Regional Conference, held in the beautiful Šibenik’s Town Hall (Gradska vijećnica) was organised by Croatian Media Poslovni dnevnik (Business Daily) and the Šibenik-Knin County. The main theme of the conference was the availability and the access to the EU funds’ resources. Conference’s aim was to inform the interested citizens on the regional and local level about the current available EU programmes and EU funds in Republic of Croatia, and to present the work of the institutions included in the implementation of the EU projects.

The first panel discussion, »The role of counties in access to thec resources from EU funds for their regional development«, was organised in cooperation between the Croatian County Association which aims at decentralisation and strengthening the role of counties in the design of cohesion policies and operational programmes beyond 2020. Mayors from surrounding counties attendeed the panel to learn about the possibilities for the development of entrepreneurship on the regional level.

The second panel discussion, »Impact of the Public Sector on entrepreneurship development in Šibenik-Knin County (Presentation of projects funded from EU funds)«, gathered representatives of local self-governments who presented their cases on how the sinergy between the local and regional governments and entrepreneurs aids in connecting and developing the region. Mira Lepur, the director of the Development Agency of Šibenik-Knin County, and Goran Pauk, Mayor of Šibenik-Knin County and president of the Croatian County Association, introduced the project Adriatic Business Center-ABCDanijel Mileta, Deputy mayor of the City of Šibenik, presented the project Trokut, while the Chief of the Kistanje municipality, Goran Reljić, introduced the development project of the entrepreneural incubator in Kistanje, and the Mayor of the City of Knin, Marko Jelić, talked about the project of the Knin’s Innovation Centre.

Poslovni dnevnik, as a Croatian leader in daily production of business content, has been through project Poslovni uzlet (Business Takeoff) for already five years promoting the successful small and mid-size companies and professionals and their successful entrepreneural stories. In the collaboration with the local governments, Poslovni uzlet visits numerous Croatian towns in order to promote the idea of enterepreneurship through seminars, workshops, panel discussions and lectures. The extension of Poslovni uzlet in 2018 are the regional conferences which will be held in five Croatian cities in the cooperation between the Croatian County Association and the local and regional self-governments.

Purpose of the regional conferences is to mutually present and approach the best case practices of the receiving and investing EU resources into the local and regional business so that the mutual contacts deepen and that the possibilities for new cooperations arise. The ultimate goal is to get these conference platform becoming a continuous form of meetings and exchange of experiences, knowledge and information between the representatives of the local and regional authorities and existing and future entrepreneurs.