Prime Minister Janez Janša attended today the inauguration of the first building of the Celje technology park where he also gave an official speech. In his presentation he highlighted the fact that nowadays technological development and innovation are among the key elements of competitiveness of modern economies. In order for Slovenia to breakthrough to a higher development level, the Slovenian Government has recently adopted the Resolution on National Development Projects 2007–2023 containing a package of 35 major development projects, which amount in total to almost EUR 24 billion, featuring also the construction of the Celje Tehnopolis economic centre.
Photo: Arsen Perić/Salomon 2000
On this occasion the Prime Minister pointed out the importance of effective transfer and use of new knowledge and technologies in practice which has been receiving special attention also by the European Union. "Countries known to be based on knowledge and innovation have got established connections between industry and public research and education sector, invest extensively into research and development, achieve a high level of innovation, employ highly qualified workforce, and have got appropriate information infrastructure and support institutions" said the Prime Minister.
Although Slovenia has got a stable macro-economic environment and, in terms of total amount of resources intended for research and development, does not lag far behind the EU average, the Prime Minister, among others, drew attention to the poor efficiency of these resources, unsatisfactory education structure of the researchers in industry and a modest number of patents registered in the high technology area. He added that "inefficient investments into research and development have resulted in having a small portion of innovation active companies, and it is also characteristic of Slovenia to have a low business activity rate."
"With a range of projects contained in the Resolution, the Slovenian Government whish to encourage industry to be more competitive and to achieve higher growth rates. They further wish to promote the development of business enterprise and of small and medium-sized companies, to create a more friendly business environment and increase the inflow of development incentive domestic and foreign investments, in order to provide a faster and more equalized development of Slovenia," said the Prime Minister.
According to Prime Minister Janez Janša, the aim of the Tehnopolis+ development project is a faster economic development of the Savinja region. The project, for which the funds are planned in the amount of EUR 160 million, is set for the period 2007–2015, and over 100 companies and institutions are likely to be established and to provide over 1,000 new jobs.
"Here we can see the first results of the technology park which will provide the infrastructural environment for a dynamic growth of human capital and for new, technologically oriented companies. It will provide a development environment for the companies to be created by Universities, and support within the initial phase of putting the research developments on the market," added Prime Minister Janez Janša who concluded his speech by wishing everyone involved in the project a fair degree of ambitiousness, perseverance and courage in the continuation of the construction and development of Tehnopolis+.
