In a week from the 16 until the 22nd November 2020, in over 160 countries around the world, hosts Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), an event that takes place once a year, and serves to celebrate entrepreneurship, innovation and job creators who launch startups and turn ideas into reality, stimulate economic growth and expand the well-being of their communities .

This year, the aforementioned event will be held in Split for the fifth year in a row, organized by the Student Entrepreneurship Incubator, the Split Entrepreneurship Center and the Faculty of Economics in Split .

Through various activities, from large competitions and events to networking, GEW encourages participants to explore their potential as entrepreneurs and innovators and connects them with potential collaborators, mentors and potential investors, introducing them to new possibilities and opportunities.

GEW is therefore more than an awareness campaign for entrepreneurship; it’s a platform to connect and collaborate – engaging all players along the entrepreneurial spectrum in strengthening ecosystems around the world.

Considering that the state of pandemic is still in force in the Republic of Croatia, this year’s edition will be held in an online format using the Zoom platform and live broadcasts via the Student Entrepreneurial Incubator’s social networks, and will consist of educational lectures, workshops and panel discussions and a 24-hour Hackathon competition called Smart City Challenge which will be held by domestic and foreign external experts, this time also in an online edition.

During the Smart City Challenge hackathon, registered competitors will solve challenges set in accordance with the European Union’s “Digital Europe 2020” program. where the emphasis is placed on the construction of smart homes and buildings, smart transportation, smart production, smart environment and smart health. The competition will last 24 hours without a break, and the contestants will be tasked with developing a completely new solution in accordance with the rules of the competition. Everyone can participate, regardless of their education or occupation. After the competition, the teams will have an additional 5 minutes to present their project to the expert jury. In order to enable the contestants to develop as high-quality as possible from idea to prototype, they will be provided with full mentoring support, who will further guide them with their economic and technological knowledge and qualities. The best contestants will share a prize fund of HRK 20,000.00, which was also this year sponsored by the City of Split . Likewise, the best ones secure entry into the Student Entrepreneurship Incubator program where, with the support of mentors from the Faculty of Economics, they will continue to develop the business model of their solution. Applications for the Smart City Challenge hackathon last until the 15th. November and are done HERE .

As for the educational part of the program, again this year we have a wide range of entrepreneurs and lecturers who will intrigue everyone with their performances. Thematically, a wide area is covered, from marketing, social entrepreneurship, development of rural areas, digitization of business processes, development of innovations and all the way to student entrepreneurship.

Some of the interesting entrepreneurs and experts you will be able to listen to during the event are Ivana Čuljak from Invento Capital Partners, Ana Šunjić from Infobip, Anja Šerc from BB consulting, Oracle, Michael Freer from Ensoco, investment consultant Vanja Perić, Fran Poštenjak from company Arboring/ArboSMART Technologies, Peter Hopwood from Hopwood Communications and guests of the student entrepreneurship panel Ivana Perić (OPG Spara), Slaven Damjanović (eAgrar) and Lea Kosović (LOL agency).

The event and program were developed in cooperation with the project UIP – 2017 – 05 -7625: User-oriented (re)design of processes and modeling of information systems based on the example of smart city services of the head of Assoc. prof. Ph.D. Maje Ćukušić from the Faculty of Economics, which was financed by the Croatian Science Foundation.

You can view the entire program and exact timetables of lectures and panels at http://spi.efst.hr/gew/ , and for each lecture you need to register by clicking on the selected lecture or panel in the program found on the given link.