Primorska Technology Park (PTP) continues to be managed by the current director, Mag. Tanja Kožuh. This was the unanimous decision of the general meeting. She has convinced with her previous business results. In recent years, under her leadership, the Technology Park has begun to work systematically on internationalization, which Kožuh intends to expand in the next term. The members decided between six candidates who had applied to the public tender.
The General Assembly of Partners of the Primorska Technology Park, which is composed of representatives of the owners of the Municipality of Šempeter-Vrtojba, the Municipality of Nova Gorica, the Municipality of Renče-Vogrsko, the University of Nova Gorica, Mahle electric drives Slovenia and Elektro Primorska, has unanimously confirmed the current director, Mag. Tanja Kožuh for a new 4-year mandate. Kožuh has already been at the helm of the company since 2012.
“As members, we strive to bring the best knowledge for the development of the region. We have given a new mandate to the current director of PTP, because we want Primorska Technology Park to become the leading startup ecosystem in the region, interesting also for the international environment,” said the President of the Assembly, Mr. Ivo Podbersič, a representative of the municipality of Šempeter-Vrtojba, which has the largest share in PTP.
Achievements measurable in numbers
Primorska Technology Park is currently among the top 5 startup centers in the country. Based on its results, it has been included in the national system of innovative institutions that, under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and the public agency SPIRIT Slovenia, develop the Slovenian startup ecosystem for the creation, development and growth of the most ambitious and high-growth companies.
Facts:
- From 2012 to 2020, PTP doubled its total operating revenue.
- In the last three years alone, it has invested nearly €1.2 million in grants from various EU funds in startups and the development of innovative entrepreneurship in the Goriška region.
- POPRI positioned the entrepreneurship competition for young people from the regional level to a central national competition for young people aged 12 to 29, linking it to the Genius Olympiad in the United States. In 2021, the Slovenian competition model was internationalized to the area of nine European countries.
- In 2020, he received a special award from the European Commission ‘Special Mention’ for his efforts in the field of responsible and inclusive entrepreneurship.
- For nine consecutive years, it has achieved above-average value added per employee; in 2020, the value added per employee was EUR 75,661, which is 1.6 times the Slovenian average.
- Young companies growing and hiring new employees
- At a time that is not easy for anyone, as we are faced with measures due to the Covid 19 virus, young companies from Primorsky Technology Park were able to adapt to the new conditions very quickly and efficiently, to survive on the market and even grow rapidly. Among them, five young companies, aged between two and seven years, have hired more than 30 new employees since the beginning of the epidemic.
In 2021, no less than four young companies, up to one year old, managed to obtain a total of 216,000 euros in investments from the Slovenian Enterprise Fund in a tough competition from all over Slovenia. Over the past seven years, seven companies that are now less than eight years old have received more than 2.5 million euros in investment money from various investors and funds from Slovenia and abroad, including the United States and Israel.
The vision of Primorska Technology Park 2025: internationalization
In the last five years, PTP has established more than 500 national and more than 50 international partnerships with sixteen different countries around the world, from the U.S. to Europe to the Middle East and China:
- USA: Genius Olympiad, New York and M-accelerator, Los Angeles,
- United Arab Emirates: AIM – Annual Investment Meeting,
- China: AIR maker and Tijanin Beichen Zhongguancun Kexin Industrial Park,
- Italy: Area Science Park, Elletra-Sincrotrone, College of Trieste, Vidmo, Venice,
- Austria: Graz College of Technology, Leoben College of Mining, Polimer Competence Center,
- Belgium: Startup Europe; etc.
- Partnerships are the basis for further work on international positioning.
The involvement of the Technology Park in international consortia made it possible to invest almost 1.2 million euros in grants from various EU funds in startup companies and the development of innovative entrepreneurship in the Goriška region. The increased recognition and involvement of Primorska Technology Park in the international environment will provide startup companies with even more opportunities to connect with the global environment, especially with foreign mentors, investors, venture capital funds, high-tech companies and business environments from abroad.
“Primorska Technology Park is a story of vision, strategy, team and success. In Goriška region, we have built one of the strongest centers for innovative entrepreneurship in Slovenia. By 2025, we want to become an entrepreneurial center that spreads its own knowledge and entrepreneurial methods beyond the country’s borders,” says M.Sc. Tanja Kožuh