(Editor’s note: This post on the new HISPACE acclerator is part of our Tech Tuesday series. Dispatches covers tech because so many of our highly skilled internationals are engineers and founders.)
I’ve written at length about how Croatia has transformed over the last decade or so. It has become the producer of the world’s fastest hypercar despite having no automotive industry. It transformed an overlooked eastern city called Osijek into a tech startup hub and the home of Gideon and Orqa. It turned an obscure town called Novska that nobody outside of the country had ever heard of into the country’s gaming centre. I could go on.
Now, Croatian startups have turned their attention to an engaging and rapidly emerging field – spacetech. It’s sometimes referred to as the “universe industry” and the name alone is a rather jarring reminder of just how far technology has come. The fact that there are Croatian companies engaged precisely in this field is also a surprise to almost everyone who hears about it.
A brand new Croatian startup accelerator is dedicating its time, resources and expertise precisely at the up and coming Croatian spacetech industry.
Meet HISPACE.
Croatia enters the space age
Bug.hr notes that the establishment of HISPACE and the already well known Infobip Startup Tribe marks a promising step forward for this incredibly interesting sector. In forming a singular unit, HISPACE opens the door for Croatian space startups to take their first tentative steps out onto the demanding global stage, offering them access to all sorts of helpful international support programmes, brand new tech and an entire network of investors. The ambition and aim that lies behind all of this is the strengthening and proper positioning of the spacetech sector and all such related innovation from Croatia on the global map.
It has to be noted that this hasn’t been without success, even in its early days. As a result of HISPACE, the Croatian spacetech industry has gained significant momentum through a strategic partnership between HISPACE and the aforementioned Infobip Startup Tribe, a global startup programme of one of Croatia’s leading tech companies. Infobip was born out of an idea in not Zagreb, but Vodnjan in Istria, and has since evolved into a massive global name.
The goal of this cooperation is to enable Croatian startups to take advantage of a network that Infobip has developed on a global scale, with access to world-class infrastructure, partners and capital.
Generating buzz
HISPACE recently presented its support for startups at the Infobip Shift developer conference held in the Dalmatian city of Zadar. Together with the startup NUOTWO, the Cleantech in space initiative was organised. The event was also hosted by Nucleus Aerospace, the first Croatian rocket startup to develop suborbital rockets. Nucleus Aerospace got some serious buzz after becoming a finalist at the European startup conference SLUSH’D Zagreb in its first year of existence. Having created panels that convert CO2 into oxygen, NUOTWO won an award at ZICER’s Startup Factory.
HISPACE President Bernard Ivezić pointed out that although Croatia is only at the beginning of building its space industry, plenty of local startups are already documenting encouraging results by testing out their products in space, as well as by launching the first Croatian satellite. Ivezić has stated that he believes properly coordinated and high quality cooperation is crucial to not only the further growth of the sector, but its positioning among global names in the larger market.
Through this cooperation between HISPACE and the Infobip Startup Tribe, startups engaged in the space industry from Croatia will receive support through participation in technological development and internationalisation programmes, access to global investors as well as individualised mentoring and networking.
Infobip Startup Tribe Manager Lucija Reić touched on the level of importance of innovation and what having a real partner network means, alongside their mission to support Croatian space startups not only with their own products, but also by connecting with international accelerators, investors and corporate partners such as Google and Goldman Sachs.
In just one year since its founding, HISPACE has become ESA’s partner for the popularisation of space, gathering over 40 members and organising the biggest space conference in the region. The programmes of this partnership include the development of educational content and the opening of new professional opportunities for those who want to build their careers in the space industry.
If Croatia’s rapid efforts and success in the automotive, drone, gaming, robotics and AI are anything to go by, I can almost guarantee that we will be seeing Croatian startups making waves within the global spacetech industry much sooner than we might think.
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Read more about Croatia here in Dispatches’ archives.
Lauren Simmonds
Lauren Simmonds is the editor of Total Croatia News, the largest English language portal in Croatia. She lives in Zagreb, Croatia, and is a translator, content writer, interpreter and the co-author of "Croatia - A Survival Kit for Foreigners," which was published in 2022.
