In addition to the City of Varaždin and the Municipality of Gornji Kneginec, the project partners are the cities of Novi Marof and Ludbreg and the municipalities of Vidovec and Sveti Ilija. The aim of the project is to support potential entrepreneurial ideas developed by students and citizens at an early stage.
The project aims to support potential entrepreneurial ideas developed by students and citizens at their earliest stages. Through free education and mentoring provided as part of the Grow@FOI pre-incubation programme, participants take part in a series of educational activities and mentoring sessions aimed at enhancing their entrepreneurial, business and technological knowledge and skills, enabling them to develop their ideas and ultimately establish their own start-up or spin-off. The programme supports ideas in their initial stages, as the success of later phases, primarily incubation and acceleration, depends largely on support provided at the earliest stage of idea development. The project also provides infrastructure, including dedicated space and equipment for prototyping.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Mayor of the Municipality of Gornji Kneginec and Member of the Croatian Parliament Goran Kaniški, Dean of the Faculty of Organization and Informatics Prof. Marina Klačmer Čalopa, PhD, Head of the Regional Pre-Incubation Centre for Smart Industry at FOI Prof. Nina Begičević Ređep, PhD, Mayor of the City of Varaždin Neven Bosilj, PhD, Mayor of the City of Novi Marof Siniša Jenkač, newly elected FOI Dean Prof. Renata Mekovec, PhD, Head of the Centre for Student Support and Career Development Amalija Koren Cavaleiro, as well as FOI students Matija Volarić and Ivan Lalić, whose teams will become the first users of the newly opened facility.
The Local Development Point in Turčin is part of a strategic project being developed in Varaždin and implemented at FOI, focused on the development of pre-incubation – that is, supporting entrepreneurial ideas at their earliest stage by connecting the academic community, local government and the IT sector. The facility will serve as a place for the development of innovative ideas by students, young entrepreneurs and start-up teams, with professional support and mentoring, and will be directly connected to the activities and programmes of the Regional Pre-Incubation Centre for Smart Industry.
The Municipality of Gornji Kneginec is a project partner and has allocated €90,000 for the renovation and equipping of the Local Development Point in Turčin. This cooperation will make knowledge, technologies and professional support more accessible to the local community. The development of the facility in Turčin represents an important step towards establishing a network of pre-incubation points that will foster innovation, entrepreneurship and smart industry at both the local and regional levels.
It should be emphasised that the central Regional Pre-Incubation Centre for Smart Industry is being developed in Varaždin, with FOI as the project lead, while additional Local Development Points are being established in Novi Marof, Ludbreg, Sveti Ilija and Vidovec, with the aim of decentralising activities and ensuring balanced regional development.
The project is co-financed by the European Union through the ITU mechanism under the Integrated Territorial Programme 2021–2027.
