For the past two days, partners on the iNovaNet project have been on a working visit to IEC Tehnopolis.
The aim of the visit was to attend training organized for the representatives of partner institutions, presenting the project itself to the general public, as well as organizing a regular project meeting.
A press conference was organized yesterday, and addressed by Marijana Jovovic from Tehnopolis, project manager Aida Pasalic Uzunovic on behalf of the lead partner – Development agency of Zenica (ZEDA), representative of the City of Gradiska from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bojana Bjelovuk, as well as the representative of the Industrial part of Nova Gradiska, Croatia, Marko Ivkovic. The partners presented the project, its objectives, activities, results and the impact on entrepreneurial and innovative communities in the cross-border area.
Through the iNnovaNet project it will be worked on the improvement of the business environment through the creation of new affordable and innovative business support mechanisms for small and medium-sized enterprises. Project activities will enable the opening of new training and education centres to enable the acquisition of new knowledge and competences for entrepreneurs, the unemployed and students, and thus increase the employment, competitiveness and export capacities of the company. The transfer of new knowledge and skills between the partner institutions involved in the project will create a network of experts and institutions and improve the co-operation between institutions that help the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
According to Jovovic, through this project and the procurement of various CNC machines and 3D printers worth EUR 145,000, the capacities of the Laboratory for industrial design in Tehnopolis will be increased, where there is part of the equipment supplied through IPA 2016. Further, training will be provided for CNC operators for two unemployed persons, and equipment from robotics and mechatronics worth EUR 80,000 for two schools in Niksic and Podgorica. “The necessary training will be provided for teachers from these schools, so that they can pass on their acquired knowledge to the students, because the emphasis is on updating youth knowledge,” Jovovic said.
“The project enables the creation of a network of all institutions from the project area and the virtual web platform. As part of the project, at least five pilot trainings are scheduled for more than 250 participants from the three participating states,” Pasalic Uzunovic said.
The total value of the project is more than EUR 1.3 million, while Tehnopolis budget is close to EUR 290,000.
As the creation of a virtual web platform is under way, during a two-day training organized in Tehnopolis, the representatives of partner institutions were able to master platform management techniques and create educational web content for the platform, photo and video. The platform itself will be available to all stakeholders and will serve the purpose of encouraging the development of entrepreneurship and innovation, education and development of personal and professional skills of its users.
This event was also an opportunity to organize a regular project meeting with partners from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia in order to monitor the realization of project activities and planning of the next steps.
The project is co-financed with EFRR and IPA II funds from the European Union under the Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Interreg IPA Croatia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro 2014-2020.
