Matej Rus, M.A., is a lecturer on entrepreneurship at the Faculty of Economics and Business at university of Maribor and director of Institute for Entrepreneurship Research (IRP), main organizer of PODIM. He is the initiator and expert leader of Start:up Slovenia competition and along with prof. dr. Miroslav Rebernik, the leader and founder of Business incubator of University of Maribor called Venture Factory.
Every year the first or second week in April is reserved for the international conference on entrepreneurship and innovation PODIM, which traditionally takes place at Hotel Habakuk in Maribor. This year’s conference was 31st in a row and dealt with creating global ventures.
The history of the conference reaches into 1978, when according to Professor Matjaž Mulej, double PhD, the insightful business engineer and later dean of Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at University of Maribor, Božidar Hribernik, prepared the first conference. In 1981 the second conference took place, where Professor Matjaž Mulej, double PhD, actively took part and helped co-create the event till 2002. He claims the third positive tuning point happened in 1983 when the topic of innovating stopped being limited to small achievements of a few professionals and set innovating as the only alternative to cure Slovenian and then Yugoslavian economy and as the obligatory activity for all. In 2002, under the leadership of Miroslav Rebernik, PhD, and Matej Rus M.A. the organization of the conference was took over by the Institute for Entrepreneurship Research (IRP), which enthusiastically organizes the conference each year.
Nowadays, the conference PODIM is a renowned conference at home and abroad and attracts over 400 participants from the ranks of entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers, representatives of entrepreneurial support environment builders of innovation policy and students. Its mission is to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation as two important sources for development and higher life quality in the business and university environment. The aim of the conference is to raise awareness about the importance of innovation, entrepreneurship and effective management for economic growth and prosperity of Slovenia. To establish effective communication between university and economic environment in order to successfully link experience and fresh business ideas. The professional and general public needs to be acquainted with research results as well as domestic and foreign experience, which can help us to improve the performance of Slovenian enterprises and other organisations. The aim of the conference is also to familiarise people with the need for a systematic and continuous support in transferring novelties into business practice.
The structure of the conference. The conference is structured of four key elements namely of consultations, which represent the main feature of PODIM and are divided into two parts. The first one, which is shorter, is designed for the presentation of research results in domestic and foreign entrepreneurial environment, whereas the second part is devoted to the presentation of status, experience and cases of good practice in Slovenia and abroad. Subjects are presented by domestic and foreign experts, who come from university, entrepreneurial and state environment. The second element, Round tables, which are getting positive feedback from the participants, represent a thematic continuation of consultations held in the morning. Eminent guests from the economy, university and state institutions give presentations explaining their views and discuss them with their audiences in order to come to sensible conclusions and formulate recommendations for the future. University business arena makes it possible for the enterprises, university institutes, inventors, innovators and other participants to present themselves and their achievements and to establish new business contacts on an exhibition space of 250m2. The last yet important element is Socialising during breaks, working lunches and dinners which are a good opportunity for the participants for informal talks which can lead, after some exchange of opinion and a further acquaintance, to long-term business cooperation. The evening part of the conference will host a gala awards ceremony of the Start:up Slovenia competition, where the participants will be the first to find out which is the Slovenian start up company of the year. The recipient of the 10,000 EUR cash price will also receive a beautiful crystal statue made by Slovenian fashion designer Maja Ferme, which symbolizes the title “Slovenian start up of the year”.
The key to success is cooperation, the conference would not be such a success if it the organizers didn’t cooperate with key creators in their environment. The conference is co-organized by Venture Factory, the University of Maribor as well as JAPTI and Ministry for the Economy, who are also co-financers. In the last few years Ljubljana Technology Park joined as strategic partner. For a number of years Nova KBM bank helps co-create the conference as general sponsor, which offers services of the NKBM business centre with a product called “start-up credit” for young entrepreneurs, which helps them overcome initial hurdles.
This year we will talk about creative industries. The main topic of the conference will deal with development challenges and taking advantage of potentials in cultural and creative industries. More on the conference is available at http://www.podim.org.
Matej Rus, M.A.
