AZRA (the Varazdin County Development Agency) has many years of experience in implementing projects co- financed by the EU as a project partner. As well, AZRA has implemented EU co-financed projects on behalf of Varazdin County and has participated in projects by providing technical support to various institutions. Now, for the first time, AZRA is the lead partner of a large EU co-financed project.

The Project “Edu-Preneur” (Entrepreneurial Education for European pupils/students innovators) was approved for EU co-financing under the IPA (Instrument for Pre-Accession) Operational Programme Slovenia-Croatia 2007-2013. Achieving the goals of the project will be the common task of the Slovenian and Croatian partners in the project, which include:

• Inštitut za raziskovanje podjetništva - IRP (Institute for Research of Entrepreneurship) from Maribor, Slovenia
• Sasa inkubator d.o.o. (Sasa Incubator Ltd.) from Velenje, Slovenia
• Šolski centar Velenje (School Centre Velenje) from Velenje, Slovenia
• Fakultet organizacije i informatike - FOI (Faculty of Organisation and Informatics, University of Zagreb) from Varazdin, Croatia
• Hrvatski institut za tehnologiju - HIT (Croatian Institute of Technology) from Zagreb, Croatia
• AZRA Ltd. from Varazdin, Croatia

The duration of the project is 18 months. Implementation began on 1 May 2011. Total value of the project is 270,172.32 EUR, EU co-financing provided through the IPA Programme is 85% of the total value of the project, which is 229.646,32 EUR. 

The aim of the project is to increase the capacity of Croatian and Slovenian pupils and students innovators, enhance their competitiveness on the open market and establish cooperation between pupils/students innovators and public and private sectors in Croatia and Slovenia by encouraging the exchange of knowledge and experience.

Education of pupils/students innovators will be implemented through 7 different modules: 

                        1. The basics of establishing and managing enterprise / trade

                        2. Market research and making of SWOT analysis

                        3. Design, development and evaluation of technologies

                        4. Intellectual Property Rights

                        5. Marketing strategies and sales strategy

                        6. Business and Financial Planning

                        7. Finding partners and investors

Registration of pupils/students innovators participants in Croatia will be carried out by FOI and HIT. All information related to the project can be obtained from each of the project partners, or directly from the lead partner – AZRA (Contact person: Mrs. Martina Kloputan-Tuk; Tel: +385 42 422 2011, e-mail: martina.klopotan@azra.hr).