The main characters of this story are Tomislav Mamić , Ivan Guć and Josip Marasović , young Dalmatian entrepreneurs who received approval for their business ideas precisely from our Student Entrepreneurship Incubator, and then also received non-refundable European money in tenders for the further development of their innovative projects.

Tomislav Mamić and Ivan Guć received support for their projects from the Proof of Concept program, as part of the eighth call for co-financing of research and development projects for entrepreneurs (PoC8), which was announced last year by the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and trades and the Croatian Agency for Small Business, Innovation and Investments (Hamag-Bicro). Mamić and his team are developing the “Denther” platform for dental diagnostics, while Guć and his team are working on an innovative technological solution that will facilitate the work of doctors of dental medicine.

Ivan Guć is the director of the company “Enamel”, which develops a device whose purpose is to improve the profession and facilitate the work of doctors of dental medicine. Along with him, collaborators on the project are Tin Doždor, Armando Matijević and Antonio Surjan Žanko . They are currently in the phase of research and development of a technological solution, for which they received support in the amount of almost HRK 250,000 through PoC8.

The total value of the project through which they will test the innovative concept is about HRK 358,000, and they secured the remaining part with their own money. The project was contracted at the end of 2019, lasts for one year, and was registered through the Technology Transfer Office of the University of Split.

‘This project is like building a small space rocket!’

Ivan Guć is a doctor of dental medicine, and he practices aesthetic medicine. He points out that they want to build a system that will allow the doctor of dental medicine to work in a position that does not cause spinal problems and back pain, and increases the distance from noise sources and reduces exposure to chemicals. In this way, the device should contribute to the health of doctors of dental medicine, which, according to many studies, is at the very top of the unhealthiest professions in the world. The reasons are exposure to infections and chemicals, as well as the position of the body in which the work is done. Seven out of ten dentists have spine problems and back pain. They conducted the research in cooperation with the Croatian Chamber of Dental Medicine and confirmed the results of the worldwide research.

What inspired Ivan Guć was the story of Ivan Mrvoš and his hard work, commitment and persistence, which he recognized as true values. Two engineers, computer science Ivana Kelam and mechanical engineering Josip Ugrina, are working with Guć on the project.

The idea itself arose at the end of 2016, after which Guć joined the Student Entrepreneurial Incubator, where, as he points out, Lana Ugrčić , the head of that incubator, was the first to offer him the opportunity to develop a startup. There he met Tomislav and then they worked together on a project through which Mamić got the idea for his project “Denther”.

The value of the project “Checking the effectiveness of remote dental diagnosis” is HRK 680,000, and Tomislav Mamić received HRK 460,000 from the maximum of half a million HRK for testing the innovative concept. He applied for the competition with the help of the Technology Transfer Office of the University of Split, and the project checks the feasibility and credibility of remote dental diagnostics and the possibility of reaching an independent consensus of dentists about the diagnosis.

Mamic’s “Denther” platform would allow any dentist anywhere in the world to register and start offering their services, as well as any patient to “upload” their scans and request a confirmed dental diagnosis. The recording would be reviewed by several dentists who cannot communicate with each other, who are anonymous, who do not know who the patient is, and the diagnosis would be confirmed if several of them agreed.

For “Denther” is his company at the end of 2018. won third place in the competition for the best innovative entrepreneurial ideas of the city of Split and HRK 20,000 for the development of the platform intended for dental diagnostics. After winning third place at the City of Split competition, they created several versions of the application and tested them with users, confirming some specifics. After learning how diagnostics work in dental medicine and talking to investors, the best opportunity turned out to be the competition for testing an innovative concept awarded by Hamag-Bicro. What they should have checked, after a successful application, is whether the diagnosis given online can be as effective as the one in the doctor’s office face to face. They received funding for this check and are currently in the process of developing the app and recruiting research dentists. The goal is to prove that through this application they can give an equally effective or even more effective remote diagnosis, which would mean that the patient does not need to go to the dentist to get an opinion, and that it would be possible to compare the opinions of several dentists much faster and easier. For each successful diagnosis, doctors of dental medicine receive points, they are placed on a ranking list, and the points can be a confirmation of their quality, thus attracting patients. To develop this entrepreneurial idea, the team with Tomislav Mamić includes a programmer and a designer from Zagreb.

Josip Marasović , co-owner of the company “Sailboat” RC, which is one of the world’s most famous manufacturers of one-meter radio-controlled sailboats, and for the technological innovation of the production of 3D sails within the radio-controlled sailing market, “Sailboat” RC was awarded non-refundable money from EU funds last year through the competition “Innovations of newly established SMEs – II. phase” in the amount of HRK 363 thousand, while the total value of the project is HRK 463 thousand.

This company, which at the beginning of 2016 founded by Zvonko Jelačić and Josip Marasović, the only one in the world, uses 3D modeling to make a sail from one piece, while all her competitors do it by cutting the material into three parts and then rejoining them.

They obtained the money for this innovation from EU funds with the aim of reaching a small RC factory that would be highly professionalized for this market. It would be unique in the world, and it would enable business expansion, multiple times more efficient production, and sustainability and increase in employment. They are pleased that the scene of radio-controlled sailing is waking up in Croatia, especially in Split. They lower the sporting successes of radio-controlled sailboats, they defended the title of world champion and thus achieved historic success, and they also bring victories in national regattas.

Source: Slobodna Dalmacija