “Croatia knows that everything is going digital, and we took that into consideration while drafting the recovery and resilience fund. We included millions of grants for the cultural and creative industry with a specific focus on digital transformation and support to make SMEs more and more international.”
Ivan Venturi, Coordinator of Bologna Game Farm, said: “Business and technical skills are essential in our gaming industry. For this reason, we work with SMEs reviewing the team, their project and strategy. We support their training and produce together their vertical slice and in the last one they pitch their vertical slice to publishers.”
According to Aleksandar Gavrilovic, Secretary General of Croatian Game Development: “Sectors are interconnected nowadays more than ever, and gaming is not an exception. Videogames are not just AI or engineers, they are also about writers, artists, animators & more. This industry generates many jobs and growth.”
Moreover, all panellists agreed on the need to improve networking to boost knowledge sharing and exchange of best practices.
The first day of AGORADA concluded with a networking cocktail.
AGORADA+ - DAY 2
On the morning of the second day, participants learned how cross-border cooperation boosts innovation at the national, regional, and local levels. Croatia has a unique geographical location and its clusters and regions are involved in many cross-borders projects.
Mislav Kovač, Head of Sector for European Territorial Cooperation and Macro-Regional Strategies, Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, stated: “European Territorial Cooperation in Croatia brings much added value to the building capacity of small municipalities and cities.”
Goran Rodić, from the Development agency of city of PREDA (Bosnia & Herzegovina), explained that: "Some of the challenges and benefits of cross-border cooperation are: the recognition of interest, building links between the local actors and enabling follow-up support for cross-border initiatives.”
The closing remarks of the 2 days event were given by Roberta Dall’Olio, EURADA’s new Director. She pointed out the need for a European dimension and mindset which are essential to overcome boundaries and challenges. For this reason, creating networks is key in every sector and ecosystem.
During the afternoon, participants had the chance to visit the pioneering Gaming Incubator, PISMO located outside Zagreb. This gaming incubator is financed by EURADA member, SIMORA. Thanks to their incubator, more than 80 people now have a job in the gaming industry.
This site visit concluded the activities of AGORADA+ in Croatia.
The official two-day agenda of the event can be found here.
Should you wish to consult the event's slides, please click here for Day 1 and Day 2.
Photos can be found here.
You can watch Day 1 recording here and Day 2 recording here.
