As part of the implementation of the Strategic Project to Support the Competitiveness Cluster Initiative, we have organized an online conference on 17 December with the aim of presenting the results of the project “Action Plan for Territorial Branding and Product Branding”.
Robert Blažinović, Head of the Industrial Policy Department from the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, explained the goal of the project, and Tanja Džido, digital marketing expert, presented the project results.
At the conference, Karlo Starčević from the start-up We park presented a mobile application that connects drivers looking for a parking space and parking lot owners for mutual benefit.
As part of the conference, two panels were held. The panel entitled “Cooperation within the value chain” discussed the wood cluster – problems and perspectives. Panelists from Croatia, Belgium and Austria agreed that traditional industry faces major challenges due to global market disruptions and that it is important to promote the positive effects in the context of climate change and to continuously work on the development of innovation and education.
The founders of the start-ups on the panel entitled “How to attract foreign investment” revealed how they solved first obstacles in the development of their projects. The panel was attended by Matija Žulj, owner of Agrivi (agricultural production management software), Stevica Kuharski from Fil Rouge Capital, Edo Mujkić, owner of BiTE ME (natural snacks made from dried fruits and nuts enriched with natural nutrients) and Dragana Lipovac, owner of Hubbig (a platform for digitizing transportation and logistics).
Stevica Kuharski highlighted that the key factor in first phase of start-up development is the top team, not the B team. “It is possible to reach the first 15 customers on the muscles, but the real test comes into force after that, when you need to break into the foreign market without PR,” said Kuharski.
Key speakers also explained what goals they have set for 2021. Dragana Lipovac expects customer growth, Agrivi wants to be among the top three world leaders in the next few years, and Bite Me wants to enter some new markets. Kuharski concluded that good times are coming for all of us, because there are financial resources on the market, and we just need to have a good disruptive idea that can generate exponential growth.