CRANE members get actively involved in the PACINNO Croatia project

On Tuesday, May 31, the second Demo Day was successfully held at the Science and Technology Park of the University of Rijeka (Step Ri), organized by the Croatian PACINNO team. Ten teams that participated in the PACINNO Startup education 2015/2016 in cooperation with the STARTUP Incubator of the City of Rijeka, presented themselves at the Demo Day. Gathered participants had the opportunity to hear about interesting projects from the areas of biomedicine, tourism, mobile apps, gastronomy and renewable energy sources.

The expert jury, consisting of investors and representatives of the academic community, awarded the teams Idea4 and SmartFood. Decision about the best project was made by Hrvoje Prpić, CRANE Board member, Aleš Pustovrh, PhD, from the ABC accelerator in Ljubljana, Ivana Bilić, PhD, from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Split, Andrija Čolak, entrepreneur from Rijeka, Jelka Ćorić Čeliković from Zagrebačka banka, and Nikola Balić from the Technology Transfer Office of the University of Split.

First place at the Demo Day was won by SmartFood start-up with its idea of producing smart bacteria that detect early stage colon cancer and represent innovative and non-invasive way of detecting the disease. Second place was won by the team Idea4 with their electronic charger with revolutionary performances. The award was given to the team Idea4 by a jury member, Aleš Pustovrh, and it includes a free training program for the team and a direct entry into the second round of the selection process for the ABC accelerator program in October.

In order for the teams to present their projects at Demo Day as best they can, Davorin Štetner, President of CRANE, held a pitch workshop in mid-May for all the participants of the program. Each of the 10 teams had the chance to present their idea, which was followed by questions with which Davorin tried to improve their pitch and further encourage the project development. The workshop ended with an informal gathering which was one more way for the teams to gather advice and experience.

On Wednesday, June 1, the program continued with a conference on public policies, where the results of the PACINNO project were presented and three more interesting panels held. Davorin Štetner, President of CRANE, participated in the second panel, which was about innovations in small and medium-sized enterprises of the Adriatic region. Besides Davorin, guests at the panel were also Ivana Bilić, PhD, Predrag Krndija, Ivica Horvat and Andrija Čolak, and in their speeches they emphasized the challenges and opportunities of doing business in small and medium-sized enterprises.