Ericsson Nikola Tesla Opens Research and Development Center in Osijek

Today Ericsson Nikola Tesla opened new premises of the company’s Research and Development Center in Osijek, and thus, the company’s business research and development activities located in Zagreb and Split expanded also to Slavonija. The opening event gathered Andrej Plenković, Croatian Prime Minister, Darko Horvat, Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, Tomislav Ćorić, Phd, Minister of Environment and Energy, Gabrijela Žalac, Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds, Prof. Blaženka Divjak, PhD, Minister of Science and Education, Oleg Butković, Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, and Vlado Guberac, Rector of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek.

Gordana Kovačević, president of Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Croatian largest exporter of knowledge, Ivica Vrkić, Mayor of Osijek, and Ivan Anušić, County Prefect of Osijek-Baranja County welcomed numerous guests.

Gordana Kovačević pointed out that Ericsson Nikola Tesla, with its large Research and Development Center which employs 1400 out of total 3100 employees, significantly contributes to strategic goals of technological, economic and social sustainability. She highlighted that the company will continue its practice of annual investments of more than MHRK 400 in people and knowledge, and owing to this, people from Slavonija, together with their colleagues from Zagreb and Split will participate in the development of 4G and 5G mobile communications. Currently there are thirty, mostly young employees working in office in Osijek, and additional employment and expansion is planned. The dynamics of this process will depend on the availability of highly educated experts.

Gordana Kovačević also thanked numerous individuals and institutions on their cooperation, because without their support this success would not have been possible, and concluded: “Instead of young people leaving Slavonija and going into the world, the world is making a big entrance to Slavonija, and our ICT ambassadors will take care of that through their work, knowledge and devotion, because they are connected to all the countries and experts in global Ericsson. This is the best message we are sending out today.”

Prime Minister thanked Ericsson Nikola Tesla on opening a new research and development center in Osijek and stated that this is a powerful message for the future, and a guideline how, by using modern technologies, we can create good prerequisites for the development of Slavonija. We live in a digital age where technology is one of the drivers of the development of the entire society, and therefore it is important that the experts of this Research and Development Center will work on global development of the fifth generation of mobile technology.

He also reminded that the Government is strongly supporting digital transformation processes as important components of all structural reforms and expressed his satisfaction that support and contribution of ministries and public administration bodies on regional and local levels were recognized for such an important project.

He highlighted that in this way, much needed new job openings and high-value jobs are created, and better prospects for young people and their families are secured, and therefore based on this model, he expects more quality projects in the future.

A brief demo program followed, run by Darko Huljenić, PhD, Director of Ericsson Nikola Tesla research, who presented advanced technological solutions on which Croatian experts are working on and that will secure a higher level of mobile communications on a global scale.

After that the Prime Minister visited and talked to employees in the newly opened office, accompanied by Ericsson Nikola Tesla president. As expected, the event attracted a lot of media attention.

Ericsson Nikola Tesla Communications