November the 29th, 2022 - The Croatian startup qSoft has worked alongside multiple other agencies and bodies and created a platform which works to uncover corruption, stating that the situation is far worse than we think.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, in cooperation with ICCrA - the Institute for Compliance, Criminal Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering, the WRAP (Whistleblower Reporting App) application was launched to achieve greater efficiency in the organisation of business, which serves both to detect and correct anomalies from the corruption zone, but also to improvement of work processes, regardless of the size of entities, type of ownership and industries.

How important WRAP now is for the overall Croatian economy and the domino effect in which whistleblowers massively report abuse and corruption was explained by ICCrA president Davor Iljkic, who is also the director of the Fraud Prevention Service at the Fund for the Reconstruction of the City of Zagreb, with previous experience of sixteen years with the Ministry of Interior (MUP) working on the detection of economic crime.

"Corruption is a vicious circle, and the situation is much worse than you think," claims Iljkic. This is confirmed by the results of the research of the International Association of Certified Fraud Investigators (ACFE) on the forms and types of fraud from 2014 and 2021, which show that the dominant forms are corruption and embezzlement of funds and fraud with financial statements, with the fact that 8 years ago 40% of detected cases were on the basis of a tip (TIP irregularity report), and in 2021, it stood at 42 percent.

"We need to strengthen the prevention and detection system, and WRAP can help with that," Iljkic believes.

The Croatian legislator also recognised that the system for the protection of whistleblowers needs to be strengthened. The new law on whistleblowers introduces the possibility that a professional, i.e. a third person from outside the organisation, can be appointed as a confidential person when establishing a channel for whistleblowers. Iljkic recommends this very solution in order to avoid a potential conflict of interest within an organisation itself in relation to the management body.

As far as WRAP is concerned, the application platform was born as an idea that integrates the aforementioned law, the EU ​​Directive 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and the Council on the protection of individuals reporting violations of EU law, and new obligations in the field of non-financial reporting (ESG) - environmental, social and personnel issues, as well as issues related to respect for human rights and the fight against corruption and bribery.

At that meeting, the Croatian startup qSoft, with headquarters in Zagreb and partner offices in Canada and Switzerland, decided to use these laws to help organisations become more efficient. Instead of just formally fulfilling obligations, a platform was created that contributes in various ways, including a modern version of business intelligence, to organisations with the aim of creating databases from which software analytics generate valuable information, on the basis of which business management can react in time.

"Organisations rely on a real wealth of data that they don't actually process themselves, and as it's dead capital for them, we see this as our greatest advantage. In its application, the platform hasn't been limited by industry, nor by the size of the entity in question," says Drazen Mrkonjic, the director of the Croatian startup qSoft. They started, he explains, from a process to which technology is adapted, and each entity can then use the solution within its own processes.

"It's important to obtain an effect in terms of meeting legal obligations, for which the information reported is needed. It's motivating for the employee that they can report irregularities without needing to suffer any consequences as a result, with guaranteed anonymity,'' states Mrkonjic.

Similar software services are being developed in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, meaning that this country and the Croatian startup qSoft is once again among the first EU member states in terms of the application being offered. The coronavirus crisis, the war in Ukraine and now inflationary pressures also pushed things along a bit, but so did Croatia's entry into the OECD.

"To provide an additional benefit for any company, we've also built risk management into the application, which allows each application to be evaluated from the aspect of how it affects the business itself,'' says Mrkonjic, who has specialised in this field through 24 long years of work experience in process management.

For Croatia's impending membership of the OECD and the recommendations of the organisation for the improvement of corporate governance bodies in the state sector, WRAP is, he says, just what the proverbial doctor ordered because the state is the first to be invited to tackle this. The state must show - by example - how such laws are applied in the state sector, not only technologically, but also procedurally.

Even the results published by the US Government across the pond easily prove that it is possible to achieve great results with the use of such advanced solutions. Just a decade ago, through the motivation of people to report irregularities to state authorities, they saved about 35 billion dollars by preventing corruption in the USA. What are known as neural networks are what gives the Croatian startup qSoft and its platform the edge.

"A neural network is a combination of a large number of methods used for connecting data and inferring what kind of data that is in order to obtain information and be able to manage it properly. The management of each organisation can then get better acquainted with which segments of the organisation has anomalies occur that must be reacted to and corrected. With the help of a neural network, numerous scams would be detected and prevented,'' explains Mrkonjic.

The system, he adds, is intended for administrations that run operational businesses. It was created as a combination of analytics and reports, a type of modern BI that, as a platform, receives data from various sources, while this is a platform that integrates within the system and creates data because employees feel safe and their reports create data that is categorised into information. The Kaizen methodology designed in Japan to manage efficiency within organisations in order to achieve continuous success was used, and it involves all employees so that every day, regardless of where they might be, they think about how they can improve their work and workplace. Through this platform, employees are motivated to report everything to the central system in an easy way.

"Through these reports, you get information about how your organisation functions. With this technology, we want to motivate people to say something and to create a pool of data, which will ultimately give a picture of how the organisation functions,'' says Mrkonjic.

For those organisations that want to connect with other data sources, the Croatian startup qSoft's platform also provides such opportunities. For example, at the moment of detection of an irregularity for a certain account, data can be pulled from Fina for that particular company and the owner, and the situation can be looked into. The platform also connects to other sources, and the more sources there are, the clearer and faster the picture of where problems arise can be obtained, and this includes the Register of Real Owners and the Tax Administration. It is an ideal tool for domestic anti-corruption organisations like DORH, which has access to all data, but it can be more effective through data processing in the detection of white-collar crime.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

November 27, 2022 - Deloitte reported the results of their latest contest of the fastest-growing technology companies for the Central Europe, and 12 Croatian companies found themselves on their lists.

Companies from 9 countries found themselves on the prestigious list, assembled for the 23rd time by the consulting giant Deloitte. The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Central Europe lists 17 Polish companies, 13 from Czechia, 8 Croatian companies, 4 Slovakian, 3 Hungarian, 2 Bulgarian and one each from Lithuania, Romania and Serbia. The software companies dominate the list, with 33 companies being from that field, however, the first three positions were taken by companies from fintech and life science (FTMO, PayPo and Multiplex DX). X).

The eight Croatian companies on the list are: Aircash, placed fourth, with a growth of almost 6 percent, Devot Solutions placed 19th, Netgen 28th, Uprise 35th, CircuitMess 40th, Amplifico (Parklio) 41st, Async Labs 42nd, and Cinnamon 46th.

The additional category "Companies to Watch" includes: Firefly Studio, Identity Consortium, Brightdock, and Hivetech.

The special category "Impact stars", started last year, includes three Croatian companies: Axilis, Notch and Robotiq.ai.

Interestingly, six out of the eight Croatian companies on the Technology Fast 50 Central Europe are newcomers on the list. Async Labs were on the list last year as well, and CircuitMess was on the Companies to Watch list last year, and made their way to the main list this year.

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Central Europe is a Programme that ranks 50 fast-growing technology companies, public or private, based on percentage revenue growth. Winners are then selected by ranking their revenue growth over the four years from 2018 to 2021. In addition to the Technology Fast 50 ranking, Deloitte Central Europe ranks companies that show great potential but are too young to meet criterion for the main Fast 50 category.

November the 25th, 2022 - The Croatian Modepack company is set to cash in and increase its income on the mere change of the country's currency from the kuna to the euro as of January 2023.

As Darko Bicak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, with an investment of 63 million kuna in their new plant in Velika Gorica near Zagreb, the Croatian Modepack company has recently rounded off its strategic efforts to double its capacity conceived in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, when the demand for their range of courier and security packaging on the global market exploded.

As explained by Jure Siric, director and owner of the Croatian Modepack company, the projections were that the investment, which was supported by the European Union (EU) from its funds in the amount of 7.5 million kuna, would amount to 50 million kuna. However, the drastic increase in the prices of raw materials and goods, as well as rising labour force costs, raised the total investment amount by about 15 percent.

"Given the fact that it's a large space, a building of 5,500 square metres and a plot of land spanning 32,000 square metres, further expansion is also possible. 2/3 of the total investment has already been invested in equipping production. This enabled us to increase our production capacity by approximately 100%, which in practice would mean 300 million pieces produced per year. Further planned investments, such as that intended for solar panels, will make us completely self-sufficient in terms of electricity, which is the only energy we use in the production process," Siric revealed.

Although the foreign market is their main focus, this yea,  suddenly there was a great demand for their products right here in Croatia as well. The reason is the introduction of the euro, that is, the withdrawal of kuna from circulation as the nation's currency.

"We knew that this represented a big opportunity for us, that there would be a lot of work, but what happened in the last weeks was far beyond that. We prepared well and consulted all potential clients. We estimated that we could achieve a turnover of around one million euros on this. Interest was weak until October, when everything exploded and everyone needed our safe packaging for money transfers - banks, Fina, shops, etc. We're very flexible and, thanks to this new facility in Velika Gorica, we've started with the production of this assortment in three shifts. Our current estimates are that our planned turnover on packaging for the collection of kuna and the distribution of euros across Croatia will increase from one million to at least two million euros," explained Siric.

The Croatian Modepack company has otherwise recorded double-digit growth since its very foundation, and that trend has only continued this year, when they expect about 75 million kuna in revenue, which is about 30 percent more than the 53 million kuna they earned last year. Their plans for the next three years are even more ambitious, by 2025, the plan is to achieve 150 million kuna (20 million euros) in revenue.

The opening ceremony of their new plant, where eight production lines will be installed for the time being, was an opportunity for the Croatian Modepack company to present its modernised logo adapted to the global market, from which they generate more than 90 percent of their revenue.

"This seemed like an excellent timing for this move. Modepack always strives to be up to date even now, after six years, and we wanted to modernise everything together. Through this process, we were guided by the backbone of our business: the product - people - production - the planet. The goal we set when creating a new brand was to strengthen our position on the market through clear and consistent communication. Amazon, H&M, Vans, Adidas, DHL, DPD, Loomis, numerous European financial institutions as well as the Antwerp Diamond Exchange (AWDC) are just some of the many users of the company's courier and security packaging.

Although we've only been present on the market for six years, Modepack is already one of the global leaders in the production of high-quality packaging for the logistic transport of goods, with an emphasis placed on e-commerce and courier deliveries, as well as security packaging for money and valuables. We export to 32 world markets,'' Siric explained, adding that Modepack was created based on the assessment that e-commerce would become a reality very soon, and this happened much earlier than expected. This was especially pronounced during the coronavirus pandemic, when e-commerce grew at triple-digit rates.

"I'm not a complete stranger within this industry because I come from the Weltplast family company, which has been involved in packaging and recycling since back in 1983, and since 2010, I've been in charge of sales for the EU market. However, it's a large company that generally deals with packaging and all of the raw materials for it, and my desire was to step into something new and a bit different. I don't think I made a mistake in doing so,'' said Siric, whose company occupies an increasingly large part of the global market, and currently their main focus is Scandinavia and France, where they were present at a large specialised fair this week.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

November the 24th, 2022 - The remarkable Croatian company Include, at the helm of which is young entrepreneur Ivan Mrvos, is now eyeing the markets of Germany and Italy with its innovative Smart City solutions.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, after three years of development, the Croatian company Include has finally launched brand new smart solutions for cities and municipalities on the market. This is how the installation of the redesigned version of the wildly popular Steora smart bench and two completely new products - Aerys - an air quality monitoring station and Terra - a waste container, began.

"For a long time now, the long-term goal has been to expand our Smart City sales portfolio with solutions that solve some of the key challenges that today's communities face - public property management, micromobility, air quality and waste management," explained Ivan Mrvos, the founder and CEO of the Croatian company Include.

Last year, Include's redesigned smart benches were put on the market, which are now equipped with micromobility features and can recognise and charge all types of e-mobiles and e-bikes.

Aerys, Include's first air quality monitoring station, was installed back in March, and to date more than 20 of them have been installed across Croatia, Montenegro and Italy.

"At the beginning of next year, we expect orders from other markets where we're already present with our Steora benches," said Mrvos.

This month, the first five Terra waste containers with compression systems installed, and which can hold five times more waste than a standard container of the same size, were installed. In addition, operators can remotely monitor its filling levels and plan rubbish collection routes accordingly. As early as next month, as Mrvos announces, an additional four such containers should be installed. In addition, they developed the Solos software solution, an IoT platform that connects and facilitates the management of smart solutions.

As far as expansion is concerned, the market is the whole world, but the primary focus of the Croatian company Include will be right here in Europe, that is, the countries where they generally achieve the best results with their benches - Italy and Germany.

"We're talking about very large markets where existing competitors generate tens of millions of euros in revenue annually. Now we have a big job ahead of us to successfully promote and place our new solutions on different markets,'' stated the director of the company, which has received a massive 3.4 million euros in investments since its foundation back in 2015. The last investment, one from the beginning of this year which amounted to 400 thousand euros, helped expand Include's already enviable portfolio, which was anything but a simple task.

This company, which generates 90 percent of its revenue on foreign markets, explains that the biggest challenge was coronavirus restrictions and the lack of chips on the market.

"The chips with which we initially designed our modules and products became completely unavailable and we had to redesign certain components almost from scratch with other chips that were more available, and even then it was questionable whether these new chips would be available on the market in the long term. All this put an additional financial burden on us because we had to make additional unplanned supplies, and the supply chain itself of almost all the materials needed for work became chaotic and unavailable for work at one point," Mrvos recalled.

Fortunately, that situation is now firmly behind them.

As far as financing is concerned, Mrvos stated that they are actively working on new opportunities and that they will probably have some news on this matter in the next year. In the years to come, their vision, Mrvos pointed out, is to enable the implementation of "smartness" across all small towns and municipalities.

"We saw that smaller cities and municipalities very often don't participate in Smart City projects because integrators often focus on large cities as potentially large clients. In addition, cloud platforms through which such products are controlled are often adapted to larger environments and require smaller ones to have infrastructure in the form of employees or IT equipment with which to manage these products.

The long-term vision we have is that all cities, regardless of their size and infrastructure, can participate as Smart Cities and that through our platform they can control their smart products without significant investment in IT infrastructure or new employment,'' they explained from the Croatian company Include.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

November the 24th, 2022 - The Zagreb IT company BISS, which works with artificial intelligence (AI) is currently working on a very innovative new solution which could see their revenues shoot up over the next year.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, the Zagreb IT company BISS is known for developing solutions based on AI, which make doing all kinds of business much easier for clients. They're mostly oriented towards the development of platforms in the field of delivery and public safety, and with this brand new solution they are currently developing, they are within reach of concluding a deal that should result in an increase in income of as much as one hundred percent in the next year alone.

"We've been developing this solution for several months now and have already demonstrated it in front of some of our clients. We're now waiting for the implementation of the contract,'' is all that Aleksandar Radovan, the director of development of the Zagreb IT company BISS, could reveal at this moment in time. What can be said is that this regards a solution that will change the public warning system, that is, automate it. They called it Reverse 112, and they have already made a proof of concept.

"The system is designed to work through public surveillance cameras. If you upgrade them by taking pictures from these cameras, you can detect various risky situations, such as car accidents, fires, floods, the gathering of too many people in too small a space and so on. The system automatically reacts and sends notifications to the services in charge of public safety,'' explains Radovan. In addition, this new system could be integrated with telecommunications operators and thus send notifications to all people, warning them of a certain disaster and giving them instructions on how to behave.

"When we had the coronavirus pandemic and the earthquake at the same time, people were sent conflicting information. Some people were told to go out into the streets, and others were instructed to stay inside. People were confused. With this system, which is centralised and authorised by the 112 service, people would receive a clear message and would know exactly how to behave. Thanks to Reverse 112, you wouldn't have to call 112, it would call you," explains Radovan.

He adds that the system, based on AI, virtual reality and autonomous security, is so advanced that it can detect, based on roaming data, whether or not the recipient is a foreigner and then send a warning message to them in their own language.

"Artificial intelligence was tried to be developed 50 years ago, but then the technology wasn't at a level that would enable its efficient use. Today we have the technology and huge amounts of data. Today, artificial intelligence can truly and efficiently solve many problems and bring automation to boring and repetitive jobs," said the director of the Zagreb IT company BISS.

Even their biggest client, the well-known company DPD, was skeptical of their Aimago solution, a package delivery management system.

"In the beginning, the solution was abstract to them, but when we showed them how it worked and what advantages it brings, they soon accepted it," Radovan points out. Not only did they accept it, but they asked that the software of this Zagreb development company, which employs 70 people, be continuously upgraded.

"We're currently improving its functionality so that it will be able to distinguish company packages from those of physical persons," says Radovan, adding that the goal of the system is to detect incorrect or wrong addresses in order to optimise delivery and reduce costs. Differentiating the packages of companies from individuals is important to DPD because they still have different contracts with companies, but they often have a larger amount of packages. Ultimately, all this data contributes to the better organisation of work, and then to greater savings.

DPD is currently the Zagreb IT company BISS's largest client of all, with which they have been successfully cooperating for a decade now, and thanks to which they generate 50 percent of their revenue on foreign markets. This share could also increase due to large projects in the field of public safety.

For more, make sure to keep up with our dedicated business section.

November the 22nd, 2022 - The European Union (EU) average when it comes to companies being placed in serious jeopardy because of poor financial discipline is higher than the Croatian one, but that doesn't mean that Croatian companies aren't also finding themselves in hot water more often than they should.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, almost two out of three companies operating within the European Union (EU) believe that customer payment discipline will worsen in the coming period, according to the thirteenth representative EOS survey entitled "European payment habits", in which 3,200 companies spanning sixteen different European countries, including those operating here in the Republic of Croatia, were examined.

When it comes to Croatian companies, however, things are (quite surprisingly) a little bit more optimistic than the European Union average; namely, only one in three out of four Croatian companies currently predicts a worsening of payment discipline, and as they state, a quarter of them even believe that it will improve. In comparison, back in the very successful pre-pandemic year of 2019, every other company operating in this country held the opinion that improvement was around the corner.

"Although it's less than the European Union average, the fact is that as of 2019, almost twice as many Croatian companies, based on experience, estimate the deterioration of their payment habits, while there are also significantly fewer who believe that they will improve. This is a clear indicator of future trends, given the current economic figures and high inflation," said Barbara Cerinski, the director of EOS Matrix.

Otherwise, payment habits across Europe have worsened quite significantly over the last three years, as was confirmed by this research, which points out that the above-mentioned development is causing approximately one in five companies to suffer legitimate fears for their own existence.

For more on Croatian companies, startups and entrepreneurs, make sure to keep up with our dedicated business section.

November the 22nd, 2022 - The share of Croatian women who started their own businesses last year is incredibly encouraging, with the number of companies with women at the helm on the up.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, last year, a group which is made up of 47,041 enterprises had at least one woman on the Management Board or Supervisory Board. Croatian women held 95,777 functions, of which 51,535 were management functions, while in 1,846 cases women held supervisory functions (members of the Supervisory Board), and in 42,396 cases - they appeared as company founders. The above was shown in Fina's recent analysis that looked into the results of the aforementioned group's operations according to GFI data for the years 2019-2021.

"Back in 2021, the observed group of enterprises held capital in the amount of 161.6 billion kuna and had total assets in the amount of 752.5 billion kuna. Compared to 2019, the number of companies in the observed group increased by 12.2%, their total income increased by 11.7%, their total expenses by 11.0%, their profit for that period by 23.5%, their losses for that period by 14.0%, while the number of employees decreased by 0.6% in 2021," stated Fina's analysis, and as we know, Fina itself is strongly represented with a high proportion of women employed in managerial positions.

Out of a total of 291 employees working in management positions within Fina (management, director of sectors and other organisational units), 210 were Croatian women, which makes up a share of 72%.

According to the data from the processed GFI for the year 2021, 473,821 employees were employed in this group, and those companies achieved 471.5 billion kuna in total revenue, a period profit of 31.4 billion kuna, a loss of 6.9 billion kuna, and an impressive net profit in the amount of 24.4 billion kuna kuna.

The largest total revenues (73.0%), profit for the period (69.6%), and loss for the period (75.8%) were achieved by limited liability companies. In second place came joint-stock companies with a share in total revenues of 22.9%.

The largest number of enterprises of this group operated in the City of Zagreb (34.8%) and Split-Dalmatia County (10.3%). Companies of this group in the City of Zagreb employed 44.4% of the total employees and achieved 53.9% of total income, 57.4% of profit for the period and 53.3% of loss for the period. Analysis by activity shows that the largest number of enterprises within this group operated in professional, scientific and technical activities (20.7%) and wholesale and retail trade (19.8%). The largest number of employees was in the processing industry (25.0%) and wholesale and retail trade (19.3%). The largest total income was achieved by companies from wholesale and retail trade (29.8%), and the highest profit of the period was achieved within the processing industry (26.7%).

"The largest number of companies of this group (73.3%) operated in the form of limited liability companies (d.o.o.), which employed as many as 73.2% of the employees of the observed group. In second place in terms of representation came simple limited liability companies (j.d.o.o.) with 20.1% (they employed only 3.5% of the employees of the observed group), while enterprises with other forms of organisation occupy less than 3.0%.

Natural persons engaged in registered activities (crafts, freelance professions and OPGs) in the observed group participated with a relatively small percentage (2.8% in terms of the number of enterprises, 1.0% in terms of total income) which is to be expected because most of these entities are income tax payers, not profit tax payers," Fina's analysis stated.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

November the 17th, 2022 - Just when you thought the remarkable Croatian technology company Infobip had done everything, it turns its hand to fashion. Techno hoodies, to be more precise.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, many would assume that a successful combination of fashion and high technology is impossible, the two couldn't be more different, right? Wrong. Apparently. The Vodnjan-based Infobip has definitely made sure that technology has no limits, and also now that it can be combined with fashion. It recently presented its very own technologically advanced hoodies.

According to Infobip, these impressive techno hoodies were made in collaboration with IUTD Studios and a young Canadian designer with Croatian roots, Joshua Cirjak.

This leap into the world of street fashion for the most famous domestic cloud communication platform will certainly delight all lovers of hoodies, but at the same time disappoint them because the series is limited to only 300 pieces.

They decided on this move, they say from Infobip, because they want to strengthen their image among developers and in the wider technological community which is, rather surprisingly to many, somewhat dominated by hoodies of all things.

"Developers absolutely love hoodies, and almost every tech company has promotional items which belong to it. However, at Infobip we decided to make a limited edition fashion piece. In addition, we have added some advanced technology to the hoodies," said Ivan Burazin, a member of the Infobip Management Board for developer experience.

"Each hoodie also contains a special NFC chip that, when scanning it, gives the owner the possibility to own it in both of the parallel worlds in which we live - the physical one and the digital one," explained Joshua Cirjak, the creative director of IUTD Studios.

For more on Croatian companies and domestic creations, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

November the 15th, 2022 - The Croatian startup Green Energy Pal has taken the energy crisis into its own hands and developed something that will help individuals and companies alike to keep the numbers on their electricity bills down.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, reducing energy costs due to the ongoing energy crisis is a priority for both households and companies. However, it is almost impossible to achieve savings, or energy efficiency, without undertaking any proper analysis of your consumption.

Ivan Pavic, one of the members of the Croatian startup Green Energy Pal, explains that although energy efficiency is talked about a lot, most people don't know how they can increase theirs properly and concretely.

"The reason lies in the fact that they don't have the basic prerequisite solved, that is, they don't know when they spend the most, how much that is and which devices cause that consumption. If we don't know that, how can we plan the actions that will have the most effect, and with the least investment, and then result in the reduction of consumption, and thus the electricity bill?'' asks Pavic.

Guided by this problem, four colleagues from FER, Ivan Pavic, Domagoj Badanjak, Alen Hrga and Ivan Sudic - developed Enpulse. It is, as Pavic explained, a private energy consultant which explains to users in a simple way how to achieve greater energy efficiency and how to reduce their electricity bills.

The reality that their idea and product on which they worked for 18 months to develop has great potential has also been shown by the fact that they were declared the best in the competition of startups from four countries of the region at the BASF Adriatic competition. With this, they entered the grand final of the BASF Innovation Hub 2022 as one of the six best solutions in the field of sustainable development in all of Central and Eastern Europe. This recognition, as expected, means a lot to them, and for several reasons.

"First of all, the expert jury, with excellent comments and questions, drew our attention to the segments of the product and its presentation on which we need to work further. Second, we gained recognition, which contributes to better marketing and the better acquisition of new customers, and in the end, the monetary award we received is very useful for us,'' stated Pavic, a member of the team at the Croatian startup Green Energy Pal.

However, there is still a lot of work ahead of the team who are developing their private energy consultant which is composed of three parts (an electricity metre on location, a backend system that stores data, and the user interface) in their spare time. Pavic explained that they have set themselves three goals - increasing the number of users, expanding the features of Enpulse and attracting investments.

"The increase in the number of users brings us financial support and enables us to develop new product features. Namely, a good part of our background tools are based on big data analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, which also require a large amount of data. In other words, without new users and data, we can't even develop any new features," noted Pavic.

In addition to all of the above, for further growth and development, they will need a financial injection, so their plan is to find an investor. "We need an investment so that we can fully devote ourselves to product development and employ experts from various fields of IT, AI development, energy, sales and marketing," they announced from the Croatian startup Green Energy Pal.

The reactions to the product so far, which has only been on the market for a few months, are very positive. "The current users from the household category are very satisfied with the product," said Pavic, adding that, although their target group of users is both companies and households, they still give preference to companies.

"SMEs have significant energy costs, often accounting for 10 to 30 percent of their total costs. However, these costs aren't so high as to require extensive analyses by energy experts and consultants. This is precisely why we're developing a ''digital energy consultant'' which can give people advice on increasing energy efficiency at a very low cost. Our idea is that the investment in hardware companies pays off within one or several months, and that the monthly software subscription is only a small part of the savings achieved with our product,'' noted Pavic, adding that the use of their product in households is still less profitable than it is in companies.

It's worth mentioning that this is one of the very few startups that is actually benefiting from the energy crisis, although they didn't count on such a development when they started developing their product.

"Now we have more open potential collaborations with different companies. We assume that the demand for our product will grow significantly,'' concluded Pavic.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

November the 15th, 2022 - Brodosplit has built yet another large and valuable structure for a well known company, this time an innovative buoy for the collection of data out at sea.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, OCG-Data, an innovative buoy for collecting/recording biodiversity and metocean data, was successfully launched in the port of the Split's shipyard. It was built for the client Ocergie, the French branch of the American company Ocergy, Brodosplit announced. As they stated, with this project, the Split-based company is proving its capabilities on the wind offshore market, and it is realistic to expect the signing of new contracts for the construction of more new similar buoys and floating platforms soon, which implies the delivery of structures with an annual steel consumption of more than 100,000 tonnes in the period up to the year 2030.

The American Ocergy is otherwise a relatively young company, but according to its CEO Dominique Roddier, it wants to become one of the leaders in the field of offshore solutions for offshore wind farms (Floating Wind Foundation Design), which is "the result of the progress they have made over the last few years".

“This new innovative data collection buoy will gather information that will be used to better understand everything from wind turbulence to air and marine life around the project site. The pilot unit, part of Ocergie's ''Blue Oracle'' project (buoys with Lidar-optical radar and underwater equipment to assess ocean resources and characterise life in the environment) has received approval from the French authorities to be deployed at a site where several of the first floating wind power plants in the French region of Occitanie will be situated,'' they stated from Brodosplit.

The project itself is also supported by ADEME within the Investment Programme for the Future, and according to Roddier, this innovative buoy is important in multiple ways, both as an integral part of their wider business plan and as the first step in the development of the ''OCG-Wind FOW'' platform.

"We have an increasing number of pre-commercial projects before the year 2030, until the offshore wind industry implements large GW commercial FOW (Floating offshore wind) projects worldwide," said Roddier. The innovative marine data collection buoy made by Brodosplit will be deployed near one of the windy ''macro-zones'' in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of southern France.

"Despite the financial problems you've been facing at Brodosplit, we are extremely grateful for the full engagement of your team and employees, and very satisfied with the excellent work that Brodosplit has done in creating our platform. While you're discussing different business projects with investors, I believe that companies like Brodosplit can play a significant role in the energy transition and become a strong driver of the commercial development of the FOW industry, not only for projects here in the Mediterranean but throughout Europe," emphasised Roddier.

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