On Monday, 28th of November 2016, a workshop on research and innovations in robotics field was held at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER). The workshop was jointly organized by Innovation Centre Nikola Tesla (ICENT) and Centre of Research Excellence for Advanced Cooperative Systems (ACROSS).
55 representatives of companies, faculties and universities and government institutions from Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia attended the workshop.
The workshop was opened by prof. dr. Ivan Petrović by presenting ACROSS and its research domains. After that director prof. dr. Nedjeljko Perić presented ICENT and CROBOHUB project. Dr. sc. Tomislav Radoš, vice president of Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) for industry and IT, energy and environmental protection, gave a lecture about strategic documents of the Republic of Croatia in the development of the national innovation system and the role of newly established Centre for Industrial Development CIRAZ. Representatives of FER laboratories LAMOR, LARICS and LABUST presented the activities of their research groups in the field of robotics.
Zaviša Gordić from University of Belgrade School of Electrical Engineering (ETF) demonstrated School and its ETF Robotics group, while prof. dr. Brane Semolič presented the business model and activities of ROBOFLEX Slovenia Competence Centre.
Very interesting presentations was the one held by Luka Fućek from FER, who presented STEMI hexapod, a robot intended for learning robotics, electronics and programming among youngster population.
The workshop ended with a round table about fostering innovations in the region. Participants were prof. dr. Nedjeljko Perić as moderator, dr. sc. Tomislav Radoš from HGK, Mr. Željko Goja from company HSTEC and Mr. Željko Postružin from company HRID. All participants agreed that strong economy relies on companies with innovative products and services competitive on the Croatian, and even global market. Important sources of innovations are definitely universities and research institutes so it is necessary to support their cooperation with industry. Representatives of SMEs shared their experiences in collaboration with academic institutions and how it helped their company to become more competitive on the market. Dr. sc. Radoš explained what the state has done so far and what still needs to be done in order to encourage entrepreneurs to invest in research and development. At the end participants concluded that there is still a lot to do in order to establish an effective national innovation system and strengthen the competitiveness of the Croatian economy, and one of the most important activities that should be fostered is the cooperation between science and industry.
