European Research and Innovation Days is the European Commission’s annual flagship Research and Innovation event, bringing together policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and the public to debate and shape the future of research and innovation in Europe and beyond. The event will take place online on 23 and 24 June 2021 same as last year, allowing everyone to get involved from anywhere.
 

For the past year, about 30 students from FER have been participating in the well-known student project FSB Racing Team. Namely, this student association presented in 2019 the new racing car "Vulpes", the first 100 percent electric car developed and assembled entirely in Croatia, exclusively by student forces.

EIT Jumpstarter is the flagship, cross-industrial pre-acceleration programme of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT). With the contribution of best-in-class experts, creative community, unique know-how our aim is to support idea-holders to turn their ideas into business. EIT Jumpstarter helps innovators and entrepreneurs build a viable business model around their innovative product or service idea, validate it and if their business idea is proven to be sustainable, the EIT Jumpstarter team encourages them to register their company.

An advanced monitoring of the environment and analytics will allow smart cities to continuously monitor water ecosystems with the aim of an informed and sustainable management, ensuring quality of life and preserving biodiversity in important natural areas.

Ericsson Nikola Tesla takes a significant role in exploring how advanced technologies can help in improving the quality of life and protection of water ecosystems that are under continuous pressure of urban and economic activities, as well as tourism and various types of recreation.

Hrvatski Telekom continues to introduce a commercial 5G network throughout Croatia. From March 17th the 5G signal is available in ten new towns: Dugo Selo, Karlovac, Krapina, Nin, Poreč, Rovinj, Slavonski Brod, Umag, Velika Gorica, and Zadar, which means that 5G signal covers 34 Croatian cities and towns and 1.5 million inhabitants of Croatia.

Industries, businesses and enterprises worldwide could benefit from a new Ericsson collaboration with T-Systems to make integrated campus network solutions available to enterprise customers globally.

 

Hrvatski Telekom continued with the introduction of a commercial 5G network throughout Croatia. As of today, the 5G network is available in Čakovec, Kutina, Makarska, Novska, Opatija, Trogir, Zaprešić, Borovo, and Vrsar as well. The commercial 5G network now covers 24 Croatian cities and towns and 1.3 million inhabitants of Croatia.

In an effort to improve COVID-19 pandemic response, Ericsson, Telia, and Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden are testing the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create insight models for planning and prediction of healthcare demands and resources.

On the 1st of March Hrvatski Telekom is the first to start involving commercial users in testing on the 3.5 GHz frequency band, which will enable new possibilities of 5G mobile network with two to three times higher speeds and more possibilities of use in many sectors, numerous innovations, and development of smart industries, modern cities, and society of the future.

World Engineering Day (WED) will be celebrated on March 4, 2021, and the title of this year's celebration is "Engineering for a Healthy Planet - Celebrating the UNESCO Engineering Report".

 

During February 2021, the Faculty of Organization and Informatics (FOI) received positive evaluations and decisions on the financing of strategic projects applied for the autumn deadline of the ERASMUS+ call for strategic partnerships for digital education readiness - RAPIDE and eDESK. Both projects were submitted under the guidance of Blaženka Divjak, Ph.D., motivated by the recent confrontation of the education system with the crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic and the provision of support for the digital transformation of higher education institutions.

Despite various negative effects of COVID-19 pandemic, KONČAR Group recorded excellent results and met majority of its planned targets.

In 2020, KONČAR Group recorded total revenues of 3.189,4 million HRK, which represents a 6,8% increase in comparison to 2019. The Group’s EBITDA was 33% higher in 2020 in comparison to 2019, and it amounted to 177,6 million HRK. EBITDA margin in 2020 rose to 6% compared to 2019 EBITDA margin of 4,8%.

Nokia announced on the 18th of February that it has been selected by A1 Austria to provide comprehensive 5G coverage across the country in a multi-year contract. The deal, which will support A1 Austria’s efforts to be a market leader, will see Nokia supply 5G radio access and core network services. The deployment of products and services is underway with the core element expected to be rolled out in the first half of 2021.

The e-Schools project as an example of good practice will be presented at the online event “Cohesion policy investment in digital education: the experience of e-Schools in Croatia”. Event will take place on 23 February 2021 starting at 09:15.
 

International Women's STEM Award program is held for the eighth year in a row. The best thesis will be awarded 3,000 euros.

STEM graduates from all over the world can submit their thesis with focus on one of the strategic growth areas: Cloud, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security and Networks of the Future.

On Thursday, February 11, the European University Sports Association (EUSA), the umbrella organization of academic sports in Europe, held its EUSA Awards Ceremony online, recognising and celebrating the achievements and contributions of individuals, universities and associations in European university sport. 

The University of Zagreb is recognized as the best and most active university in Europe.

Green-Tech Hackathon was held on 13^th and 14^th February 2021, organized by the Embassy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and partners - Fil Rouge Capital as an investment partner and Algebra LAB as an organizational-logistical and advisory one. The hackathon was held online, lasting more than 30 hours, and after more than 100 applications, 14 teams with a total of 63 competitors from all over Croatia participated in the finals. They were joined by team members from neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also expats currently living in Germany or - South Korea!

Hrvatski Telekom has made a new step forward in e-mobility and enabled owners of electric vehicles in Croatia, who are also users of Hrvatski Telekom's charging service, to charge cars at almost 300 charging stations in Slovenia operated by the two largest Slovenian operators. These charging stations are now available to Croatian drivers who can charge their electric cars using the HT Magenta prepaid card, available in selected T-Centers, and the espoTs app, which they can download to their mobile phones.

A group of researchers from Stanford University in California (USA) recently published a study on the scientific citation, ranking around 160,000 of the world's most cited scientists in all disciplines and listing 2% of the world's most-cited scientists. 

The list of the most influential scientists in the world for the entire scientific career includes 47 Croatian scientists, including professor Sven Lončarić, Ph.D. and associate professor Dubravko Babić, Ph.D. from FER.

The educational program "Elements of AI" is now available throughout the Republic of Croatia for all interested citizens. All content is available in Croatian as well. The initiative for this educational program came from the cooperation of the University of Zagreb, the University of Helsinki and the technology company Reaktor, and the training and placement of the educational program was carried out in cooperation with the Croatian Artificial Intelligence Association CroAI.