The first session of Croatia's newly set up national innovation council was held at the Economy Ministry on Friday, in the government's most recent effort to help in drawing EU funds for innovations and inventors.

The council was set up in July this year, and is tasked to coordinate the implementation of EU’s Smart Specialisation Platform (S3P) for the 2016-20 period, a programme intended to help EU member countries foster research and innovation.

Economy Minister, Darko Horvat, said that three sub-councils have already been set up – the innovation council in the industry sector, the national human resources council, and the national science and technology council.

He also said that these bodies are set to coordinate cooperation between several government ministries with the Economy Ministry, which has already succeeded in drawing approximately 800 million kuna from EU structural funds for the S3P strategy.

Horvat added that Croatia’s current government plans efforts to increase investment into Research and Development to 1.4 percent of the national GDP in 2019.

Science Minister, Blazenka Divjak, said it was the the national innovation council’s job to help Croatian entrepreneurs and innovators use the knowledge, technologies, and research developed abroad. The council is co-chaired by Divjak and Horvat.

Follow N1 via mobile apps for Android | iPhone/iPad | Windows| and social media on Twitter | Facebook.