Nova KBM

Nova KBM, the second largest Slovenian bank, is aware that young companies face many dillemas at the beginning of their entrepreneurial path. The bank is convinced that the companies don't need only modern, safe and economic support for funding their venture, but also quality information, advice and knowledge.
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City of Maribor supports PODIM

Maribor is perfectly positioned in the heart of the Alpe Adria region. Because jobs and revival of the economy are two of the key priorities of the Municipality of Maribor, the latter decided to significantly support individuals who possess the bravery and the knowledge to launch innovative start-up companies. At the same time, it will also support the PODIM Conference and the Start:up Maribor programme, both of which help these individuals on their path to success.
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ABC Accelerator

ABC is a Slovenian start-up accelerator based on a system of mentoring, connecting and global expansion. ABC is meant for start-ups and small companies, offering them seed capital, mentorship, business space, connections and global expansion. In exchange for the services offered, ABC obtains an 8 % company share.
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EIT Digital

EIT Digital is a leading European open innovation organisation. EIT Digital mission is to foster digital technology innovation and entrepreneurial talent for economic growth and quality of life in Europe.
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COINVEST

COINVEST is a platform connecting regional high-tech projects with the emerging innovative ecosystem. Its activities aim to develop an ecosystem that would help prospective projects obtain the necessary assets: capital, access to market, managerial skills.
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CEP & Slovenia's Development Cooperation,

CEP - Centre for European Perspective is a provider of development aid and cooperation of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia. The international development cooperation programme of the Republic of Slovenia has been included among Slovenia’s foreign policy priorities. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the national coordinator for international development cooperation. CEP is focusing its activities on the Western Balkan countries by building capacity of the EU candidate countries (Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia) and potential candidate countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo) on their way to EU. For this purpose, CEP organizes trainings, seminars, workshops, conferences at international and regional levels, roundtables and other forms of knowledge transfer in the field of security and economic development.
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SPIRIT Slovenia - Public Agency

Slovenian Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Development, Investment and Tourism Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia or SPIRIT Slovenia is one of the key agencies of MGRT. Under one umbrella agency, it unites the most important areas of the Slovenian economy: entrepreneurship, innovation, development, investment and tourism.
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CEED

CEED Slovenia is part of the international network of business centres CEED in 14 countries, uniting more than a thousand entrepreneurs. It organises various programmes for growing companies with global ambitions. Their programmes differ depending on the stage of company growth, which is why they are focusing mostly on knowledge and skills than an entrepreneur needs most at a certain stage.
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30Lean

Company 30Lean unites experienced experts who use lean start-up methodologies to help start-ups and larger companies develop market successful products.
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D·Labs

D-labs helps entrepreneurs, who are experienced in their own industry, fill competitive gaps in the field of developing digital products and a successful business model, designing an effective user experience, and agile development of web and mobile apps, consistent with the company’s business goals.
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Ustvarjalnik

Ustvarjalnik is an entrepreneurial incubator or, as we like to call it, an entrepreneurial sandbox. Everyone who is making their first steps on the path to becoming an entrepreneur is welcome here, regardless of their age. The main goal of Ustvarjalnik is to motivate as many young people as possible to give entrepreneurship a chance and we are here to help them succeed.
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KOLEKTOR

Kolektor with it's research and development competences, innovative ideas and technological solutions is one of the leading companies in the field of automotive systems and industrial technic on a global scale. In the future they want to become recognisable in the field of digitalization, corporate and social environment, using also the help of the start-up ecosystem.
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Pioneers Festival

Pioneers Festival is Europe’s major conference for tomorrow’s ideas, bringing together the smartest startups with corporates, media and investors eager to support the next big thing. More than 1,600 startups from 90+ countries applied to meet over 400 investors in the Hofburg Imperial Palace, Vienna. The Festival is limited to 2,500 participants who will learn from the best and get inspired by keynotes that will show what to expect in the years ahead. As a proud partner of the Pioneers Festival, the Initiative Start:up Slovenia ensures that Slovenian start-up companies and the Slovenian start-up system present a united front to festival participants.
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UK Trade & Investment (UKTI)

UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy. UKTI also help overseas companies bring their high-quality investment to the UK’s dynamic economy.
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PR Newswire

PR Newswire is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. PR Newswire provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content – from rich media to online video to multimedia – and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels.
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Finance Daily

Časnik Finance is part of the Swedish company Bonnier Business Press, which publishes business newspapers in 11 countries. The main brand of the Časnik Finance company is the Finance daily newspaper, which is the leading information source for the Slovenian business community. Business Daily Finance is also in charge of the Startaj.si project.
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Startaj.si

The Startaj.si portal is intended for everyone interested in entrepreneurship, education and career development. The portal is designed in a way that encourages as much collaboration as possible with all the players of the entrepreneurial and start-up ecosystem.
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Gazela

Gazelles are dynamic companies that grow quickly, develop rapidly and are always one step ahead of the competition. Gazela is a project of the Dnevnik newspaper company, where a special committee annually chooses ten companies in six regions from amongst 100 fastest growing companies. Winners from all regions compete for the golden, silver and bronze gazelle each year.
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Večer

Večer is one of the most important media in Slovenia, a national newspaper and the central daily newspaper of north-eastern Slovenia. It reports current events in Slovenia and the world, shares opinions, news and commentaries from all important fields of cultural life, such as politics, sports, culture, economy, finance, work and employment… It’s the newspaper with the biggest amount of local and regional news in Slovenia.
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Start:up Alpe Adria

The main objective of Start:up Alpe Adria programme is increase in quality and range of services and resources for talents and start-ups by developing a unique cross border globally recognizable start-up destination Alpe-Adria which will support and attract local and international stakeholders of the start-up ecosystem.
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Initiative Start:up Slovenia

The Initiative Start:up Slovenia unites the most important stakeholders of the Slovenian startup ecosystem. The leading partners are Venture Factory and Technology Park Ljubljana. Members of the Initiative and thereby PODIM Conference partners are: Primorska Technolgy Park, RCR Zasavje, Technology park of Pomurje and Savinja region incubator. PODIM partners are also associate members of the innovation support environment: SAŠA incubator, Entrepreneurship incubator of Spodnje Podravje and Club of young entrepreneurs from Novo Mesto.
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Our vision is for PODIM to become a lot more than just a conference where you can listen to incredible international speakers and shake hands with your business partners. We want PODIM Conference to be an intense two-day entrepreneurship event of all key stakeholders of the Alps-Adriatic startup ecosystem, one that we all eagerly await so that we truly combine powers once a year and, with joint e orts, show everyone the best that this part of the world has to o er to startups. We will strive to make an unforgettable two-day entrepreneurial experience for PODIM conference attendees by joining powers and collaborating with the entire ecosystem. This experience doesn’t only offer standard conference activities in its varied programme, but also additionally provides the opportunity for active networking during breaks, socialising with internationally renowned speakers, meeting investors, doing practical work on actual business cases and a lot of fun. A big thank you to everyone collaborating with us and welcome to the PODIM Conference 2016!
Matej Rus, MSc, co-founder and general manager of Venture Factory, senior lecturer of entrepreneurship at the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Maribor
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Slovenia, together with the Alps-Adriatic region, is becoming an increasingly more attractive and globally recognized environment for startups. The concentration of educated and motivated talent, an increasingly bigger o er of capital, a strong supportive environment, the meeting point of many European cultures, high life quality and many other factors contribute to the uniqueness and attractiveness of our startup ecosystem. The ecosystem is developing with lightning speed, and the hidden force of its development and success is collaboration. In the past few years, the Initiative Start:up Slovenia and the PODIM Conference strengthened considerably. The ecosystem was also enriched by the regional ABC accelerator and the strong investment conference Coinvest, then there is also Ustvarjalnik, encouraging entrepreneurship among high school students, the CEED Network, taking care of rapid company growth, the Startup Alpe-Adria platform, connecting the region, the Hekovnik startup school, Business Angels of Slovenia, venture capital funds, public products of startup nancing o ered by the Slovene Enterprise Fund and the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, and many other organizations and activities that are important components of the mosaic that is the entire ecosystem. We are happy to collaborate with all of them and will strive for even more active collaboration in the future.
Iztok Lesjak, Msc, General Manager of Technology Park Ljubljana
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KWF and Build!

The KWF is the only economic promotion institution of Austria's Province of Carinthia. The principal goals of KWF are the improvement in the innovation capability of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), internal and external corporate development and promotion of high-tech projects and clusters. They support Carinthian enterprises, especially SMEs in regard to their international competitiveness. When incentives are provided, special attention is given to companies that create qualified all-year jobs and contribute to the increase of exports. Providing venture capital is a substantial factor in the development of an appropriate capital market for innovative SMEs.

build! As part of the Austria-wide AplusB initiative, the academic business incubator build! serves as the initial point of contact for future entrepreneurs in the Alps-Adriatic region, who would like to realise their innovative and scalable business ideas in Carinthia.
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"Start-ups tend to develop much better, grow faster and create more jobs if they act within a dynamic Start-up Eco-System. In the last years the battle for talents and Start-ups has intensified on the global level and it has boosted the outflow of talents and Start-ups from the cross border areas of the Alps-Adriatic region into the more attractive Eco-Systems such as Silicon Valley, Boston, Berlin and London. It is not only rural areas that are affected by this outflow, but also larger urban areas. The key challenge of the cross border area is how to strengthen the quality of services of key stakeholders and players in the Eco-System and how cooperation between them could be created.   The main overall objective is an increase in quality and range of services and resources to support talents and Start-ups in the cross border region by developing a unique cross border, globally recognizable Start-up destination, a Start-up Alpe-Adria Eco-System. Our goal is to build a structured and sustainable programme considering partners expertise and extensive experience in development and implementation of support programmes for talents and Start-ups to attract them to join the Alps-Adriatic-region for their future life. We are engaged in the development of the formation of the Start-up Alpe-Adria Eco-System through an active role in the process design, where process quality and process continuity play an important role to stimulate the linking with the relevant stakeholders in the entrepreneurial environment. To support this, KWF is co-creating the Start-up Alpe-Adria platform." 
Dr. Erhard Juritsch, CEO, KWF - Carinthian Economic Promotion Fund
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"Being the largest startup-event in the trilateral region, the PODIM Conference serves as a perfect opportunity for startups to enhance and enlarge their international networks. PODIM creates important visibility for the trilateral startup community, conveying and promoting a positive image beyond the borders of the region. This is particularly important for attracting startups from outside the region, as well as retaining high potentials in the region."
Karin Ibovnik, Managing Director, Build!
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Friuli Innovazione

Friuli Innovazione is a research and technology transfer centre based in Udine (Italy). It was set up in 1999 by the University of Udine, the Industrial Association of Udine, the Province of Udine, the Fiat Research Centre, the Agemont, the Industrial Association of Pordenone and CRUP Foundation. The Center aims to facilitate and foster the collaboration between local enterprises and universities and research centers. It rules the enterprises incubator Techno Seed and the Science and Technology Park entitled to Luigi Danieli in Udine. The ideal space for turning ideas into projects and research into products.
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"Innovation occurs more easily when geographical concentration and proximity are present: innovation benefits from the economic activities of firms and their interaction with public institutions and research centres. The triple helix of university-industry-government is a well known analytical framework that synthesises these mutual relationships. Initiatives such as the PODIM widen the geographical and institutional horizon of the helix: we can say that in this way the triple helix doubles, joining the three fundamental innovation agents in three countries: Austria, Slovenia and Italy. This makes it possible to multiply the opportunities of entrepreneurship and technology transfer development. PODIM joins nearby but different experiences and cultures and helps to show the extraordinary cultural riches and innovation opportunities in this cross-border area."
Guido Nassimbeni, President of Friuli Innovazione
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Science park Graz

The Science Park Graz is a publically funded institution with the purpose of supporting and promoting new foundations of innovative, technology-orientated business in Graz and Styria.
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„For us as an incubator for high growth start-ups and research spin-offs, it is crucial to build up international networks for our incubees. The PODIM conference is a perfect place to step into an international start-up community based in the vibrant Alpe-Adria region.”
Bernhard Weber, Science Park Graz
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Slovene Enterprise Fund

The Slovene Enterprise Fund is the central national financial institution founded with the aim of making the sources of funds more accessible to small and medium-sized companies. Slovene Enterprise Fund is also the holder of key start-up products: P2, SK75 and SK200. It functions as an acting agency of Ministry of Economic Development and Technology.
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European commission

The European Commission represents the interests of the EU as a whole. It proposes new legislation and ensures that EU law is correctly applied by the member countries. The European Commission is also supporting entrepreneurship, SMEs and start-ups and their business environment with policy initiatives (e.g. Entrepreneurship Action Plan, Start-up Europe initiative, Accelerator Assembly etc.) as well as financial instruments (e.g. equity and debt financial instruments in COSME and Horizon 2020, Structural Funds and also new Investment Plan and its Fund EFSI).
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The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (CCIS) provides essential services for enterprises operating in Slovenia, and it is the ideal local partner for foreign investors. The CCIS was founded more than 160 years ago and now has around 9,000 member companies of all sizes and from all regions. It is a non-profit, non-governmental, independent business organization representing the interest of its members and is Slovenia's most influential business association. CCIS unites under its roof 25 branch associations representing all sectors of Slovenian Economy. CCIS operates a network of 13 regional chambers.
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University of Maribor

The transfer of knowledge and different forms of cooperation are the foundation for economic growth. At the University of Maribor, we are well aware of this fact, so the integration with the economy, flows of knowledge and information sharing are our key focus and mission. We work on developing human resources on the one hand and implementing quality development projects on the other.
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ERASMUS NET

ERASMUS NET project aims to help new entrepreneurs from Cantabria (Spain), Crete (Greece), South West Region in Ireland, Podravje (Slovenia), Centre (Portugal) and Lombardy (Italy) enriching their experience, deepening their knowledge and expanding their network by spending periods in enterprises managed by experienced entrepreneurs from other countries. The exchange of experience takes place during a stay with the experienced entrepreneur, which helps the new entrepreneur acquire the skills needed to run a small firm. The stay is partially funded by the European Union. Project is part of European exchange programme Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs.
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