International Conference, 32nd in a row, taking place in Opatija, 25-29 May 2009;
Focus on ICT, electronics and microelectronics, delegates from 30 countries

The opening ceremony on 27 May was attended by dignitaries from the academic community, business, politics and education, among them Slobodan Uzelac, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia. The ceremony marked the official beginning of MIPRO 2009. During the ceremony Gordana Kovačević, president of Ericsson Nikola Tesla received from Vedran Mornar, president of MIPRO Association, a recognition charter for achievements in ICT, electronics and microelectronics development in Croatia; the charter was awarded on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the company Ericsson Nikola Tesla. Gordana Kovačević thanked for the recognition on behalf of all current and former employees, as Ericsson Nikola Tesla left a mark (on many things) in Croatia, in the region and in the global market over the six decades of their dedicated work. „We have always tried to reach the highest goals in terms of technology, business and strategy; regarding the high technology we have competed with the best,” she said. „The competition has never been an obstacle but a challenge that motivates us all to participate fervently and with professional curiosity in creating ICT trends and technologies to the benefit of all our stakeholders and the community. With MIPRO delegates Gordana Kovačević shared her vision of a future where the Croatian ICT industry as an industrial branch of strategic importance would create a competitive advantage in the regional and global markets. This vision includes a number of high quality ICT companies having strong research/development and other expert centers like Ericsson Nikola Tesla and competing on an equal footing with companies worldwide and co-creating global technology trends. To make this vision come true Croatia must have knowledge and specialists to create innovative products, solutions and services. The collaboration between scientific and educational community and business and also modern technology may be a driving force in the Croatian economy, disregarding the increasingly difficult market situation.

As the principal sponsor of this year's MIPRO, Vipnet has symbolically marked its 10th anniversary by demonstrating mobile TV reception using DVB-H technology so that mobile users in Rijeka and its surroundings received „live“ conference presentations. Mladen Pejković, CEO of Vipnet, gave a plenary lecture entitled "Mobile Communications Development in the Next Decade“ and presented the theoretic and scientific background and the latest technological achievements.

In December last year the European Council declared 2009 the Year of Creativity and Innovativeness; accordingly, creativity and innovativeness are hot topics in the conference program.

In addition to plenary and invited lectures (held by reputable Croatian and foreign specialists), the conference program also includes round table discussions dedicated to broadband access development strategy and the role of engineers. The round table entitled „Creativity and innovativeness as a foundation for comprehensive development of Croatia“ aroused great interest.

“The idea behind the Year of Creativity and Innovativeness declaration is to raise the awareness that creativity and innovativeness are important for personal, social and economic development, to promote good examples and to support educational and research efforts“, said Leo Budin, a member of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Science, who moderated the round table discussion. Among the keynote speakers was also Gordana Kovačević. She pointed out that innovation is key to success: it should be implemented in business models and an innovative culture should be created in the working environment. After several keynote speeches (delivered by distinguished guests) a lively discussion followed; it was concluded that views and thoughts presented during the discussion should be digested and summarized in a document to be sent to all relevant scientific institutions and governmental bodies in Croatia, to contribute to further debates over the subject and to possible quality changes when it comes to developing innovative thinking and creativity in the country.

Interdisciplinary activities of this largest and oldest ICT conference in this part of Europe take place in ten scientific and professional conference/ topic groups, with more than 300 presentations and reports. Participants are also offered three ICT training courses, attractive invited lectures and also an ICT and electronic equipment exposition with technical solutions and services presentations. The conference is also a gathering of people from various engineering and social domains and levels and thus enables an efficient exchange of knowledge and experience. MIPRO is among the top six international conferences organized in Croatia. Ericsson Nikola Tesla has participated in the conference for many years now; the presentations and reports given within the topic group „Telecommunications and information“ by company associates contribute to the high quality of the conference.

Communication Ericsson Nikola Tesla