Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT
NEXT Open Book Repository for the County of Istria
COMPOSED BY |Ivula d.o.o.
DISCLAMER: This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the IPA Adriatic Cross- Border Cooperation Programme. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Istrian Development Agency and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the IPA Adriatic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Authorities.
Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
Table of Contents______
List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………4
List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………...5
1. The NEXT Project Description and Objectives………………………………………6 2. The Republic of Croatia’s Research, Development and Implementation of Innovation Situation and Projections……………...…………...…………………………………9 3. Introduction to the NEXT Open Book Repository for the County of Istria…….……14 4. Effects and Benefits from the Implementation of the NEXT Open Book and NEXT-IS for the County of Istria...... 16 5. Method and Criteria for the Selection of RTTC’s from within the County of Istria included into the NEXT Open Book Repository...... 19 6. County of Istria RTTC’s Included into the NEXT Open Book Repository………….…...... 20 6.1.AZRRI – Agencija za ruralni razvoj Istre d.o.o., Pazin (Agency for Rural Development of Istria Region Ltd, Pazin……………………………………….22 6.2.Centar za istraživanje mora Instituta "Ru đer Boškovi ć", Rovinj (Center for Marine Research “Ru đer Boškovi ć”, Rovinj)…………………………….…..…29 6.3. Institut za poljoprivredu i turizam, Pore č (Institute for Agriculture and Tourism, Pore č)…………………………………………………………………………...35 6.4.METRIS - Centar za istraživanje materijala Istarske županije, Pula (Center for Material Research of the County of Istria)………………………………….…..47 6.5.Politehnika Pula, visoka tehni čko – poslovna škola, Pula (Polytechnic Pula, High Technical-Business School, Pula)………………………………….…….……..56 6.6.Veleu čilište u Rijeci, Rijeka (Polytechnics in Rijeka, Rijeka)……………..……59 6.7.Zavod za javno zdravstvo Istarske Županije (Public Health Institute of the County of Istria)……………………………………………….……….………………..65 6.8.Sveu čilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli (University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula)………….71 6.9.Op ća bolnica Pula (General hospital Pula)…………………………….………..77
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
7. RTTC’s in Istria and the Role of the Istrian Development Agency in Promoting Innovation and Synergy in the region...... 81 8. Legal Form, Organization and Maintenance of the NEXT Online Platform for the County of Istria……………………...... 87 9. Conclusions and Recommendations………………………………………………...90 10. List of References…………………….……………………………………………..92
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
List of Tables______
Table 1: Key R&D and Technology Transfer Indicators for Croatia………………………...12
Table 2: SWOT Analysis AZRRI…………………………………………………….……..28
Table 3: SWOT analysis Center for Maritime Research “Ru đer Boškovi ć”, Rovinj………..33
Table 4: SWOT Analysis Institute for Agriculture and Tourism, Pore č……………………..46
Table 5: SWOT Analysis METRIS - Center for Material Research of the County of
Istria………………………………………………………………………………55
Table 6: SWOT Analysis Polytechnic Pula, High Technical-Business School, Pula…….....58
Table 7: SWOT Analysis Polytechnics in Rijeka, Rijeka…………………..……………….64
Table 8: SWOT Analysis Public Health Institute of the County of Istria……………………70
Table 9: SWOT Analysis University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula……………………………....76
Table 10: SWOT Analysis General Hospital Pula…………………………………………..81
Table 11: SWOT Analysis of RTTC’s of the County of Istria…………………...…………..87
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
List of Figures______
Figure 1: Croatia – R&D Intensity Projections, 2000-2020…………………………………10
Figure 2: Strengths and Weaknesses of Croatia’s R&I…………………….………………..11
Figure 3: Rural and urban parts of the County of Istria……………………………………....27
Figure 4: The CIM Building in Rovinj……………………………………………………...35
Figure 5: The Institute for Agriculture and Tourism’s Estate in Pore č with the
Planned new Grounds Included…………………………………………………..38
Figure 6: The Campus of the University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula………………...………….75
Figure 7: The New General Hospital in Pula………………………………………………..80
Figure 8: The New Istrian Technology Incubator founded by the Istrian
Development Agency…………………………………………………………….86
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
1. The NEXT project description and objectives
The NEXT project intends to create a collaborative platform to support innovation and technology transfer in the Countries of the Adriatic area. The Project aims at supporting cooperation of research and development and technology transfer organizations of its partaking partners to enhance innovation in order to increase the competitive capacity of goods and services produced by companies within the region. The project thereby contributes to sustainable economic development and growth within the respective region and country.
It arises from the considerations on the role of innovation, transnational networks and cooperation as levers of national economic development and, more generally, of the increase in competitive capacity of enterprises through better connections with the innovation circuits. The main focus of the project is the cross-border transfer of research and technology within and between the members of the project.
The NEXT project will help to optimize research and development investments of individual companies, institutions as well regions and countries. It will thereby make it possible to share the risk of overinvesting in equipment and research and will enhance the competitiveness of the area through research and technology transfer.
Synergies, networks and joint research amongst the partners included in NEXT will maximize “value for money” in research and development as well as create an atmosphere for cross- border communication, connection and visibility of research and development results and opportunities.
Another aim of the project is to create a critical mass in skill, resources and participants in specific scientific and technological fields of interest which will benefit the partners now and in future. Cooperation and networking projects such as NEXT can support the adoption of new cultural and operational approaches in the field of research and innovation and consequently the development of new skills and professional opportunities in the regional contexts of the beneficiary Countries, as stated in the projects description.
The NEXT project is also significant because of the common history of the partaking partners in the project. In the Balkan Countries and in particular in those of the former Yugoslavia, due
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to a number of factors which include for instance: the previous and recent economic crisis by which most of the countries have been hit severely, few investments overall and especially in the scientific sector in recent years and the absence of a defined and coherent institutional framework which characterized the region.
There is also a notable lack of an institutional and strong relationship between the scientific and research sector the businesses. Most of the countries have had, and in part still have, difficulty in accessing financial resources, especially for those Countries that cannot yet count on the support provided by the European Union’s Structural Funds.
Exiting the science, research, cultural and financial isolation is a priority for those countries. This has been identified and addressed by the NEXT project and the NEXT Open Book will provide a tool to overcome the relative isolation in the field of research, development and innovation.
It will create the precise operational models, to identify scientific and technological partners and to build up a framework for the exchange of research, development and innovation information and services, to facilitate the access to existing resources and skills at the international level, and will most likely make use of the means of EU funds provided for such synergistic activities.
Through the NEXT Open Book repository, promotion of excellence in the area of research, development, innovation and collaboration the institutional capacity in the sector of research and technology transfer will be increased. Implementation of local development models will also become more oriented towards territorial knowledge management.
These challenges and complexity factors require therefore to go beyond individual regions or Countries and on the connections among systems significantly different from each other (research, education, industry, finance, public administration).
Through the collaborative platform, the NEXT project aims to promote, expand and consolidate, in qualitative and quantitative terms, the cooperation among Research institutes, enterprises and researchers. To test mechanisms to support the research and technology transfer system in the area. To represent a qualified interlocutor with institutional stakeholders
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
in view of an enlarged R&I governance and to embody a competitive partner in research and technology transfer at the area level and internationally.
The specific objectives are of NEXT are to define the map of activities and actors of scientific research in each territory involved; to implement an interactive online platform to facilitate and multiply the exchanges among the actors of innovation; to provide a range of services to support the relationships among the actors involved; to promote investment opportunities in favor of research and technology transfer; to provide guidelines for the development of coordinated policies to support innovation; to give visibility to excellence in the field of research and innovation; to capitalize the experience and the results gained to give continuity to the collaborative platform.
The distinctive and effective innovation that distinguishes NEXT is mix of virtual services (online platform for information sharing between research and development organizations and institutions as well as access to common services) and services and products provided directly for partners within the partaking regions, SME’s and research and technology transfer organizations and institutions. The Next Open Book for the County of Istria will identify research and development and technology transfer subjects in Istria and focus on their ability to contribute to the objectives described.
The NEXT Open Book Repository can be constantly updated by research and technology transfer centers (both public and private). A summary report, NEXT trend, will also be produced to give details, for each of the territories involved, of the level of technological intensity, the results of excellence in the field of research and innovation, investment opportunities, public policies support. Both of the tools will be functional to identify and give visibility to excellence competences, thereby facilitating the interaction between the different research actors. The implementation of an online platform will simplify and speed up the opportunities for collaboration, contributing to the establishment/strengthening of supply chains and clusters as well as to the attraction of investments and the resulting capitalization of the leading innovation sectors. In order to consolidate the reaction system, together with a series of platform-based online services, NEXT Box, specific initiatives will be implemented for the promotion of investment opportunities (e.g. Promotion of patents and supporting
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actions for spin-offs and research groups for submission to potential investors), NEXT Investment booster.
Following an analysis of the experimentation conducted and partnerships developed within the project, suggestions will be provided to the Program Authority, and indications for the development of the policies to support innovation in the reference area, NEXT Outlook; a feasibility study, NEXT Suite, will also be conducted to verify the future sustainability of the initiative.
2. The Republic of Croatia’s Research, Development and Implementation of Innovation Situation and Projections
This study will additionally give a brief overview on research and development investments in Croatia from the year 2000 until the year 2011 (latest available data), as well as present projections of planned future investments in order to give a more detailed picture of the current situation of the sector.
The below data is necessary in order to underline the position of the County of Istria in Croatia regarding R&D. The graphs below also serve as an illustration of the Republic of Croatia’s overall research, innovation and competitiveness situation.
Figure 1: Croatia – R&D Intensity Projections, 2000-2020
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
The graph shows a continuous decrease of R&D intensity from 2008 onwards. This can only in part be accredited to the worldwide economic crisis, the lack of structural reforms has also had impact. The Republic of Croatia's growth in the previous years was not a result of innovation or a productivity increase, it came mostly as a result of governmental infrastructural investments. Croatia’s aim was to reach a research and development intensity of 1 % by 2010. Since this has not been reached, it has been decided to reform the science system before setting new R&D intensity goals.
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Figure 2: Strengths and Weaknesses of Croatia’s R&I
The data within the graph shows that Croatia is below EU averages in every aspect of implementation of R&D and innovation which is linked to business and only stands out in the number of patent applications per billion GDP and EC Framework Program funding per thousand GERD. The graph also shows that Croatia is doing considerably better overall than countries os similar economic structure.
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Table 1: Key R&D and Technology Transfer Indicators for Croatia
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
The table above shows key indicators R&D and technology transfer in Croatia from 2000 till 2012. The investment in knowledge shows a substantial increase of doctoral graduates but a decline in business enterprise and governmental expenditures on R&D.
The S&T excellence and cooperation indicators show a steady increase of international scientific co-publications per million population and a slower increase of public-private scientific co-publications. Both S&T excellence indicators are substantially below EU averages.
The firm activities and impact indicators show how much innovation contributes to international competitiveness of Croatian companies. Patent applications, as well as license and patent revenues in percent of GDP are declining, while the contribution of high-tech and medium-tech products to the trade balance (exports and imports combined) shows a steady increase.
The factors for structural change and addressing societal challenges illustrate the lack of structural changes in Croatia for the period. The composite indicator of structural change is only 1.8 while the EU average is 48.7. Employment in knowledge-intensive activities, which include manufacturing and business services, as % of total employment is only slowly increasing. The percentage of SME’s introducing product or process innovation as percentage of the GDP is 1.8 compared to 38.4 on EU level. Patent applications in environmental and health-related technologies are also on the decrease.
Europe 2020 objectives for growth, jobs and societal challenges show positive trends from 2008 onwards. The share of population aged 30-34 who have successfully completed tertiary education is increasing though it is still well below EU averages. The share of population at risk of poverty or social exclusion is at 4.5 and thereby better than the indicator for the EU, which is at 24.2.
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
3. Introduction to the NEXT Open Book Repository for the County of Istria
Next Open Book, as part of the Next Project, will provide the basis for the implementation of the NEXT-IS platform for the County of Istria. NEXT-IS will be a tool for research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions from within the County of Istria to connect between each other and to generate information and knowledge flow within the partaking regions. This study was written by Dario Mezuli ć dipl. iur. of IVULA d.o.o. and Vilijam Žufi ć dipl.oec.
Data provided by the NEXT Open Book will consist of a list of research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions, their area of expertise, their human and research equipment resources and information on previous research and publications.
It will aid in identifying potential partners and service providers, their human and technical resources, as well as point out their references and experience in particular fields of research and development. The NEXT Open Book will be the first step in the process of creating a collaborative platform among research centers, enterprises and researchers which will work as the "aggregation element" to stimulate and support an innovation path that will enable to increase the competitiveness of the area as intended by the NEXT project.
The purpose of the NEXT Open Book Study for the County of Istria is to map out research and development subjects within the County to be included into the NEXT Open Book repository of research and development organizations.
The study will also specify their respective area of expertise as well as their respective human and research equipment resources. Research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions of the Istrian County, which will be listed later, will also partake in this cooperative platform for innovations and technology transfer in order to effectively use their potential and to optimize their business.
The NEXT Open Book Study for the County of Istria will determine the structure and the information the online database will contain, clarify methodology and criteria to identify research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions to be
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
included into the online database and propose the legal form, organization and maintenance of the NEXT Open Book online database for the County of Istria. It will also determine measures to be taken in order to assure that information provided through the database is accurate, regularly updated and easy to use.
Although the economy of the County of Istria is very diverse, tourism and the processing industry are the most developed. As the County of Istria is the most visited tourist region of Croatia, it is only logical that research and development institutions of the county put emphasis on research which can also strengthen that position even more.
According to the mentioned orientation towards tourism, research institutions of the county have developed towards archeological (METRIS), agricultural (Agency for Rural Development of Istria Region - AZZRI, Institute for Agriculture and Tourism, Pore č), fishing and fish growing (Center for Marine Research of the “Ru đer Boškovi ć”, Rovinj) and related food and food processing research. As other regions participating in the project have tourism and related industries also listed amongst their field of interest, it is foreseeable that there is space for collaboration.
At the same time, the traditional metal processing industry and production of construction material and well as the rising information and communications technology sector are also fields of interest of research and development organizations and institution of the county. METRIS stands out in metal testing and will likely become a leader in the region in this sector.
Istria is also oriented towards the ICT sector and has recently opened an ICT incubator which is co-funded by the European Union. Information and communication technology is crucial for all other fields of interest to develop. The sector has tradition reaching back 1984 when Istrian ICT experts had leading roles in data processing during the Winter Olympic 1984 in Sarajevo. There are ICT companies in Istria that have been founded over the last five years and which have become world leaders in their niches.
Those companies find it very difficult to recruit highly educated staff locally. A joint effort by educational institutions (some of which participate in this project), R&D organizations and
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institutions as well as from the companies themselves will have to be undertaken in order to ensure that students leave school with the skills needed.
4. Effects and Benefits from the Implementation of the NEXT Open Book and NEXT-IS for the County of Istria
More than in other regions of Croatia, research and development organizations and institutions of the county have been oriented towards environment protection and sustainable development. International collaboration, strategic alliances, joint research and internationally educated staff of the organizations and institutions from within Istria which will participate in the NEXT Open Book project vouch for their ability to use and seminate the results of this project. This project will enlarge and put the R&D capacity of the region to better use through international coordination of resources and structures.
The effects and benefits of the implementation and use of the NEXT project will influence the research and development organizations and institutions of the County of Istria. By utilizing transnational networks such as the NEXT-IS, research and development organizations, as well as ultimately the enterprises of the particular region, will be more effective in the planning and implementation of new and innovative projects.
Furthermore, the research and development organizations and institutions will be enabled to identify potential new fields of interest and/or plan future investments, as well as optimize the use of existing human and equipment resources.
Moreover, the organizations and institutions will also have to deal with competition, since research and development or analysis information in the particular field of interest will most likely also be available nearby. Having to deal with competition could also lead to specialization, which would furthermore be of benefit to all of the parities included in the project.
The Next Open Book repository will be used by research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions, as well as enterprises from within the eleven regions in six countries which take part in the NEXT project: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, 16
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Italy, Montenegro and Serbia. The use of the NEXT Open Book repository will thereby promote cross-border cooperation, as well as provide businesses of the partaking regions and their research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions with an additional mean to promote investment opportunities in favor of research and technology transfer.
Named organizations and institutions will benefit from the creation and maximization of synergy and optimization effects to be made possible by implementing the use of NEXT-IS, and the information provided by the eleven partners included in the Next Project. Their respective research and development organizations and researchers within the research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions will also most likely participate more in other European and international science and industry programs.
The repository, and later on the NEXT-IS online database, will also be used by the research and development departments in companies within the County of Istria. Thereby strengthening the, at this time, weak science-industry collaboration as well as increasing the use of their own knowledge to develop higher evolved end products to the market.
Enhanced information flow between companies and research and development organizations within the County of Istria will lead to tailored solutions for one company or for more companies of a particular branch of business. This will also enable the research and development organizations and institutions to make their results visible i.e. present the results of their research to the interested market.
All of this combined will lead to a relevant regional network of efficient collaboration of the three key stakeholders of efficient innovation strategy creation, as stated in the NEXT Trend Study: governmental institutions, the academic sector and business.
The NEXT Open Book Study for the County of Istria will therefore be used by the subjects included in the study itself and it will also determine strengths and potential strengths of each of the mapped out research and development organizations in order to be used as a tool to identify and specify future investments and potential areas of interest. It will also use various studies and reports which have been made as part of the NEXT and other projects.
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Information, technology and innovation transfer between the participating RTTC’s and other organizations and institutions will lead to more flexible specialization which will benefit the regions companies and strengthen their position regarding competition, decreased life circles of products, as well as open possibilities for the improvement of existing products, as well as decrease the time needed to bring new products to the market. The companies will also be able to optimize investments in research and development more effectively.
Since the relationship between basic and applied research and development cannot be defined in advance, nor is it possible to completely determine the scientific, technological or market potential of a project in advance, R&D organizations and institutions of the region have traditionally been more oriented towards potentially commercial research. This will benefit companies of the region and raise their competitiveness on the European and world market. It will also encourage them to invest in technology which will ultimately lead to more employment of highly skilled professionals.
Institutions such as the Polytechnic schools in Rijeka and Pula, whose expertise will be also included in this project, are directly oriented towards applying research and innovation in the companies as both schools are focused on teaching knowledge which is meant to be put to use as soon as student successfully complete the studies.
Further development of the research and development organizations and institutions will also create the need for more researchers to be offered jobs within the institutions. This project will to strengthen the RTTC's of the beneficiary regions as well as their respective economies. It should also motivate scientists stay and work within the regions because it is often the case that they migrate to the few centralized research and technology transfer centers of their respective country, as it is currently often the case in Croatia where Zagreb is the center where most of the country’s research facilities are located.
The County of Istria and the County’s Istrian Development Agency (IDA) have identified the problem years ago and have undertaken measures to make the region more attractive for scientist. ISTRALAB represents one of those measures.
The ISTRALAB web platform, which was introduced earlier this year by IDA, presents most
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
of the regions R&D and technology transfer organizations and institutions with the aim to make their potential more visible on the Croatian and European market. Mentioned RTTC’s are briefly introduced and their areas of research are specified. The platform has been used to identify subjects to be included in this repository.
5. Method and Criteria for the Selection of Research and Development and Technology Transfer Organizations and Institutions from within the County of Istria included into the NEXT Open Book Repository.
Research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions from the County of Istria which will be included into the Next Open Book project will be introduced later. They have been identified taking into account following criteria:
- Their registration at the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports (or their intention to be registered in the Ministries register within the next three years) - Their human resources - Their funding, their technical capabilities - Their previous research and development results - Their equipment - Their willingness to participate, as well as allocate a representative.
The selection was made based on publicly accessible information and proven results. The area of competency for each included member of the project is described in detail later in this study.
It has also been taken into account whether research results are relevant to the nine strategic or primary sectors which have been identified by the national government of the Republic of Croatia: food-processing, textile-leather sector, wood industry, chemical-pharmaceutical sector, metal-processing sector, automotive sector, trade, tourism and information- communication-technologies ICT. This was done having in mind potential future government funding for research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions associated with the named nine strategic sectors.
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Each of the later listed research and development organizations and institutions will be introduced with the following information provided:
- Aim of research and development - Scientific and technological field of expertise - Services, knowledge and skill offered - Specified economic or other field of implementation of their research - Specified previous results and ongoing research - Number of employees, number of scientific employees, education of employees - Annual turnover
6. County of Istria Subjects Included into the NEXT Open Book Repository
The research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions within the County of Istria which have met the criteria described above and will therefore be included into the Next Open Book Study and the resulting NEXT Open Book repository are listed below. The research and development organizations and institutions which will be described in detail in the study are:
- AZRRI – Agencija za ruralni razvoj Istre d.o.o., Pazin (Agency for Rural Development of Istria Region Ltd, Pazin - Centar za istraživanje mora Instituta "Ru đer Bošković", Rovinj (Center for Marine Research of the “Ru đer Boškovi ć”, Rovinj) - METRIS - Centar za istraživanje materijala Istarske županije, Pula (Center for Material Research of the County of Istria) - Politehnika Pula, visoka tehni čko – poslovna škola, Pula (Polytechnic Pula, High Technical-Business School, Pula) - Veleu čilište u Rijeci, Rijeka (Polytechnics Rijeka, Rijeka) - Zavod za javno zdravstvo Istarske Županije (Public Health Institute of the County of Istria) - Institut za poljoprivredu i turizam, Pore č (Institute for Agriculture and Tourism, Pore č) - Sveu čilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli (University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula) - Op ća bolnica Pula (General hospital of Pula)
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6.1. AZRRI – Agencija za ruralni razvoj Istre d.o.o., Pazin (Agency for Rural Development of Is tria Region Ltd, Pazin
The Agency for Rural Development of Istria, Pazin is a limited company 100% owned by the County of Istria, and works closely with all county authorities and businesses, especially with the Department of Agriculture of the County of Istria, on joint projects especially for linking the public and private sectors, and projects that build the public infrastructure for the rural areas of the county. AZRRI is managed by a director who answers to a three member supervisory board appointed by the founder, the Istrian County.
The Agen cy has been founded with the purpose of the joining public and the private sector, and for preparing and implementation of projects into the rural area of the County of Istria. AZRRI was the first agency of this kind in Croatia with a specific purpose to coordinate production-wise activities into rural are as of Istria.
In addition to the Strategic Program for Rural Development of Istria (2007 -2013), the Agency focusses on the determination of typical Istrian products, programs, hunting and breeding deer, more and more funds allocated for the development pro gram for rural households.
The challenges are put in front of rural tourism, especially in conditions of economic crisis are big but achievable. Rural tourism, today, despite the difficulties in the global tourism trends, increased demands and new initiati ves.
It is therefore of utmost importance to harmonize Croatian legislation as soon as possible with EU legislation, to rural households created preconditions for competitiveness in the EU market. Areas of activities of the Agency for Rural Development of Istria are agriculture, hunting, forestry and fisheries, management and economic development programs, research and development, training of farmers and promote county.
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The Agencies fields of activity are:
Agriculture, hunting, forestry, fisheries – preparing and implementing economic development programs and projects in the following areas:
- Research and development – collection, processing and statistical analysis of data related to rural areas and activities therein, elaboration of scientific projects for the development of rural areas, holding presentations - Strategic planning – drawing up strategic development programs for Istria County - Project preparation – elaborating projects, selection and coordination of partners, drawing up final documents - Project implementation – team selection and creation, candidate training, implementation coordination, activity supervision, final evaluation - Managing economic development programs – implementation and management of programs in rural areas of Istria - Promotion of Istria County – participation in national and international fairs, promotion of typical Istrian products - Farmer training – seminars, information about tenders, improving the level of practical knowledge, consultancy services
AZRRI consists of the following:
- Laboratory for the development of meat products from meat breeds and native wildlife from Istria (Istrian cattle meat, durable meat products, meat products from wild game meat) - Oil Mill San Lorenzo - Vodnjan
Type of service provided:
- Consulting services for EU funds - Consultancy Fund for Agriculture and Rural Development - Innovation and standardization of processes and products - Quality standardization - Quality control
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AZZRI’s research and innovation have already had an impact in Istrian agriculture and the perception of the region as one outstanding agricultural products which are known worldwide. They have led to revitalization of traditional, authentic, meat processing. The institution has helped in the branding of Istrian meat and dairy products by setting standards in production processes and quality.
The agency stands for and puts effort into balanced and sustainable development of the agricultural and agri-food sector in the Istrian region, by strengthening cooperation processes in the primary and secondary sectors, from within the county and broader. AZZRI has, and will do so more by being included in this project, increased technology transfer and innovation in the production system. The activities of the Agency are also organized geographically into Local Activity Groups (LAG). The groups are LAG Rovinj, LAG Southern Istria, LAG Eastern Istria, LAG Pore č, LAG Central Istria and the LAG Northern Istria.
The scope of the project is marked by a strong agricultural potential in participating countries and regions that can develop high-income and high-value production. These resources remain largely unexpressed on the southern side of the Adriatic coast, where the level of quality and quantity of production have room for a better growth trend.
The agricultural sector in these countries, although it is one of the most important sources of employment and creates a large share of national GDP, is subject to many problems that the agency had to cope with in Croatia. AZZRI can assist companies as well as other research and development organizations and institutions to allow agricultural development by improving the quality of processes and products while preserving the environment. These problems are mainly related to the lack of technical assistance and innovation of production processes.
The agency has also done its part in branding the whole region for their agricultural products such as olive oil and wine, as well as meat products. It has thereby contributed to the revitalization of rural Istria. Another benefit from the activities of AZRRI is its contribution to the tourism of the county.
In the future AZRRI’s research will concentrate a great part on olive orchards and the olive oil production process. Because of this future focus, the agency has bought an own olive oil mill.
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The mill represents one of the largest investments of the agency. It is necessary for AZRRI to have its own mill in order to be able to control every phase of the oil production for the smallest changes in the production process influence the quality of the oil.
The Agency went the same path during its efforts to brand the regional autochthonous Istrian cattle and meat products thereof, and did this to great success. The Agency will also invest further in olive orchards for the potential of the region in the production of highest quality olive oil has not been reached yet. The agency has also put much effort in the education and quality awareness of olive oil producers, but must intensify this effort even more.
In 2013 another agency with similar fields of interest (MIH – Made in Histria d.o.o.) has been melted with AZZRI. In 2012 the annual turnover of both companies was 19,745,000 HRK (2,598,000 €). The total number of employees was thereby raised from 21 in 2012 to 28 in 2013. Because of the combined know-how of both agencies and their branding experience, services and research which the Agency now offers, especially the experience and expertise regarding EU funding, should be met with interest of similar agencies and businesses of partaking regions. AZZRI’s expertize should be even more in demand once the NEXT-IS platform is established.
All the know-how accumulated within the agency will be put to better use for other countries and regions which partake in the NEXT project will be able to lean on experience and knowledge concentrated within the agency. Research and services provided by the Agency and its experience in the branding of local agricultural and food-processing products can be of interest for other countries and regions partaking in the NEXT project because they face similar challenges as AZRRI.
AZRRI's Center for Regional Rural Development and Biodiversity Protection represents a capital infrastructure within the Agency founded with the purpose of tracking and planning needs of rural areas, proposals for systematic implementation of development policy in rural areas and interdisciplinary coordination of all activities.
The Center is a public institution permanently aided by the public sector in the interest of creating quality conditions for the development of private enterprise in rural areas, taking into
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account sustainable development. The center will be organized through sub-centers as a multidisciplinary center that will provide the infrastructure for the implementation and organization of activities authorized by interested professional - scientific businesses in order to preserve plant and animal species and their economic development and achieving stability standard of living in rural parts, but also the entire region of Istria.
By connecting farmers with the necessary professional, scientific and administrative departments and bodies in the network, the Center will provide quality interaction of all stakeholders, which will lead to economic development and facilitated communication of all involved parties.
The Center will be organized through sub-centers for specific activities relevant to the development of rural areas, as follows:
- Sub-center for the sustainable development of animal husbandry, beekeeping and biodiversity protection - Sub-center for the sustainable development of olive growing - Sub-center for the sustainable development of viticulture and winemaking - Sub-center for the sustainable development of mushroom - Sub-center for the sustainable development of fishery
The Sub-centers will be located in Pazin, Pore č, Vodnjan and Buzet. The Center will operate on a system of networks and gather and disseminate all the multi-disciplinary knowledge, as well as develop and coordinate public and private economic interests for the purpose of sustainable development.
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Figure 3: Rural and ur ban parts of the County of Istria
The map above shows the urban (blue) and predominantly rural (green) regions of the County of Istria. The map was created using OECD criteria for the determination of rural areas (less than 150 inhabitants per square kilometer). The map points out the importance of an agency focused on the development of rural areas in Istria. It is part of the Strategic Program of Rural Development fo r the County of Istria which was ordered by AZRRI and conducted by the University of Zagreb.
Research results from the Agency for Rural Development of Istria Region are applicable in the
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agricultural, food-processing, health and tourism sectors.
The Agency participated as lead partner and partner in many projects, some of them are ADRIENV, RI.MO.REG, TRUFFLINK, I-AGRI, INNO.W.A.TE, MULTIFARMERS, TOUR IN ADRI, AREFA, IPATECH, DESK ARTS, IRCOS, RETOUR, GREEN ECONOMY, S.Ma.P, and more. This know-how is one of the main reasons for the inclusion of the Agency into the NEXT Open Book repository.
Table 2: SWOT Analysis AZRRI
Strengths Weaknesses
- Local support - Large fix-costs - Combines research and - Expanding in too many marketing agricultural areas - Funding know-how
Opportunities Threats
- Experience in funding - Part of the research overlaps - Innovation and technology with other RTTC’s and agencies transfer potential - Loosing focus by engaging in too many activities
Contact:
AZRRI d.o.o. Pazin Šetalište pazinske gimnazije 13 52000 Pazin, Croatia Tel: ++385 52 619 610 Fax: ++385 52 616 610 e-mail: info(at)azrri.hr web: www.azrri.hr
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6.2. Centar za istraživanje mora Instituta "Ru đer Boškovi ć", Rovinj (Cen ter for Maritime Research “Ru đer Boškovi ć”, Rovinj)
The Center for Marine Research "Ruder Boskovic" in Rovinj is an interdisciplinary research center whose activity is focused on basic and applied oceanographic research. I t includes the following areas:
- Processes and dynamics within and across trophic level s (primary and secondary production, primary and biogenic cycle of elements) - Examination of the dynamics of water masses - Flora, fauna and community life (taxonomy, ecology and communities of organisms in natural and polluted environment) - Ecological, physio logical and genetic studies of marine organisms and the effects of pollution - Pollution monitoring and quality must - Testing eutrophication
The C enter is part of the Ru đer Boškovi ć Institute, Zagreb in which there are over 550 scientists and researchers in more than 80 laboratories pursuing research in theoretical and experimental physics, physics and materials chemistry, electronics, physical chemistry, organic chemistry and biochemistry, molecular biology and medicine, the sea and the environment, informat ional and computer sciences, laser and nuclear research and development. The Center is managed by a director appointed by the Governing Council of the Ru đer Boškovi ć Institute in Zagreb.
One of the recent projects at the institute which will be conducted over the next three years
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includes around 300 scientists from seven divisions of the Ru đer Boškovi ć Institute (RBI) will work on a 5 million EUR worth InnoMol project — Enhancement of the Innovation Potential in SEE through New Molecular Solutions in Research and Development. The InnoMol project will foster a research pipeline at the RBI and facilitate innovation and technology for the investigation of relevant diseases such as cancer.
The Institute is known as an innovation center in the Republic of Croatia and the region, through the successful joint efforts of private domestic and foreign investors, venture capital and scientific institutions, the first spin-off companies have been launched in such a way that the commercialization of inventions is becoming increasingly accepted.
During the 2006–2010 period, the Ru đer Boškovi ć Institute and the company Rudjer Innovations founded five new spin-off companies. Through an investment worth over ten million HRK, young professionals and scientists have the opportunity to enter into entrepreneurship. All the companies, with the intensive support of Rudjer Innovations, will soon be or are already acting independently on the market.
The Marine Research Center consists of six labs:
- Laboratory of bio mineralization, nanostructures and radioecology: In the research of bio mineralization processes and mechanisms of marine organisms due to the complex interactions between organisms and the environment (seawater, sediment - soft tissue, biomaterials) an interdisciplinary approach must be taken and a combination of biological and instrumental methods (biocenology, enzymatic analysis, methods of molecular biology, proteomics, optical, scanning and transmission microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray spectroscopy, stable isotopes). - Laboratory of ecology and systematics benthos: The issue of the laboratory of ecology and systematics benthos includes basic and applied research in the field of marine biology and ecology. Research related to the systematics and ecology of benthic organisms (macro fitobentos, meio fauna and macro fauna) and communities, biodiversity and benthos of the Adriatic Sea. - Laboratory for marine eco-toxicology: The mission of the lab is to research proteo toxic, cyto toxic and geno toxic mechanisms of action of foreign substances (geno
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toxic and/or toxic) at the cellular and molecular level and at the level of populations of marine organisms, mainly invertebrates. Newly acquired knowledge is applied in the assessment of the quality of the sea. - Laboratory for marine microbial ecology: The main issue of the laboratory for marine microbial ecology is the study of the ecology and evolution of microbial communities. The focus of the biotic and abiotic factors that cause and maintain microbial diversity and the diversity of participation in the functioning of ecosystems. - Laboratory for marine molecular biology: The mission of the laboratory is researching the impact of natural processes and anthropogenic pollution in selected marine organisms (different trophic levels, commercially interesting species), by measuring the effect on the molecular, cellular, level of species, individuals and populations, determining the physiological adaptations (limit), and genetic adaptation of organisms to stressful environmental conditions in the Adriatic Sea. - Laboratory for processes in the marine ecosystem: The laboratory deals with processes in the marine ecosystem. Research includes mechanisms of long-term changes in the northern Adriatic ecosystem, which is reflected in its trophic status, and the frequency and intensity of natural phenomena such as anoxia, the appearance of "gelatinous macro aggregates" and similar natural phenomena of unusual intensity.
Type of research and service provided:
- Analysis of the structure of benthic communities (qualitative, quantitative and functional composition) - Analysis of Wholeness seabed (according to the methodology of the Strategy Framework Directive on the Sea) - Analyses of sediment: Particle size analysis, organic matter content, redox potential - Analysis: makro fitobentos (algae and sea grass) macro fauna and meio fauna sediments - Biomarkers in mussels
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- Elaborate related to water quality - Single crystal X - ray to determine the identity and content of the pure phase, various mixtures, crystal size and polymorphic residues - Small angle X-ray scattering - Micro - diffraction analysis of X - ray small areas - Environmental Impact Studies (EIS): benthos (seabed and benthic communities) - Environmental Impact Studies (EIS): marine pelagic and water column - Tests of toxicity and geno toxicity in mussels - Tests of toxicity and geno toxicity in seawater - Tests of toxicity and geno toxicity in marine sediments - "Grazing -incidence" X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) for films
The laboratories of the Center for Marine Research Ru đer Boškovi ć in Rovinj are used for technical and complex tasks related to research in applied marine science, and the organization and implementation of measurement within environmental studies related to the sea, as well as for improving the practical application of research results in the field of sea and coastal ecosystems. The institute performs or recommends measures for the protection and management of marine resources. It thereby ensures the further sustainable development of industry, tourism and helps set limits to the exploitation of resources.
It processes and classifies oceanographic data and proposes, organizes, monitors, conducts and evaluates studies on the impact of changes to the marine ecosystem. Its numerous experts can assist countries and regions participating in the Next project that are also coastal Adriatic countries, as it has done in the past.
It also ensures that one of the countries and regions major resources are protected. High environmental standards in the system of decision-making on sustainable development of sea and coastal areas in the local government and the wider community are of essence for the economic development and growth of countries and regions participating in NEXT project.
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According to the Centers strategy Cooperation with the public sector and the economy refers to:
- Marine and Coastal Protection; - Sustainable development and use of marine resources; - Implementation of EU directives relating to the sea and water, and hence their scientific implementation as well as further monitoring and surveillance after Croatia’s European Union accession.
Research results from the Center for Maritime Research of “Ru đer Boškovi ć”, Rovinj are applicable in the fishery, food-processing and tourism sector.
The staff of the Center for Marine Research "Ru đer Boškovi ć" in Rovinj includes 22 PhD’s and a number of engineers. Ru đer Boškovi ć laboratories are accredited by the Croatian Accreditation Agency.
Table 3: SWOT analysis Center for Maritime Research “Ru đer Boškovi ć”, Rovinj
Strengths Weaknesses
- Part of the largest scientific - No accreditation for laboratories institute in the country in Rovinj
- Over a hundred years of - Dependent on Ru đer Boškovi ć experience and tradition in Zagreb
- Staff education
- International reputation
Opportunities Threats
- Expanding towards the Southern - Equipment requires large Adriatic coast investment
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Contact:
Giordano Paliaga 5 52210 Rovinj, Croatia tel.: +385 52 804 700 fax: +385 52 804 780 e-mail: [email protected] web : http://www.irb.hr/Istrazivanja/Zavodi -i-centri/Centar-za-istrazivanje-mora
Figure 4: The CIM B uilding in Rovinj
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6.3. Institut za poljoprivredu i turizam, Pore č (Institute for Agriculture and Tourism, Pore č)
The Institute for Agriculture and Tourism in Pore č is a public research institute that operates under the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports. The main activity of the Institute refers to applied scientific research in agriculture and tourism through the implementation of scientific and technical pr ojects in the field of viticulture , wine making , olive and olive oil , vegetable-growing , agr icultural economics and tourism . It is managed by a director, appointed by the Governing Council of the Institute to a five year mandate.
The Institute carries out other activities primarily th rough accredited laboratories (wine and food biotechnology ) as well as other services arising from operations of the Institute , namely: physio-chemical and sensory analysis of wine and olive oil, Soil analysis, genetic ana lysis, consulting manufacturing, business analysis, market research, feasibility studies and the study of development in agriculture and tourism, consultative services related to the organization of events and the management of human resources in tourism, lectures and seminars, professionally guided wine and olive oil tasting.
Organizational units of the Institute are:
- Professional services (general, legal and human re sources, accounting and finance
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- Department of Economics and Agricultural Development
The department of Economics and Agricultural Development perform continual scientific researches and professional work in the field of agricultural economics and organization of the agriculture and the food system, spatial planning and protection and rural development. Scientific research and professional activities are related to study of economics and socio- economic characteristics of family farms, agricultural businesses and marketing research in agriculture.
Professional activity of researchers of the Department refers to the analysis of business enterprises, development of investment studies and studies in agriculture and rural tourism, and education through lectures and participation in teaching as associates.
- Department of Tourism
The activity of the Department of Tourism at the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism encompasses scientific, teaching and professional work in the social science, field of economics. The mission of the Department of Tourism includes conduction of scientific research in the scope of tourism, particularly tourism on rural area and special interest tourism.
It also includes application of the scientific research results into the private sector. Research topics encompass valorization of tourism resources on rural area of Istria County and the development of the appropriate tourist product. Since there is a relationship between agriculture and tourism in the development of tourist product, research activities of the Department of Tourism incorporate these two fields creating a high quality scientific outputs.
Besides scientific research, the Department of Tourism maintains a high quality network with private sector, which incorporates both scientific and professional aspects. These aspects include regional development as a quality of life promotion process within a sustainable ecosystem, informational and advisory support for tourism businesses, encouragement of new trends in tourism, creation of knowledge based on research and education, training and support of local population in the area of the competitive development of small and medium- size agrotourisms, scientific and development projects and various studies for private sector and community which have direct influence on spatial plans. These activities imply that
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Department of Tourism is very proactive in knowledge transfer.
- Technology Development Center - Agricultural testing estate
Figure 5: The Institute for Agriculture and Tourism’s Estate in Pore č with the Planned new Grounds Included.
Source: City of Pore č
The institute’s experimental agricultural estate is a valuable resource that serves as the infrastructural support for the scientific research in viticulture, olive and vegetable -growing,
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as the area for executing field experiments. It consists of vineyards, olive and fig orchards, arable land and a forest. Experimental agricultural estate represents a place for in field professional discussions and meetings for scientists, experts and students from Croatia and abroad.
The Institute has several experimental vineyards in which scientific and technical research is conducted. Grapes grown in these vineyards are also used for enology research conducted at the Institute’s wine cellar.
The institute has two olive orchards. The older olive orchard was planted in years 1992-1994. The orchard has 13 olive varieties, including Croatian autochthonous varieties and foreign varieties (Italian and French). This orchard is used for scientific research. It has 110 olive trees and a surface of 0.40 hectares. The newer olive orchard was planted in 2008. It represents a collection of autochthonous varieties and has planting distances of 6 x 6 meters. This orchard is used for the latest scientific research of olive autochthonous varieties. It has 127 olive trees and a surface of 0.50 hectares.
The fig orchard was planted in a period 1988-1992. At that time this was the first plantation of figs in Istria. In the orchard there are planted 10 varieties of figs. This orchard was planted with the aim to make a progress in the fig production in Istria. It has a surface of 0.30 hectares.
On the institute’s arable land, which has the surface of more than 10 hectares, in the last years it was sown durum wheat in collaboration with the Agricultural Institute Osijek, in order to test the productive characteristics of different durum wheat varieties. Moreover, experiments with different varieties of potatoes that were candidates for the entry in the Croatian allowed varieties list were performed.
Part of the land was used to investigate the characteristics of Dalmatian pyrethrum, as a world famous aromatic herb that is used as the insecticide in biological crop protection. Actually great part of arable land is used for alfalfa production.
Within the green areas of the Institute, there is a centuries-old forest of pines, which is extremely rich in authentic Mediterranean vegetation. The forest has great landscape significance in relation to the location of the Institute, which is close to Pore č city center.
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Currently in it is set up the educational path, in which the route will be marked, equipped with benches, educational boards and other appropriate facilities. It will be open to all interested citizens and tourists, but is primarily intended for children from educational institutions in Pore č and beyond.
As part of the Institute there are work four laboratories : the wine laboratory, the food - biotechnology laboratory, the genetic and the pedological laboratory, which takes place in scientific research and commercial operation focused on providing services in the field of physical - chemical and sensory analysis of various agricultural - food products, analysis of soil and plant material.
During 2012 and 2013 the institutes wine laboratory has participated in the 2011 IPA Quality Infrastructure in the Western Balkans and Turkey project. Part of which was aimed at certification and testing needs to be truly open and transparent to have mutual recognition and confidence by all major interested parties and applied in a uniform way through the EU and candidate countries and potential candidates in order to strengthen the system of accreditation in the beneficiary countries, which is known to be the best way to achieve mutual recognition and technical trust between all actors.
To ensure mutual recognition of evaluations that conform to international peer-review standards is also a fundamental requirement for funding decisions, peer-review is more and more seen as a solid basis for named decisions.
The aim of the research done by the Institute for Agriculture and Tourism was to determine technical capabilities of wine laboratories and compare testing results of wine laboratories from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo with the aim to educate and improve the overall infrastructure to ensure wine quality from the mentioned markets is in compliance with EU standards.
The wine laboratory of the institute was recently ranked in the upper fifth of wine laboratories according to the NF EN ISO/CEI 17043 norm.
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Type of research:
- Analysis of soil - Analyses of grapes, wines and spirits (physio - chemical) - Analysis of grapes, wines and spirits (instrumental) - DNA analysis of plant material - Testing the quality and authenticity of olive oil - Development of strategy and program development areas - Studies on the development of agriculture and tourism - Making scientific, professional and technical studies in the field of olive and olive oil production - -Making scientific, professional and technical studies in the field of winemaking - Determination of the intensity of positive sensory properties of virgin olive oil for a declaration - Determination of quality in olive oil - Determination of the chemical composition for the purpose of declaring - Determination of the composition for the purpose of specifying a table of nutritional values on the label olive oil - Probe clarification and stability of wine - Checking compliance with the specification - Advisory activity for producers and consumers, free advice enologist with expert interpretation and opinion in the field of winemaking - Sensory analysis of wines , fruit wines and spirits ( accredited method according to DIN EN ISO / IEC 17025 for wines and fruit wines ) as part of exhibitions, competitions, for the purpose of scientific research and development of scientific and technical professional studies.
Accredited methods:
Food - biotechnology laboratory:
- Determination of free fatty acids
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- Determination of peroxide value - Determination of ultraviolet absorbance expressed as specific UV extinction - Determination of wax - Sensory evaluation of virgin olive oil - Determination of fatty acid methyl ester (prepared methyl ester of fatty acids and their determination by gas chromatography - Determination of trans - isomer fatty acid (prepared methyl ester of fatty acids and their determination by gas chromatography) - Determination of the composition and proportion of sterols by capillary gas chromatography - Determination of erythrodiol and uvaol - Determination of aliphatic alcohols by capillary gas chromatography - Determination of stigmastadienes - Determination of triacylglycerols with ECN 42 (the difference between the data obtained by HPLC and the theoretical amount) - Determination of volatile halogenated solvents in olive oil - Determination of 2 - glyceryl monopalmitate
Wine laboratory:
- Determination of density and relative density at 20°C - Determination of alcoholic strength - Determination of total dry extract - Determination of reducing sugars ( 2 methods ) - Determination of ash - Determination of pH - Determination of total acidity - Determination of volatile acidity - Determination of free and total sulfur dioxide ( method 2 ) - Determination of citric acid - Determination of carbon dioxide - Sensory evaluation of wine
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Planned methods for accreditation of the food-biotechnology laboratory include the following method to expand the scope of accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025, accreditation is planned for April 2014:
- Determination of the content of waxes , and the methyl and ethyl esters of fatty acids
Planned methods for accreditation of the wine laboratory include the following methods to expand the scope of accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025, accreditation is planned for April 2014:
- Determination of D - glucose , D - fructose and sucrose in wine (method was developed and validated in the laboratory) - Determination of glycerol in wine (method was developed and validated in the laboratory) - Determination of D - gluconic acid in the wine (method was developed in the laboratory and partially validated) - In the following years the institute plans the following method accreditations: - Determination of organic acids high performance liquid chromatography in must and wine (method was developed in the laboratory and partially validated) - Determination of volatile compounds in spirit drinks by gas chromatography (method was developed in the laboratory and partially validated)
Cooperation with the business and public sector is one of the top priorities of the Institute, just behind its core activity i.e. scientific activity, because innovations, new technologies and products are essential prerequisites for achieving competitive advantage and overall economic growth, as the institute states in its documents.
Development of laboratories and other infrastructure at the Institute is carried out, in addition to the research work, primarily because of offering the service of monitoring and quality control of individual products, with the purpose of creating a comprehensive and functional agro-food system in the region.
The Institute collaborates with the business sector through the joint development of specific
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technologies and new products, creating development studies, business plans, economic and investment programs and specifications for the protection of autochthonous products amongst other activities.
The Institute of Agriculture and Tourism is also working on popularization of science in collaboration with educational institutions in the Republic of Croatia, the region as well as abroad. The aim of these activities is to introduce students to scientific research of our institute. In order to popularize science and the Institute will continue to strive to maintain good cooperation with such institutions and foster a good relationship with students to find their way into an interesting and dynamic scientific and research world.
The institute aims to be the leading scientific research and infrastructure institution in the fields of agriculture and tourism, both at the local and national levels and to be recognized within the international framework, contributing permanently to the lasting overall development of rural areas, biodiversity and natural and cultural values. The mission of the institute is to learn and transfer knowledge through scientific research and professional activities in agriculture and tourism, in order to achieve sustainable development of rural areas.
The Institute plans the following way to achieve its objectives:
- Continuous investment in education of the scientific and technical personnel - Encouraging publication in journals ranked in WOS with a higher impact factor - Registration for national and international competitions - Improving the scientific and research infrastructure by purchasing new c apital equipment and retrofitting of existing laboratories, test facilities and field trials - Launching a scientific and professional journal - Optimisation of the organisation with the aim of effective management of human resources and material goods - Encouraging scientific research in accordance with the needs of economic and social development
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In accordance with Article 107. of Law on Science and Higher Education ("Official Gazette" No. 123/03, 198/03, 105/04, 174/04, 2/07 - Constitutional Court Decision, 46/07, 45/09 and 63/11) the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism is funded from: the Croatian budget, the budgets of counties, cities and municipalities, market revenues, donations and other sources.
The 46 person strong staff of the institute currently includes 15 PhD’s. The Institutes strategic plan for 2013-2018 includes the plan to raise the number of PhD’s employed by the institute to 20. It also includes a plan to enlarge the testing grounds, as well as to raise the number of scientific research projects conducted by the institute from the current 36 projects to 55.
The strategic planning of the Institute also includes the plan to raise the number of studies from the current 2 a year to 10 by the end of the strategic planning period in 2018. It is also planned to make the projects of the institute more visible, both within the Republic of Croatia and abroad. There are currently 16 international collaboration contracts signed, that number should be raised to 24 by the end of the planning period. Also the number of works indexed within the Web of Science is planned to be increased from the current 11 to 23 by the end of 2018.
The Institute also plans to employ more young scientists and to better connect with scientific institutions both in the Republic of Croatian and within the European Union and already undertakes measures to fulfil said plan. The Institute could be one of the accelerators of the NEXT project for the County of Istria.
The research and other services provided by the institute are and will be of benefit not only for the agricultural and touristic sector but also for the food processing industry. The expertise and the future plans of the institute also have great synergy potential combined with the earlier described AZZRI agency.
Cooperation between those two institutions should be intensified. This is especially valid for the olive oil research conducted by both institutes. AZZRI has recently invested in an olive oil mill and is also planning to intensify its related research and will invest in olive orchards. Since the Institute for Agriculture and Tourism will as well use a part of the planned new ground for olive orchards. The two RTTC should intensify communication and make sure
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their research does not overlap.
The Institute for Agriculture and Tourism in Pore č has had an annual turnover of 8,266,000 HRK (1,088,000 €) in 2012. 80% of the turnover came from the government, while the rest were services and products sold and donations.
The scope of accreditation of the Institute with the Croatian Accreditation Agency includes the testing of olive oil, must, wine, and other grape and wine products and fruit wines.
Research done by the Institute for Agriculture and Tourism, Pore č is applicable in the agricultural, tourism and food-processing sector. The Institute for Agriculture and Tourism, Pore č is also registered in the Registry of Scientific Institutions of the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports.
Table 4: SWOT Analysis Institute for Agriculture and Tourism, Pore č
Strengths Weaknesses
- Well managed - Little advancement opportunity - Clear strategy and goals for staff - Secured funding - Unattractive for top scholars - Tradition - Good infrastructure - Well educated staff
Opportunities Threats
- High potential in research - Lack of funding experience - Collaboration with regional - Not independent in decision stakeholders making - Collaboration with producers - Innovation potential - European and national legislation for quality and safety of agricultural products
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Contact: Karla Huguesa 8 52440 Pore č tel.: +385 52 408 300 e-mail: [email protected] web: http://www.iptpo.hr
6.4.METRIS - Centar za istraživanje materijala Istarske županije, Pula (Center for Material Research of the County of Istria)
The Research Centre for Materials in the Region of Istria - METRIS operates as an Istrian Development Agency (IDA) Ltd R&D department. METRIS was established within the project "Research Centre for Metal Industry in Istrian County - MET.R.IS.", co -financed by the EU from the Phare 2006 fund. The mentioned project included the refurbishing of the structure intended for METRIS on the current location and the purchase of sophisticated laboratory equipment for 4 separate laboratories. IDA ltd. has been founded by the County of Istria and the cities of Buzet, Novigrad, Pazin, Pore č, Pula, Rovinj, Labin and Umag. IDA is managed by a director.
The principal activity of the research center METRIS comprises research and standard testing
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in the following areas:
- Chemical analysis of the structures of materials - Defining of the mechanical characteristics of metals (tensile strength, elastic modulus, hardness etc.) - Analysis of the surface structure of materials, corrosion and fracture - Numerical analysis of structural details and constructions
The idea to establish such a research center resulted from the analysis of the Istrian economy which demonstrated that the processing industry constitutes its most important economy sector with over 33% of the total revenue, in which the metal industry participates with over 50%.
The result of the project was the creation of the Centre that provides services of material and product quality testing and creation of new or improved products, development of innovative ideas, testing of prototypes, research and development services for small and medium sized entrepreneurs in the metals industry of the Istrian region.
As explained, METRIS started out in order to offer research services and analyses for the Istrian metal processing industry. Since the industry suffered under the economic crisis, METRIS adapted and began offering its services to the agricultural sector and most recent as well as very intense is the cooperation between the organization and the cultural and archeological sector.
These services are being offered, and are accepted by the whole Croatian archeological sector and taking into account who the other partners in the NEXT project are, this will remain one of the organizations focusses and fields of possible specialization.
The common purpose of this equipment is to offer services of research and development to small and medium sized entrepreneurs, primarily to the ones in the Istrian County. Metris' services are performed through three departments:
- The chemical department (laboratories 1 and 2) - The mechanical department (laboratories 3, 4 and 5) and - The biotechnical department (Lab 6). 46
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Brief description of the laboratories:
- Laboratory 1 - The Laboratory performs quantitative and qualitative chemical analyses of conductive solid samples and of their surface layers. This instrument is designed for the analysis of low alloy and high alloy steels, nodular casts, copper and alumina alloys and other metals. The chemical elements that the instrument can determine are: C, P, S, N, B, Cr, Ni, Mo, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Mn, Si, Nb, V, Ti, W, Sb, Sn, Al, Mg and Pb. The preparation of the samples is simple and the analysis is swift and precise, and compliant with the standards of high accuracy. - Laboratory 2 - The Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) within laboratory 1 is an extremely sophisticated device whose purpose is to determine the structure of a material’s surface down to nanometer level, with magnification of 1,000,000 times. METRIS' laboratory 2's microscope is equipped with the following detectors: detector of secondary electrons for the topographical analysis of the sample’s surface, detector of the backscattered electrons for the detection of contrast between areas with different chemical compositions, x-ray detector for a qualitative and quantitative analysis of chemical samples. - Laboratory 3 - METRIS' laboratory 3, is equipped with a work station and software for numerical analysis by use of the finite element method (FEMAP/Nastran). The software for the numerical analysis enables the statical analysis of deformation and hardness, dynamical analysis (vibrations) and different non-linear analyses of the most diverse constructions and structural details. The finite element method analysis finds its application in the control of the mechanical strength of the existing constructions or prototypes, the analysis of the concentration of stress in structural details, analysis of the vibration of mechanical constructions in various situations such as laying of foundations or evaluating of the workplace amenity criteria, but also in advanced non-linear analyses of various materials, their non- linear characteristics, heat resistance etc. - Laboratories 4 and 5 - The purpose of laboratory 4 is the determination of the mechanical characteristics of the metals and other materials such as the elasticity module, ultimate elasticity, ultimate strength, hardness etc. It is equipped with a
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250 kN static universal testing machine, a micro-hardness tester and the equipment for metallographic preparation of samples. It is usually used for standard testing of the mechanical characteristics of a material but also for testing of the quality of a finished product. The testing includes advanced analyses such as the mutation of the mechanical characteristics of a material due to exposure to elevated or lower temperatures, analysis of non-metal samples, cables, wires etc. It proves its universal nature by also being equipped for the analysis of non-metal samples, for example, in medical research and in the analysis of the characteristics of composite materials. The micro-hardness tester is used for the analysis of the rigidity of metal samples with the use of small test loads, on micro-locations on very thin samples. The samples need to undergo a metallographic preparation which is also done in the laboratory. The laboratories are also is equipped with a pendulum. - Laboratory 6 – the laboratory is equipped with an array of devices for the analysis of biological samples and food samples.
Type of research, analysis or service provided:
- Analysis of biological samples by scanning electron microscopy - Analysis of biological samples by light microscope - Analysis of chemical composites and physical properties that are part of screened or unscreened cultural property - Analysis fracture surface scanning electron microscopy and microscope - Analysis of microorganisms in case of cultural property - Analysis with light microscope - Analysis light microscope (observation, description and micro cross section) - Detailed description and characterization of mortar, plaster and ceramics - DIN 50106:1978 (pressure testing) - EDS analysis (microanalysis chemical composition of materials scanning electron microscopy - Accredited method) - EDS analysis (microanalysis metal chemistry Scanning electron microscopy – accredited method) - EDS analysis ( microanalysis of the chemical composition Scanning electron
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microscopy , image overlays , surface of the stone , bricks, ceramics , metals and other inorganic materials ) - FT - IR microanalysis of the chemical composition by FT - IR microscope (for organic and inorganic materials) - FT - IR spectroscopy (chemical composition analysis by IR spectroscopy) - GDS analysis (chemical composition of metals and alloys optical emission spectrometer - Accredited method) - SKA histo chemistry analysis of the binder in the layer - EN 10305-1:2010 (tube: visual inspection and control the shape and size) - EN 10305-2:2010 (tube: visual inspection and control the shape and size) - EN 131-1:2007, EN 131-2:2007, EN 131-3:2007 (testing the safety requirements of the ladder) - EN 131-1:2007, EN 131-2:2007, EN 131-3:2007 (testing the safety requirements of the ladder, creating a tool holder) - EN 14183:2008 testing - EN 545:2010 (test pipes) - ISO 6507-1:2005 (hardness and micro hardness testing according to Vickers - accredited method) - ISO 6892-1:2010 (tensile test at room temperature - accredited method) - ISO 7438:2005 (bending test - accredited method) - ISO 8492:2008 (tube: Flattening test) - Ion Chromatography (determination of ion concentration of soluble salts in collaboration with external laboratories) - Ion Chromatography (determination of ion concentration of soluble salts, for stone, plaster, mortar and brick, in cooperation with external laboratories) - ISO 29 148-1 (toughness testing according to Charpy It) - ISO 2639:2002 (test depth nitro carburizing) - ISO 9015-2:2003 (micro hardness testing of welds) - Testing of chemical composition process of decay and their secon dary products cultural goods - Testing mechanical and chemical properties of metallic materials
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- Testing total antioxidant activity FOOD PRODUCTS (DPPH, FRAP and ABTS methods) - Studies and elaborates in cooperation with other institutions as part of complex research - Making of cross sections - Metalography SKA microstructure analysis METAL MATERIALS - Microbial analysis (Isolation and characterization of fungus and molds) - Monitoring facilities and testing of products and methods on cultural assets - Determination of biologically active compounds in food (total phenols, flavonoids and non - flavonoids, condensed tannins) - Determination of wood stork (in collaboration with external laboratories) - Determining the age of wood samples FT - IR spectroscopy (in collaboration with external laboratories) - Determination of water absorption stone and brick - Mineralogical analysis grout or mortar in a thin layer (in collaboration with external laboratories) - Mineralogical characterization of stone (in collaboration with external laboratories) - Gas chromatography - mass spectrometry GC - MS (samples organic matter, in cooperation with external laboratories) - SEM analysis of metal (analysis of metal surfaces by scanning with electron microscope - accredited method) - SEM analysis of non-metals (non-conducting surface analysis by electron microscope - accredited method) - NANO SEM analysis (surface materials in nano areas - area modes - accredited method) - Thermo gravimetric TGA analysis (in collaboration with external laboratories) - Ultrasound CNO sounding stone materials (in collaboration with external laboratories) - XRD analysis (X-ray diffraction of brick and stone samples, in cooperation with - external laboratories) - XRF analyzes (chemical composition X-ray fluorescence XRF portable devices)
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The laboratories of the Material Research Center - METRIS are accredited at the Croatian Accreditation Agency (HAA) for 5 methods of chemical and mechanical tests according to HRN EN ISO / IEC 17025.
Even though the activities of METRIS are primarily related to the necessities of the metal industry, the research and the tests can be carried out on numerous other non-organic and organic materials, archeological and artistic samples. Another valuable activity of METRIS is also the cooperation with educational institutions through lectures, research and education.
The institution performs its services in 6 laboratories designed for the analysis of the metals and their chemical, mechanical and structural characteristics, as well as for the simulation of their static, dynamic and non-linear responses with numerical methods. New, sixth laboratory will analyze and measure anti-oxidative potential of food (METRIS-MedILS cooperation).
Besides the research and analysis for metals, welding and other firm materials, equipment in METRIS can provide wide spectra of analysis for archeologists and conservators. Until now METRIS made lots of detail research of cultural heritage materials. All reports give professional and expert conclusions for this kind of analysis and provide complete informations about tested samples. METRIS is also conducting food analysis including olive oil testing.
METRIS offers its services to all subjects in the metal industry, but also to those from many other areas, both economic and scientific. The sophisticated equipment provides an exceptional insight into the characteristics of metals and other materials, and the numerical analysis makes it possible to predict their behavior in both design and actual constructions. Except for providing standard analyses for the requirements of the industry.
The organization is also focused on research work. It aims to provide valuable cooperation to its partners and experts in other acknowledged economic and scientific institutions and is open for various types of cooperation with the University and the Polytechnics described later, but also with other RTTC's located elsewhere.
METRIS is well connected with other scientific institutions from Croatia, Slovenia and Italy so some analysis have been made in cooperation with external laboratories and the results
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have been combined in the unique analysis report of archeological, artistic and other samples of cultural heritage.
As part of the Istrian Development Agency (IDA), which is for the County of Istra what BICRO is on the national level, METRIS has also founded the Istrian Technology Incubator. The Incubator is fully functional as of 2014 with 9 innovative start-ups from the ICT sector already using the “plug-and-play” offices. The incubator, as is METRIS, is located within the new campus of the University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula.
METRIS and its laboratories have, in a very short period of time, become one of the key players in R&D and technology transfer within the County of Istria. Being a part of the Istrian Development Agency has given the organization an excellent position for a close and fruitful relationship with businesses of the region.
Even though METRIS started out primarily as research center for the metal processing industry, its young professional team adapted to market changes much quicker than other RTTC’s of the region. The organizations lean structures have also contributed towards reaching described positioning. METRIS sees itself not only as an R&D organization but also as a service provider.
Research and analysis done by the Center for Material Research of the County of Istria is applicable in the metal-processing, food-processing, agricultural, archeological and other sectors.
The Istrian Development Agency has an annual turnover of 6,000,000 HRK (790,000 €) and employs 1 PhD.
The scope of the accreditation of the Center for Material Research of the County of Istria with the Croatian Accreditation Agency includes testing of surface and chemical properties of solids and chemical and mechanical properties of metals.
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Table 5: SWOT Analysis METRIS - Center for Material Research of the County of Istria
Strengths Weaknesses
- Young and motivated team - Lack of staff - Part of IDA - Flexibly adapts to market change - Well managed
Opportunities Threats
- Experience in funding - Overall weak economy on - Wide variety of services country level
Contact: Zagreba čka 30 52100 Pula Hrvatska Telefon: +385 (52) 388-110 Fax: +385 (52) 388-111 E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.metris-research.com/
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6.5. Politehnika Pula, visoka tehni čko – poslovna škola, Pula (Polytechnic Pula, High Technical-Business School, Pula)
The Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and sports defines polytechnic and schools of professional higher education as institutions that organize and implement professional studies. A polytechnic implements at least three different studies in at least three fields.
Polytechnics Pula, High Technical - Business School, is the first and best k nown polytechnic study in Croatia. Until now, the VTS - PS in Pula and Buzet has enrolled more than 500 students. The School was founded and is owned by the County of Istria. A five member Governing Council elects the Dean of the Polytechnics.
The guiding principle of Polytechnics Pula can be summarized as: science should not be in itself. The idea of establishing polytechnic studies was based on the fact that industry and manufacturing are the backbone of economic development of Croatian and the County of Istria, whose future development can be achieved with new approaches to acquiring and assessing the knowledge acquired as well as its application in applicative skills in line with the relevant changes, production and services as part of an established glo balized economic system to which must be strived for.
Bearing in mind the importance of international cooperation, Polytechnics Pula is open to the development of new projects and partnerships that would contribute to the achievement of its high objectives : to become the leader of Polytechnic Studies in southeastern Europe on the Balkan speaking world. A special place is given to cooperation with associations and institutions with the aim of participating in programs and projects funded by the European Union.
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In addition, the possible forms of cooperation include public-private projects and organizing student summer practices, activities in the field of education, such as e-learning, scientific research, publishing, organization of symposia, conferences, courses etc. Polytechnics Pula has signed international cooperation agreements with Blue Mountain Community College in Oregon, USA and ECPD a while locally successfully collaborates with private and public sector.
The Polytechnics study unifies the knowledge from the fields of technics, business economics, management, informatics and social sciences. The professional knowledge with polyvalent functions is formed as the symbiosis of the higher technical and business education of the modern experts, enabling the graduate students to develop creativity and to orient themselves in the contemporary conditions of production and business.
After twelve generations of students, the Polytechnics as the institution has overcome the initial barriers; it has acquired enough of the practical experience which enables it to design a quality, market-oriented educational program. The Polytechnics Pula, as the only study in Istria and one of the few in Croatia and neighboring countries which unifies the modern knowledge from the fields of technics, informatics, economics and management and offers a broad specter of possibilities for development and improvement.
The tendency of specialization of all human activities which is the result of the quick development of science, technics and technology, creates the need for the leaders and managers with the theoretical and practical knowledge, able to manage, lead and direct the teams of the specialized experts. The Polytechnic of Pula's aim in the field of international cooperation is to exchange ideas, experiences and knowledge in order to improve the quality of teaching and thus enhance the Polytechnic's visibility and competitiveness at the domestic and international levels. The strategic goal of the Polytechnics study is the education of the experts for the expert professional work according to the standards of the globalized world and the requirements of the consumers of products and services in the open market.
Type of research and services:
- Publishing magazines TECHNE in cooperation Engineers Association
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- Performing the CISCO Networking Academy, CCNA program - Performs undergraduate professional study Production Engineering - Running the program for the acquisition of competencies work in MATLAB - Perform specialist graduate study in creative management processes - Writing studies in the field of energy efficiency - Writing studies from other areas of Engineering
The school has an annual turnover of 4,000,000 HRK (526,000 €). 31% comes from the County of Istria, 13% from local government, while the rest is comes from tuition and projects. The school’s staff includes 3 PhD’s.
Research done by the Polytechnic Pula, High Technical-Business School is applicable in the industry and general business sector.
The Polytechnic Pula, High Technical-Business School is included in the Registry of Scientific Institutions of the Croatian Ministry for Science, Education and Sports.
Table 6: SWOT Analysis Polytechnic Pula, High Technical-Business School, Pula
Strengths Weaknesses
- Flexible in adapting to demand - Lack of staff for specific knowledge on the - Lack of reputation side of local businesses
- Good local networking
Opportunities Threats
- Offer specific education - Dependent on local funding
Contact:
Politehnika Pula, Visoka tehni čko-poslovna škola s pravom javnosti
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Riva 6 52100 Pula tel: 052/381-412 e-mail: [email protected] web: http://www.politehnika-pula.hr
6.6. Veleu čilište u Rijeci, Rijeka (Polytechnics in Rijeka, Rijeka)
On the grounds of its strong past economic development higher education institutions were established and today Rijeka is a distinctive center of higher education with its University and Polytechnic ( University of Applied Sciences).
The Polytechnic of Rijeka, a higher education institution founded by the Republic of Croatia in 1998. It belongs to a line of new higher education institutions. It has grown into a reliable higher education institution program of study to meet the demand of the regional labor market for high educated professionals. It performs eight professional studies and five specialist professional studies. The Polytechnics is represented by a Dean who gets elected by the Professional Council after the Governing Council announces the competition. The elected Dean gets elected for a four year mandate and can hold the offic e for a maximum of two consecutive terms.
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The Polytechnic of Rijeka consists of four departments and carries out studies at two levels: professional undergraduate studies and specialist professional graduate studies. The departments and programs of study are:
The Business Department
- Professional Study of Information Science - Professional Study of Entrepreneurship - Specialist Professional Graduate Study of Information Science and
Technology in Business Systems
- Specialist Professional Graduate Study of Entrepreneurship.
The Transport Department
- Professional Study of Road Transport - Professional Study of Railroad Transport - Professional Study of Postal Services - Specialist Professional Gradate Study of Transport.
The Occupational Safety Department
- Professional Study of Occupational Safety - Specialist Professional Graduate Study of Occupational Safety.
The Agricultural Department
- Professional Study of Winemaking - Professional Study of Mediterranean Agriculture - Specialist Professional Graduate Study of Winemaking.
The Telematics
- Professional Study of Telematics.
Some of the above mentioned studies are carried out both for full time students and part-time students, giving the possibility to those students who work and study to attend lessons
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regularly. Most courses are carried out in Rijeka, but courses are also held in Pazin, Pula, Pore č and Ogulin.
The aims of the institution are:
- Organizing and carrying out professional programs of study - Conducting highly qualified professional work and scientific research in the fields of technical, biotechnical and social sciences - Organizing and performing programs of lifelong learning - Promoting publishing activities, librarian and information science activities connected to the Polytechnic’s main line of business.
In defining its Strategy, the Polytechnic of Rijeka started from its responsibility towards community as it is an institution financed in large part from the national budget of the Republic of Croatia.
The primary mission of the Polytechnic of Rijeka is to educate experts focusing on their future profession, i.e. the emphasis is on practical work, expert knowledge and skills for a specific field of interest. Their education process is focused on gaining know-how by attending programs of study which comprise both theoretical and applied knowledge, including professional internship in various enterprises with respect to the chosen field.
Type of research and analysis provided:
- Physio - chemical analysis of grape juice and wine , and wine sensory analysis ( method according to OIV ) in order to monitor and control student vinification of wine , and for the purpose of scientific research and development of professional and technical studies - Physio - chemical analysis of olive oil , and sensory analysis of olive oil to help educate students with the technological process of production of olive oil , and for the purposes of scientific research - Gravimetric determination of water/solids in the plant material - Instrumental analysis of different quality parameters (probe clarification and stability of wine, etc.) in must and wine, for the purpose of scientific research and
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development of scientific and technical professional studies - Quantitative determination of essential oils (Clevenger type apparatus - a) - Determination of chlorophyll (a and b) and total carotenoids in fresh leafy vegetables and herbs - Determination of vitamin C in fresh leafy vegetables/herbs - indicator titration dichloro phenol indophenol - Planning and design of experiments - Statistical analysis - The technological process of processing different varieties of olives purposes of scientific research - Vinification of must and wine (probe clarification and stability of wine, etc. ) in must and wine , for the purpose of scientific research and development of scientific and technical professional studies - Managing projects and conducting experiments
The Polytechnic of Rijeka is performing highly professional and scientific work within the fields of technical, biotechnical and social sciences. Specific study programs are designed to meet the market demand for experts in economic agents and other subjects primarily in the County of Primorje and Gorski Kotar, the County of Istria, and the County of Lika and Senj, but also in other parts of the Republic of Croatia.
For this purpose, the Polytechnic of Rijeka cooperates with national and international higher education and scientific institutions, thus providing the possibility for internal and external students' and teachers' mobility, with an emphasis on the rational use of human and material resources. This Institution lays its future development on continuous monitoring and improvement of quality in all areas of its activities, on competences and competitiveness in its educational and professional work.
Today the Polytechnic of Rijeka has a total number of 3500 active students. There are 124 lecturers and associates involved, 57 of them being fully employed and carrying out 74% of the teaching activities. Part of the associates come from other higher education instituti ons, but mostly they are acknowledged experts working in companies or institutes. They carry
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out lectures mainly on specific specialist subjects at professional and specialist professional graduate studies.
As for the teaching staff employed by the Polytechnic, 53 lecturers have a teaching position, and 4 of them have an associate position. In time, the teaching potentials are to be improved offering full employment to lecturers and associates according to possibilities, while an important contribution will be made by the Polytechnic’s current teachers who will eventually complete their doctoral studies.
All activities of the Polytechnic of Rijeka are performed on an area covering 5834 square meters, including the working premises and the service area, all well supplied with the necessary equipment. The Polytechnic has a total number of 35 lecture halls covering 2210 square meters, and a total number of 1827 seats. It also has 15 labs/training rooms covering a total of 1422 square meters, and a total of 460 seats.
The Polytechnic of Rijeka has pointed out the following as one of its strategic goals for 2020: "The Polytechnic of Rijeka is developing a research profile in the area of professional and scientific activities in the field of technical, social and biotechnical sciences; the Polytechnic has also been recognized for supporting its teachers' research careers."
The goals for the quality of research are to increase the number of professional and scientific papers by 50 % until the year 2020. It is also part of the strategy to increase the number of teachers holding a PhD. They intend to increase the number of teachers appointed to research positions by 50%. The Polytechnic of Rijeka plans to be included in the Register of Scientific Institutions by the end of 2018. The Polytechnic has also set itself the goal to launch at least four projects to be carried out jointly with the industry and local community.
The Polytechnic of Rijeka has also taken part to conceiving and running of different international scientific and professional projects with various partners some of which are INTERIM, EUREKA and SETA, and it is currently working on the preparation of new ones. The Polytechnic is also closely cooperating with the Agency for Mobility and EU Programs, whose core activity is based on the Lifelong Learning Program.
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This means that it promotes exchange, cooperation and mobility of students and professionals working in higher education.
Research done by the Polytechnics of Rijeka is applicable in the agricultural, food-processing, chemistry, tourism and other sectors.
The Polytechnic of Rijeka is involved in the development of the economy and of the community, thus supporting the transition towards a knowledge economy. It is actively participating in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA), promoting, in a systematic and organized manner, the internal and external mobility of its teachers and students.
Table 7: SWOT Analysis Polytechnics in Rijeka, Rijeka
Strengths Weaknesses
- Flexible in adapting to demand - No campus for specific knowledge on the - Unattractive for top scholars side of local businesses - Good local networking - Studies located in centers of two regions - Variety of studies Opportunities Threats
- Efforts to be more attractive - Competition
- Industry collaboration potential
- International collaboration potential
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Contact:
Veleu čilište u Rijeci
Vukovarska 58.
51000 Rijeka tel. 051/353-777
E-Mail: [email protected] web: www.veleri.hr
6.7. Zavod za javno zdravstvo Istarske Županije (Public Health Institute of the County of Istria)
The Public Health Institute of the County of Istria is a health care provider and performs public health activities within the county. It is responsible for epidemiology, microbiology, public health, health ecology, school medicine, mental health, preventi on and addiction treatment in the county. The institute is managed by a director and has a Professional as well as a Governing Council.
Public Health institutes on county level are established in every county on the territory of the Republic of Croatia. Th ey representing local institutions for Public Health and are funded by the local government and self -financing. The Croatian National Institute of Public Health as a ce ntral public health institution in the health care system of the Republic of Croatia coo rdinates the activities on county level.
The Public Health Institute of the County of Istria performs the following tasks :
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- Performs specific and preventive health care for school children and students. - Monitors, studies, evaluates and reports on the health needs and functional disability of the elderly and health measures proposed for the area. - Collects, controls and analyzes statistical reports from the field of health, including disease of addiction, at the county level for the Croatian Institute for Public Health. - At the request of the prefect monitors and evaluates the health status of the population in the area. - Continuously engaged in sanitary- epidemiological protection from epidemiological analysis of the situation in the county and, if necessary, epidemic control measures implemented and - supervises the implementation of compulsory immunization , - Implements gerontology health care, - Analyzes the epidemiological situation, plans, proposes and participates in the - Implementation of measures and activities for prevention, early detection and eradication of the disease of addiction, collaborates with health and other institutions and health workers in the implementation of the diagnosis and treatment of drug addiction. - Rehabilitation and social reintegration of drug addicts. - Supervises the implementation of disinfection, fumigation and pest control and implements preventive and epidemic control procedures for disinfection, fumigation and pest control for the County of Istria. - Performs microbiological activity of interest to the County of Istria. - Monitors, studies, analyzes and evaluates the health safety of drinking water, water for recreation and physical therapy, surface and waste water, water supply situation and the hygiene of foodstuffs and general items for Istria County. - Participates in the development and implementation of individual health care programs in emergency situations. - Monitors, analyzes and evaluates the impact of the environment (seawater, sediment, air, waste, noise) and food on the health of the population of Istria County. - Participates in the planning, proposal and implementation of measures for the
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prevention, early detection and eradication of chronic mass diseases including addiction. - Performs the distribution of mandatory vaccination clinics at the primary level of health care in the county.
National programs:
- Early detection of colon cancer. - Early detection of breast cancer. - Early detection of cervical cancer.
Istrian programs:
- The program for monitoring the health of drinking water in the County of Istria. - The program tests the safety of food, materials and articles intended to come into direct contact with food and consumer items and toys. - Sea water quality monitoring in the county to promote and protect public health from the effects of harmful factors in the environment. - Monitoring the quality of raw water sources and wells that are used to supply to the population and economy of drinking water in the county to promote and protect the health of the population. - Air quality monitoring in the county to promote and protect public health from the effects of harmful factors. - Monitoring of health care facilities and office. - Coordination and evaluation of the national program for early detection of colon cancer at the county level. - Monitoring of developing a malignant neoplasm in Istria County - Cancer Registry. - Coordination and evaluation of the national program for early detection of breast cancer at the county level. - Monitoring and evaluation of health needs and services for the elderly in Istria County - Center for Gerontology. - Monitoring tiger mosquito population.
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- The program of prevention and outpatient addiction treatment. - Mental health care.
Cities and municipalities programs:
- Quality control and food hygiene and sanitary control in preschools and schools. - Promotion of proper nutrition in primary schools. - The program of prevention and outpatient addiction treatment and mental health care. - Programme for the prevention of cervical cancer by vaccination against HPV infection. - Implementation of mandatory preventive measures. - Development of the preventive measures. - Professional supervision of the implementation of preventive measures.
Types of analysis provided:
- Testing and evaluation of food quality , such as olive oil and other vegetable and animal oils and fats: the contents of free fatty acid, peroxide, spectrophotometric analysis in the UV range, the fatty acid composition, water content; alcoholic beverages alcoholic strength, share methyl alcohol, sugar content; honey: water, acidity, hidroksimetilfurfurol, diastase activity, total and reducing sugars - Testing and evaluation of food safety ( microbiological parameters; additives: preservatives, dyes, sweeteners, antioxidants, phosphates; metals and non-metals: lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, tin, chromium, nickel, manganese, iron, copper; remains organ chlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, quinine, caffeine, theo bromine, histamine , etc.) - Testing and evaluation of the safety of materials and articles intended to come into contact with food, consumer items and toys (microbiological indicators, preservatives, metals and non-metals: lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, tin, chromium, nickel, manganese, iron, copper, global and specific migration of harmful substances) - Control and judgment microbiological purity of facilities for the production and
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trade of food and general items (taking swabs and laboratory analysis work surfaces, plants, equipment, apparatus, transport equipment and hands of people in business come into contact with food and general use grade microbiological purity of the object) - Basic categorization of waste - Tracks, analyzes and evaluates the quality of air - Conducts acoustic measurements of noise, sound isolation and assessment thereof - Conducts measurements and evaluate the emission of pollutants into the air from stationary sources - Sampling and analysis of elutes of non-hazardous waste - Sampling, testing and evaluation of beach water - Sampling, testing and evaluation of surface and ground water and water reservoirs - Sampling, testing and evaluation of technological and municipal wastewater - Sampling, testing and evaluation of water for recreation (swimming pool water) - Sampling, testing and evaluation of the safety of drinking water from the water supply system (water wells, comes from the plant for water conditioning, water supply networks), cisterns and wells.
The Public Health Institute of the County of Istria also provides professional assistance in establishing HACCP system based on the needs of users. For this purpose, a team composed of experts from various specialties participates in the training of staff, preparation of plans and implementation of the HACCP system: specialists in epidemiology, food technology engineers, sanitary safety engineers, biology engineers and more.
The Public Health Institute of the County of Istria's annual turnover is 34,000,000 HRK (4,473,000 €). It is funded by the Croatian Institute for Health Insurance (40%), local government (13%), its own revenue (46%) and other sources (1%).
Research done by the Public Health Institute of the County of Istria is applicable in the health, food-processing and other related sectors.
The laboratory of the Public Health Institute of the County of Istria is accredited by the Croatian Accreditation Agency for the testing of waters, food, solid waste elutes, ambient air,
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stationary source emissions, acoustical testing and sampling of waters.
Table 8: SWOT Analysis Public Health Institute of the County of Istria
Strengths Weaknesses
- Secured funding - Lack of experience in contract research - Adequately staffed
- Tradition
- Wide variety of services
Opportunities Threats
- Food processing industry - Slow in change
- Better presentation - Not independent
Contact:
Nazorova ulica 23
52100 Pula
Tel.:052 529 000 e-mail: [email protected] web: www.zzjziz.hr
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6.8. Sveu čilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli (University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula)
A former member of the University of Rijeka, the Juraj Dobrila University in Pula (University of Pula) was established in 2006, though it includes entities that have existed since the 1960s. It is organized into several constituent departments based on the principle of an integrated structure that enables the effici ent and high–quality accomplishment of goals and developmental strategies. A rector elected by the Senate of the University on a four year mandate represents University as a whole, while protectors represent the various Departments of the University.
By it s history and position, the University is naturally suited for international cooperation. The area is populated by mixed inhabitants, traditions, and cultures that represent various parts of European civilization. For this reason, the University is well -eq uipped to carry out a distinctive blend of scientific research initiatives that are of particular value on both the local level and the wider level of general environmental development.
The University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula was founded by the Republic of Croatia . The university develops and conducts scientific research, artistic and educational programs based on the specifics of the Istrian heritage, in collaboration with local, national and international public companies. Innovation and d evelopment of the existing social, humanistic and artistic programs make sure that the university achieves high -quality, contemporary and original academic programs that monitor market needs and develops specialist postgraduate and doctoral programs that l ead to highly specialized personnel and to education in accordance
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with requirements of lifelong education.
The university provides a high standard for student as well as social, psychological and scientific support to students, developing content for greater involvement of students in scientific research and artistic processes and projects.
It raises the quality of communication and the availability of services to a higher level, and the relationship with the environment takes care of career students. The University provides support for training and development of scientific and administrative staff and financial support for the career development of teachers.
By selecting a certain number of courses outside their components will enable students to acquire interdisciplinary knowledge necessary to meet the challenges of the future. Knowledge is a strategic product, and the one who has it, has the opportunity to develop the global market.
New generations are growing and maturing and realizing that the biggest support in life have to look at the results of their work. The university especially fosters collaboration with businesses in Pula, the Istrian County and beyond. Also, many business entities are involved in the research carried out by the University, and the results of which are of overall benefit and importance to all participants.
The aims of the institution are:
- Organizing and carrying out professional programs of study - Conducting highly qualified professional work and scientific research - Organizing and performing programs of lifelong learning - Promoting publishing activities, librarian and information science activities.
Research and services provided:
- Consulting services for EU funds - Statistical analysis - Perform undergraduate professional study - Feasibility studies
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- Consultation and business planning - Studies and elaborates in cooperation with other institutions as part of complex research - Marketing and business consultation.
Since the overall and final objective of NEXT, is to identify a possible shared action strategy in supporting of R&I "enlarged" governance, given that reducing the innovation gap between the different territories is a prerequisite for increasing the competitiveness of the Adriatic area. Services and expertize from the University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula will be needed throughout the duration of the project as well as their experience in collaborating with the region.
The University is divided into natural sciences, social sciences, humanistic sciences, artistic sciences and interdisciplinary sciences departments.
The natural sciences department includes mathematics, Geo sciences and interdisciplinary natural sciences sectors. This sector has seven PhD’s.
The social sciences department of the University includes about fifty PhD’s, most of which are active in the economic department of the University. Other sectors are law, information science, psychology, educational sciences, kinesiology and sociology.
The Postgraduate doctoral studies program focuses on Economics and Business, offering research opportunity under close supervision of faculty members. All supervisors are highly qualified local or international professors, with their own major research projects and publications. During their studies students conduct a scientific research, whose results are to be demonstrated in their doctoral dissertation. The Program puts great emphasis on academic mobility and on international student exchanges with accredited universities and institutes abroad. In addition, doctoral students are exposed to state-of-the-art research through attending lectures given by internationally renowned visiting professors and researchers.
The Postgraduate doctoral studies program is designed to ensure that students acquire rigorous and contemporary knowledge of core areas of economic theory and research methodology. The program is founded on contemporary academic knowledge as well as theoretical and empirical research results, which jointly ensure a broad but thorough understanding of
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international economic developments.
The humanistic sciences department includes philology (divided in seven sub-sectors), history, archeology, ethnology, anthropology and interdisciplinary humanistic sciences. There are about fifty PhD’s in this sector.
The art sciences department includes music and visual arts and employs sixteen PhD’s.
The university is mostly founded by the Republic of Croatia. It has an annual turnover of about 64,000,000 HRK (8,421,000 €). 40,000,000 of which comes from the state and the rest from the University’s own activities.
The construction of the new campus of the University in Pula is currently being finished. METRIS - Center for Material Research, the new technology incubator of the very agile Istrian Development Agency and the laboratory of the General Hospital in Pula will also be located on the campus site as shown on the illustration below.
Figure 6: The Campus of the University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula
Source: Skyscrapercity.com
The campus of the University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula with METRIS (10), the new technology incubator (9). The laboratory of the General Hospital in Pula is located next to building 9 of the campus. The green color indicates new buildings and reconstructed buildings.
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The fact that the mentioned institutions will be located next to each other should also give new impulses to all of the mentioned RTTC’s. This should also lead to better communication and the exchange of ideas amongst the RTTC’s themselves, as well as intensify their exchange with businesses. It will mark the first time that such R&D capacity is concentrated on such small space.
With the Polytechnics of Pula, the Public Health Institute of the County of Istria and the Istrian Development Agency also located nearby, with the exception of the Polytechnics of Rijeka, all of the RTTC’s described in the NEXT Open Book repository that do not primarily operate in the agricultural and maritime sector will be located within the campus or nearby.
In addition to its three University Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Study Programs, the University offers two specialist postgraduate study programs and a postgraduate doctoral study. Constantly striving for research excellence, it is focused on internal resource development through its role as an active partner in scientific and educational international projects such as Interreg, Tempus, IPA and FP7. The University is steadily on the road to achieving its even more ambitious objective of quality of life enhancement through the enrichment of its immediate environment for overall economic growth.
Research done by the University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula is applicable in the tourism, cultural, general business and other sectors.
The University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula is registered in the Registry of Scientific Institutions with the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports.
Table 9: SWOT Analysis University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula
Strengths Weaknesses
- Secured funding - Little emphasis on natural sciences department - Adequately staffed - Low technology transfer - Tradition competence - Low emphasis on collaboration
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- Humanistic sciences and internationalization - Low number of spin-offs
- Low number of publications - Unattractive for top scholars
Opportunities Threats
- New campus and overall - Slow in change development - Competition - Attractive setting - Low specialization - ICT studies
Contact:
Sveu čilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli
Zagreba čka 30
52100 Pula
Tel.: +385 (52) 377 000 e-mail: [email protected] web: www.unipu.hr
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6.9. Op ća bolnica Pula (General hospital Pula)
The Hospital is currently located at two separate locations within the city of Pula. The hospitals covers the whole County of Istria and is divided into the following departments:
On location: Zagreba čka 30 , Pula
- Department for diseases of the ear, nose and throat - Department of Cytology - Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation - Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Department of Infectious Diseases and Febrile states - Department of Dermatology and Venereology - Department of Laboratory Diagnostics - Department of Nuclear Medicine - Department of Ophthalmology - Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine - Department of Pediatrics - Department of Psychiatry
On location: Negrijeva 6 . Pula
- Department - Hospital pharmacy - Department for surgical diseases - Department of Neurology - Department for Transfusion - Department of Internal M edicine
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- Department for emergency hospital admissions
On location: Zagreba čka 30 and Negrijeva 6
- Department for anesthesia and intensive care - Department for Laboratory Diagnostics - Department for Radiology - Department for Sterilization
The hospital offers research and services in all of the medical fields listed above. The reason why it is included in the NEXT Open Book repository for the County of Istria is its laboratories.
Until the year 2000 the laboratory activity of the General Hospital in Pula consisted of two departments, the Department of Biochemistry and the Department of Hematology, since then the Emergency laboratory has been added and finally in 2010 the Department of Special Biochemistry has been added. The final phase of computerization of the laboratories and their equipment with the necessary electronic devices for both locations ended 2007. Full computerization acquire the conditions for faster and more accurate diagnosis is achieved fully ensured traceability of samples.
Today the laboratories have a staff consisting of 11 medical biochemists of which four specialists (one PhD, one MSc), 10 medical laboratory engineers and 25 laboratory technicians. They perform more than 250 different tests in all areas of medical biochemical and hematological diagnosis. The total number of tests performed annually is close to2 million.
The laboratory is included in the activities of the Croatian Society of Medical Biochemists in all areas of work. The activities of the Laboratory department of the General Hospital in Pula will be even broader with the new hospital building in Pula which is planned to be built within the next four years.
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Figure 7: The N ew General Hospital in Pula
Source: GlasIstre.hr
The new General Hospital in Pula building is planned to be built by the end of 2017 at the earliest. The total investment planned for the hospital is 100 million €.
The Laboratory of the General Hospital in Pula is currently in the process of accreditation by the Croatian Accreditation Agency . The Hospital is included in the Registry of Scientific Institutions with the Croatian Ministry for Science, Education and Sports.
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Table 10: SWOT Analysis General Hospital Pula
Strengths Weaknesses
- Secured funding - Lack of experience in contract research - Adequately staffed
- Tradition
Opportunities Threats
- New building and overall - Slow in change development - Not independent
Contact:
Op ća bolnica Pula Zagreba čka 30 52100 Pula Tel.: +385 (52) 376 000 e-mail: [email protected] web: www.obpula.hr
7. RTTC’s in Istria and the Role of the Istrian Development Agency in Promoting Innovation and Synergy in the Region
Regional and cross-border cooperation is a principle of highest importance not only in the research and development and technology transfer sector, but also for political stability, security and economic development. The NEXT project has great potential in establishing
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regional networks of cooperation in the Adriatic region and to include candidate countries into the European R&D and technology transfer market in order to enhance development in those regions as well. In that way the EU's Structural Funds can be used more efficiently and synergies between different EU, national and regional policies, as well as public and private investments, can be increased.
The current research and development, innovation and technology transfer situation, within the County of Istria fits the description of the region as a "Traditional Southern EU region" as described by René Wintjes and Hugo Hollanders in their paper “Innovation pathways and policy challenges at the regional level: smart specialization”, regions with similar characteristics are sometimes also referred to as "traditional Mediterranean regions".
Accessibility to knowledge, absorption capacity and diffusion capability are weak and the region relies in large parts on agricultural and tourism activities. The difference to other regions with similar characteristics is that Istria also has a strong and tough metal processing industry tradition and that a part of the efforts of Istrian RTTC's is also oriented towards research for that sector, as well as for the food-processing industry. ICT as a sector is also constantly growing in importance for the development of the region.
There is great synergy potential amongst the RTTC’s of the within the agricultural research sector. AZRRI, the Institute for Agriculture and tourism in Pore č and METRIS could merge their efforts in wine and olive oil. For instance, various sorts and varieties of olive oil could be tested from stage one, the planting of the tree, the testing and analysis forward to the market ready oil in bottles, without ever leaving supervision from the RTTC’s. An olive oil research cluster could be formed.
The Polytechnics of Rijeka already collaborates with the Institute in Pore č. Joint research of the four mentioned RTTC’s in a field in which the County of Istria has already reached visibility should benefit all of the included organizations and the agriculture, as well as the tourism and food-processing sectors of the region. To some extent there is synergy potential in other sectors as well.
Although there is a university and two polytechnics that operate within the County, research
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impulses seldom come from there and there are practically no spin-off enterprises emerging as a result of the concentration of academics.
Their collaboration with local companies is mostly declarative and limited to their assistance with documentation regarding EU funding. They also lack in interest for cross-border cooperation. This is illustrated by the fact that they have almost no content translated into foreign languages on their websites and that their presentation for interested foreign students is focused more on the attractive surrounding of the institutions than on the programs offered. The Universities contribution of data to be included to the ISTRALAB platform is limited to a link to their website, while more agile RTTC’s of the region have already uploaded all relevant data and some also their future planning.
A regional knowledge-based economy has multi-dimensional aspects. It includes a variety of knowledge activities and multiple interactions among a range of actors including universities, research institutes, enterprises, development agencies, knowledge workers and other organizations and institutions.
Regional and cross-border innovation policy must be used to enhance synergies among co- evolving knowledge capabilities, technology transfer and to encourage smart specialization.
For many years IDA has been an essential agent of Istrian innovation policy. Its primary role lies in the stimulation of the development of small and medium-sized entrepreneurships in the Region of Istria through securing of financial support, holding of educational courses, developing of the entrepreneurial infrastructure, providing information and consultation services to entrepreneurs, finding synergy potential (both regional and cross-border), offering services to prospective foreign investors and the implementation of different interregional and international projects aimed at creating a favorable business climate in the Region of Istria.
Commissioned by the County of Istria, IDA developed the Istrian quality (IQ) mark, a visual sign certifying quality, which was registered in 2005, and is now used as a branding tool for Istrian products (not yet services) In the same year the County of Istria selected IDA to act as the development coordinator of the Regional Operational Programme (ROP) of the Region of Istria.
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In October of 2009 IDA established METRIS - Research Centre for Materials of the Region of Istria. The Centre has become one of the accelerators of cooperation and collaboration of Istrian RTTC's. In September 2010, IDA was appointed by the Ministry of Regional Development, Forestry and Water Management to act as the regional coordinator of development of the Regional Development Strategy (RDS) from 2011 to 2013.
As a One-Stop-Shop for potential foreign investors, IDA was in 2007 included in the Ministry of Economy's project - "Investment Certification Programme for Regions - Development of Investment Climate" Ministry of Economy's project - "Investment Certification Programme for Regions - Development of Investment Climate".
Between 2010 and 2012 a number of activities were carried out aimed at improving of the investment climate, among other things, the website intended for investors www.istriainvest.com has been improved and a promotional film and materials intended to promote the Region of Istria as a desirable investment destination has been made. The Agency has, in synergy with other agencies and local politics, also contributed towards minimization of brain drain in the region and towards enhancing the visibility of the region within the European Union.
The International and inter-regional cooperation efforts of the Agency represent a very important segment of IDA's work. Namely, the IDA has participated in the implementation of 26 projects, partly financed from EU pre-accession funds. IDA's budget in the implemented EU projects and those currently under implementation is about 3.5 million EUR.
EU projects the Istrian Development Agency is currently involved in include:
- RoofOfROck - Limestone as the common denominator of natural and cultural heritage along the karstified part of the Adriatic coast - NEXT - Collaborative platform to support research and technology transfer - ClusterPoliSEE - Smarter Cluster Policies for South East Europe - Smart Inno - Smart Network and Sustainable Innovation Cluster to increase RDI Competitiveness of SMEs in the Adriatic - Transnational Co-operation Programme South East Europe (SEE)
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The Agency also initiated the founding of a Technology Park in Istria. The Park will be located in the city of Vodnjan’s business zone called Tison. Besides the Agency itself, other R&D and technology transfer organizations and institutions involved in the initial phase of the project include the University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula, the Chamber of Commerce, Polytechnics, CIMOS, the Faculty of Economics and Tourism "Dr. Mijo Mirkovi ć" Pula, the Center for Marine Research Institute Ru đer Boškovi ć Institute in Rovinj and representatives of the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds of the Republic of Croatia. The goal of this initiative is, amongst others, to enhance technology transfer between RTTC’s of the region and businesses. Therefore businesses such as CIMOS, Buzet, which delivers metal components for the automotive industry, have been included in the project from the beginning.
The project of the Technology Park is also intended to example of the synergy effects that are possible by establishing more intense cooperation between the various RTTC’s of the County of Istria. As we made visible in the SWOT analysis of the research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions included into this repository, cooperation between the RTTC’s is at a very low level and most of them are cocooned which does not allow them to take more part in developing themselves as well as the County. The Development Agency is practically the only organization within the County aiming to enhance collaboration and detect synergy potential between the RTTC’s themselves and local and regional businesses.
There are also very little impulses towards the internationalization of R&D efforts coming from the regional RTTC’s, which is one of the crucial elements for their development and improvement. The establishment of the online database will be a very important tool to lower barriers of cooperation and to enhance the exchange of ideas.
It is obvious that there is significant synergy potential especially in the agriculture sector where there are two well organized and successful organizations, AZRRI and the Institute for Agriculture and Tourism, working on related fields but cooperating very little. To take this example further, the marine research Center in Rovinj, METRIS, the Health Institute also have synergy potential and their joint research results could be of benefit for the food-processing and other related sectors of the processing industry.
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The Technology Park should have the effect of lowering brain drain in the region by offering scientists the needed infrastructure and support. In addition it should enhance the coop eration of RTTC’s of the County.
Figure 8: The N ew Istrian Technology Incubator founded by the Istrian Development Agency
Source: Istrian Development Agency
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- Infrastructure - Lack of experience in contract research - Higher education and doctorate studies within the region - Low technology transfer competence - Support on regional level - University unattractive for top - Variety of studies scholars
- Lack of cooperation and synergy between RTTC’s
Opportunities Threats - European funding - Slow in change - New Technology Park - Low support on national level - New University campus - Uncompetitive scholars - Geographic position - Weak national economy - Enhance cooperation between RTTC’s and businesses in processing sectors - R&D and technology transfer markets in the Southeast of Europe
Table 11: SWOT Analysis of RTTC’s of the County of Istria
8. Legal Form, Organization and Maintenance of the NEXT Open Book Online Database for the County of Istria
The NEXT Open Book repository represents the basis for the establishment of the online database of RTTC’s for the County of Istria. The obtained data will then be included in the final database of RTTC’s of the regions which take part in the NEXT project.
At the beginning of 2013, fueled by a number of user queries for laboratory and intellectual
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services, and the need to for cooperation and scientific research of institutions from within the County of Istria, the Istrian Development Agency and the County of Istria took the initiative and began working on the creation of a network to enhance visibility and connectivity of RTTC's of the region.
A web presence, ISTRALAB, has been created to present all of the regions R&D and technology transfer potential on one place. Prior to that, the Istrian Development Agency reached agreements with the University of Juraj Dobrila in Pula, the Polytechnics of Pula and Rijeka, the Marine research Center in Rovinj, and other RTTC's to cooperate on the presentation of the combined R&D and technology transfer potential in order to optimize the use of existing human potential and equipment resources and to promote cooperation amongst the RTTC's themselves.
ISTRALAB consists of a section which is open for the general public and contains basic information about the included R&D and technology transfer organizations with their respective area of expertise and institution of the region, as well as their research and analysis capabilities and human resources. The user friendly portal was created on an easy to adapt WordPress platform and offers information that, prior to the establishment of the platform, was difficult to find.
In a separate section, accessible after registration, interested businesses and other RTTC's can easily browse through the offered services and the equipment of the included R&D institutions. The user can also find detailed information by keyword search and in most cases also get contact detail of the person responsible for the area of interest. The portal still needs to be fed with more detailed information and translated into English, Italian (the County of Istria is bilingual, Italian is an official language in Istria) and German in order to present the R&D and technology transfer potential of the region to a broader public.
It is crucial to define a legal form, as well as to define organization and maintenance of the database which will be accessible online and must contain current data. The most effective way is to found a non-profit cluster in which all of the included RTTC’s would participate. A cluster manager appointed by the founders of the cluster would then be authorized to organize maintenance of the database as well as ensure that the data provided is up to date.
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The tasks of said cluster manager should also include the analysis of the data and research regarding ways and fields of research where collaboration amongst the RTTC’s and companies within the County of Istria and between the RTTC’s and companies of other regions partaking in the NEXT project is possible. An effective system of formal and informal communication on County level as well as on the NEXT projects level must also be established by the cluster manager in order for the project to reach its potential.
The manager must ensure that the data is monitored, evaluated, analyzed and tested for strengths and weaknesses by following criteria: quality of provided data, cost effectiveness, user experience and feasibility. A simple, easy to use and flexible open source online content management system for the database is therefore essential.
It is also of essence that the manager works on ways to speed up and information exchange, connecting RTTC’s and the industry, as well as the RTTC’s amongst themselves. The manager will be responsible for the availability of data in order to reach the goals in the shortest time possible, and to maximize the visibility to the participants of the platform.
The platform should be divided into a publicly accessible part and another part for which a registration of the user would be necessary. It should include a description of the RTTC’s per region and per competences, as well as an onsite search.
Besides a section for the introduction of the platform itself and information on the activities of the cluster to be formed, there should also be a “library” with published works of the participating RTCC’s, documents, reports and news regarding research and industry of the participating regions should also be updated regularly on the site. Opportunities and trends can also be presented in a blog section of the platform.
Onsite and social network communication between the cluster, the partaking RTTC’s, as well as the partners of the project in each region should also be made possible and interaction should be planned.
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9. Conclusion and Recommendations
The NEXT Open Book for the County of Istria determines methods and criteria for the inclusion of research and development and technology transfer organizations and institutions from within the County into the NEXT-IS online database. The included RTTC’s have been introduced with their area of research, their services provided, their equipment and to some extent, their future plans and strategies. The R&D and technology transfer situation and challenges for Croatia have also been pointed out.
The NEXT-IS platform is the right step for regions that are preparing their RTTC's for further integration of the European knowledge economy. Within said economy the importance of regional specialization is expected to increase even more. The increased visibility of small, regional RTTC's, made possible by the implementation of the platform, will support their integration into the European Union as an area of R&D and innovation (European Research Area). The NEXT-IS should be a tool to support and increase the innovative capabilities of regions and their RTTC's that have to catch up with the more developed ones.
The Istrian Development Agency and the County of Istria have already presented an online database of the regions RTTC’s. RTCC’s from within the County of Istria are currently mostly oriented towards R&D in the fields of sustainable agriculture, food processing and the health sector. The Istrian Development Agency and its METRIS department undertake constant efforts to broaden the fields of R&D and technology transfer of Istria. At the same time they have to concentrate on their primary function, which is to make doing business in the county more attractive for national and European companies. R&D impulses should come from the University, the Polytechnics and from businesses. Initiatives such as the founding of the technology Park in Vodnjan have once again not come from the Institutions which should give such impulses, the University or the Polytechnics, but from local government and the Istrian Development Agency.
In the study we point out the effects and benefits of the implementation of the database for the included organizations and institutions, as well as effects and benefits for the companies and economies of the NEXT projects partaking partners and their respective countries.
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Upon identifying the subjects to be included into the online database, the Study determines in detail which data will be accessible via the database and how it will be presented by deciding on the content management system to be used. Proposals regarding the legal form, organization and maintenance of the database have been given with factors such as quality of data, cost effectiveness, user experience and others taken into account.
The ideas and goals of the NEXT project i.e. the considerations on the role of innovation, transnational networks and cooperation as levers of national economic development and the increase in competitive capacity of enterprises through better connections with the innovation circuits is also detectable throughout the NEXT Open Book repository for the County of Istria. The purpose of the repository, to determine and point out strengths of Istria’s RTCC’s for their inclusion into NEXT-IS is met.
The platform will also promote the digital ERA (European Research Area), contribute to knowledge transfer and help remove barriers of such transfer. It also already implements the Horizon 2020 approach that takes into account different scientific areas and business-related interests, with emphasis on cross-country and cross-region cooperation and visibility to make “Europe a place where scientific research, technological development and innovation thrive and address the major challenges of our times.”
NEXT-IS is meant to be an online interactive platform which will aim at supporting RTTC's and innovative companies. One of the platforms main objectives to promote the connection between research and industry and to support their communication in order to raise the competitiveness of the economies of partaking regions. In the future the implementation of NEXT-IS should also lead towards RTTC’s and businesses defining common priorities and possibly joint research agendas too.
Prior to the establishment of said online platform, the NEXT Open Book repository for the County of Istria has mapped out RTTC's of the region which meet the here determined criteria to be included into the NEXT-IS platform once it is created. The repository represents an analytic collection of information aiming to provide an easy reference tool for those seeking specific competences, experience, equipment and staff to develop innovative projects.
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The information system will improve the visibility of the RTTC’s to other participants of the platform, provide a mean for information sharing and speed up the matching of supply and demand of research, development and innovation, it will also support the creation of an online community and increase the attention paid to the partaking regions.
An effective way to ensure that all of the above can be met has also been defined. A legal form, as well as organization and maintenance of the online database for the County of Istria has been proposed. The founding of an RTTC cluster has been suggested and the main tasks of the cluster manager have been pointed out.
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
List of References______
European Commission (2011), “Innovation Union Competiveness report 2011”, http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/pdf/competitiveness- report/2011/countries/croatia.pdf
OECD (2009),”Regions Matter; Economic recovery, innovation and sustainable growth”
Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Science Education and Sports (2008), “Action Plan to Encourage Investment into Science and Research”
Sabatti B., Vareško A ,”The Importance of Business Zones for the Development of Local Communities” (2011), http://www.search-document.com/doc/1/6/sabatti.html
Sabatti B ., (2010) “Institutional Support System In Istrian County As A Factor Of Regional Development Management”, Faculty of Economics in Osijek, Interdisciplinary Management Research Journal
Soete, L. (2009), Summary of conclusions of the Expert Group on “The Role of Community Research Policy in the Knowledge Based Economy”. http://ec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2009/era2009/speakers/papers/paper_luc_soete.pdf
Wintjes R., Hollanders H. (2010), “The Regional Impact of Technological Change in 2020”http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/studies/pdf/2010_technological_ch ange.pdf www.akreditacija.hr www.azrri.hr www.cim.hr www.hzjz.hr www.ida.hr www.iptpo.hr
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Collaborative Platform to Support Research and Technology Transfer – NEXT NEXT OPEN BOOK REPOSITORY FOR THE COUNTY OF ISTRIA 2014
www.istra-istria.hr www.istralab.hr www.metris-research.hr www.pravosudje.hr www.politehnika-pula.hr www.pula.hr www.ob-pula.hr www.unipu.hr www.veleri.hr www.zzjziz.hr
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