30.11.2022.
Programmes of the Fund for incentivising scientific research were presented at the conference held in Đurđevac on energy challenges faced by towns and municipalities.At the conference, it was said that Croatia faced the current energy crisis rather well-prepared, while some other countries were significantly affected by it. “Croatia is committed to renewable energy sources, and this strategy is something we all have to follow. We’re holding the 6th place in the EU in terms of RES share in production and consumption. Surely, we’re faced with many challenges such as building management, energy efficiency and similar that we have be brave, but we are on a good path,” said Ivo Milatić, the state secretary for energy at the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, who opened the conference together with the mayor of Đurđevac, Hrvoje Janči.
At the panel on “Science in energy and green transition” the Fund was represented by Predrag Korica, a project manager at the Environmental protection sector, who focused on the importance of promoting R&D activities in environmental protection and energy efficiency. Korica also pointed out that the Fund co-financed projects focusing on climate change adaptation: “For the programme for promoting R&D activities in the field of climate change, in the 2015-2016 period the Fund earmarked more than 15 million kunas for 10 research projects, and in 2019 an additional 8 million was provided for 25 research projects, which received EU grants under the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion.”
Climate change and the European Commission Strategy that would make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 have been the talk of the town lately, so it is to be expected that significant investments in green technologies will be promoted in Croatia as well. In the light of this, investments in research and science community are becoming more relevant, concluded Korica, and added: “By the end of 2022, the Fund is planning to launch a call for proposals for research and innovation projects aimed at implementing the European Green Deal. The funding is aimed at R&D and innovation projects supporting research and experimental development in the field of clean energy, transport, including batteries, pure hydrogen, and other low-carbon technologies. The co-financing also includes studying technologies, technical and nontechnical measures for reducing emissions in individual sectors.”
Krunoslav Hajdek from the Section for packaging, recycling and environment at University North explained that the University had realised five year earlier that “green” and “digital” was something that would be essential for future economic and societal development, so they established the environmental engineering studies. Ivan Franičević, the president of the Board of the company Rasco – one of the leading European manufacturers of electric vehicles, said that in their five factories in two countries the company employs a number of top experts and also provides scholarships for many of them, which will allow the company to develop state-of-the-art technology in the future and remain competitive on the global market.
The subject of geothermal energy potentials caught great attention as the continental part of Croatia virtually lies on geothermal springs. These springs offer great possibilities to many Croatian towns and municipalities to become energy self-sufficient. One great advantage of geothermal sources is the possibility to generate electricity, and to use the thermal energy for heating and manufacturing processes in entrepreneurial zones, which is one of the main conclusions reached at the business conference “Energy challenges of towns and municipalities” that was held in Đurđevac.
