The last group of talents seconded to International Institute of Entrepreneurship, Samobor, Croatia

From May 18 to 31, 2025, 23 researchers from four widening countries, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and North Macedonia, participated in the first part of the last secondment within the USE IPM project. The partner from Croatia was the International Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) in Samobor and the host was led by Professor Marko Kolaković. Activities were implemented in Samobor and Zagreb, During the week, the researchers:

• Participated in discussion on strategic entrepreneurship and a tour of Samobor when they had chance to meet local entrepreneurs, mostly engaged in craft entrepreneurship,
• Held a meetings and fruitful discussion with the entrepreneurs, including:

1. Mirnovec Pyrotechnics (https://www.mirnovec.hr/en) / Ethno Village Mirnovec (https://www.etnofarma.hr/) – a leading pyrotechnics company in the Western Balkans, which has also developed a family-friendly tourist complex for events;
2. Filipec Cellar (https://lnkd.in/dgeQiGzY) – a family business renowned for its traditional production of the aromatic Samobor wine Bermet and mustard, a specific type of mustard;

• Visited student entrepreneurial incubators at the Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb, and Libertas University and developed their own ideas on modus operandi of the centres for entrepreneurship and innovation,

• Visited ZICER – Zagreb Innovation Centre (https://www.zicer.hr/) at the Zagreb Fairgrounds and exchanged their insights with entrepreneurs and start-ups as ZICER tenants, but also learned about benefits and challenges of doing business at the EU market,

• Participated in a workshop on the essential steps for launching and managing student business incubators at higher education institutions, led by Professor Marko Kolaković,

• Visited Craft fair in Samobor (https://www.samobor.hr/visit/samobor-craft-festival-c64) and discussed with local craft entrepreneurs, their motivation and challenges,

• Held Expert panel and meeting with local entrepreneurs, including a visit to the company Blachere Illumination – Gospodarisvjetla d.o.o. (https://gospodarisvjetla.hr/),

• Visited the student business incubator at the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, University of Zagreb (https://www.sumfak.unizg.hr/) and discussed with the colleagues from this Faculty on different aspects of sustainability and new project opportunities.