Good collaboration between the key actors of the startup environment of Carinthia and Slovenia continues even after this year’s PODIM Conference. This is the biggest entrepreneurship event in the Alps-Adriatic region and is, amongst others, also supported by the Slovene Enterprise Fund, Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (MGRT), public agency SPIRIT, and numerous Slovenian and international partners. The PODIM Conference has made even tighter connections between cross-border partners from Austria and Slovenia.
Invited by colleagues from Austria
The excited Austrian entrepreneurship delegation, headed by the regional minister Benger, invited the Slovenian startup delegation to a three-day working visit of Copenhagen, in show of good mutual collaboration. The visit was organized by the Austrian Economic Chambers supported by the Austrian economic representation in Copenhagen.
Getting to know the best business practices
More than 30 members of the delegation, consisting of representatives of main organizations in the startup environment of Carinthia and Slovenia, got to know the key public and private business organizations in detail through the intense three-day programme of the Danish capital. Austrian and Slovenian entrepreneurs, political delegates, and representatives of supporting environment organizations got a detailed insight into the best business practices and supporting business programmes.
Broaching the subject of cross-border collaboration
“Visiting Copenhagen and the startup environment there encouraged many new ideas that we can implement in our company, and it has provided me with a better understanding of Scandinavian markets. Networking with the Austrian part of the delegation also turned out to be very positive, because we were able to broach the subject of cross-border collaboration with individual cities.”
Tomaž Levak, co-founder and CEO of Prospeh
Denmark is an interesting market for XVIDA
“The visit in Copenhagen gave us an insight into the Scandinavian startup scene, which definitely belongs to the most developed in the world, despite the relatively small number of inhabitants, nearly comparable to Slovenia. It was interesting to see that a large part of success depends on a very simple principle of a high level of trust. We sadly lack this. We have quite a few people who are capable of doing a lot, but they have limited chances, because we also have quite a few people who are closer to the “Balkan principle”, in which those who dedicate more time to exploiting the system are better off than those who exploit business opportunities that the system offers. We also found out that for us as XVIDA, Denmark is an incredibly interesting market, because the Danes appreciate quality and also have the opportunity to pay for it due to a high standard.”
Uroš Čadež, founder and CEO of Ledcom / Xvida
New knowledge and contacts, and experiences of similar institutions
“Denmark and Copenhagen, as the capital and heart of the region that’s strongly connecting with Sweden too, especially with the city of Malmö, is decorated by years of tradition of international adaptability, mutual trust, and respecting values such as hard work, trust in one’s own knowledge, and constant innovativeness. With the visit we gained new contacts, in the Alps-Adriatic region as well as in Denmark, new knowledge (what’s most interesting are experiences of institutions in Denmark that are similar to the Slovene Enterprise Fund), as well as an insight into the workings of a successful “Western” startup ecosystem based on intense connecting of all stakeholders.”
Rok Huber, Slovene Enterprise Fund
Insight into the Danish startup scene and networking with colleagues from Austria
“The Initiative Start:up Slovenia firmly believes into a joint vision of the Alps-Adriatic startup region. This is why collaboration with partners from Austria is making us that much happier. The visit gave us not only an excellent insight into the Danish startup scene but also enabled good networking with representatives of the Austrian startup environment.”
Urban Lapajne, project leader, Initiative Start:up Slovenia
Urban Lapajne, Project Manager, Initiative Start:up Slovenia
Tags
PODIM
Alpe-Adria
Copenhagen
