University of Primorska Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies
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Wednesday, 24 January 2024 CAPTURING THE DIGITAL FUTURE WITH SRC-EDIH

A press conference was held today at the Pretoria Palace in Koper, where speakers presented the services and personal experiences offered by the European Digital Innovation Hub SRC-EDIH project to companies and public institutions for the purpose of digitising their own work. The companies and public institutions involved in the project will receive an assessment of their existing digital developments, as well as the skills and services to use digital technologies to improve their business and production processes, products or services in the future.

Today, digital transformation is a necessary part of doing business successfully and achieving competitiveness, both in business and in the public sector. The transformation of business to digital environments requires the introduction of new technologies, changes in business processes, as well as in the culture and mindset of employees within organisations.

To support businesses and the public sector in making the change towards digital performance, the European Union has established the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) network, which includes 151 hubs in 31 EU countries, and the SRC-EDIH is one of two in Slovenia. The University of Primorska's Centre for Knowledge Development and Transfer, with its researchers from the Faculty of Management and the Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, is one of the main project partners in Slovenia. The coordinator of the SRC-EDIH project in Slovenia is the Development Centre Novo mesto.

Over the next two years, SRC-EDIH will support over 100 organisations and more than 1000 employees in acquiring digital skills and competences in Slovenia. All organisations and institutions involved in the project will have access to technical and professional knowledge, over 100 different training courses and access to 11 test environments to test advanced digital technologies before investing in them. Funding advice services and access to the innovation ecosystem are also available. All project services are 80-100% subsidised.

SRC-EDIH in Slovenia consists of a consortium of 16 partner organisations and their experts, who will use their knowledge and experience in various digital technologies to promote the digital transformation of organisations in Slovenia in the coming years. The consortium is made up of the following regional development agencies, colleges and universities, municipalities, chambers of commerce and industry, and various interest groups:

  • Novo mesto Development Centre
  • Novo mesto Municipality
  • Faculty of Industrial Engineering Novo mesto
  • Faculty of Information Studies Novo mesto
  • Municipality of Ajdovščina
  • University of Primorska
  • Chamber of Commerce of Dolenjska and Bela krajina
  • Faculty of Applied Social Studies in Nova Gorica
  • Development and Information Centre Bela krajina
  • Koofr, d. o. o.
  • CadCam Lab, d. o. o. o.
  • University of Nova Gorica
  • Mikrografija, d. o. o.
  • Development Agency ROD Ajdovščina
  • Association of Employers of Slovenia
  • Association of Regional Development Agencies GIZ

The work of the Hub is supported by both the European Commission and the Ministry of Digital Transformation, which co-finance the SRC-EDIH project.

The Rector of the University of Primorska, Prof. Dr. Klavdija Kutnar, in her opening address highlighted the importance of the SRC-EDIH project for the University of Primorska and its integration into the broader social environment in the municipality, region and country.

"The SRC-EDIH project is one of the most important strategic projects for the University of Primorska in the current development period. The Republic of Slovenia has set itself the goal of being among the ten best performing EU countries as measured by the European Innovation Index. Although there has been improvement in recent years, we are still among the moderate innovators. In order to successfully realise this national strategic objective, it is important to implement measures to raise the value of individual indicators in the European Innovation Index. Among them, many address digitisation and the use of information technologies in society. We are convinced that the Republic of Slovenia, also with the help of the SRC-EDIH project, will significantly improve the above-mentioned European Innovation Index The SRC-EDIH project thus represents one of the key projects for the University of Primorska, through which the University carries out its social mission in the local and wider environment," emphasised the Rector of the University of Primorska.

Franci Bratkovič, Director of the Novo mesto Development Centre, stressed the necessity of digitisation of organisations for their future success and competitiveness. "It is rational and necessary to use the opportunities of the Hub, as it offers comprehensive support in learning about and implementing digital technologies. The first step of the digital transformation process with SRC-EDIH is to conduct a digital maturity assessment of your organisation, based on which the next steps of your digital transformation will be determined. These steps are usually the acquisition of digital competences, the testing of technologies and their subsequent integration, and the search for financial resources and partners to carry out the integration. All these steps can be carried out with the support of our Hub. Close cooperation and support from the European Commission and the Ministry of Digital Transformation are key drivers for our success and the realisation of Slovenia's digital transformation vision. While the project ends in September 2025, we expect that, based on the good results and the needs in society, the cooperation will continue beyond the end of the project," he explained. 

"As a rule of thumb, if you don't know where you are, you don't know where you are going. That we want and need to move towards ever more digitalisation is clear. And that digital transformation is going in the right direction and in the right way is a good thing, including the fact that we are comparing ourselves with others. All these are the guiding principles of the Municipality of Koper in the digital transformation of its operations," said Andrej Erzetič.

Marko Krnec, CEO of K2PACK, which is already actively involved in the SRC-EDIH project, summarised his experience of the project so far in the following assessment

"We decided to participate in the project because we have just completed our first investment in digital tools in 2023, which was co-funded by the P4D call. We wanted to see where we are strong and where we still need to work. We also wanted to see how our digital maturity compares to other companies in Slovenia and Europe. Our previous participation in the project has also helped us significantly in our change of internal work organisation, when we gave digital development an extra work boost and recruited a new person for the purpose of this work in the company," says the CEO of K2PACK.