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.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

Ministry of economic development and technology

For the next period the vision of the Ministry is to support the further strengthening of international competitiveness of the Slovenian enterprises and an offensive restructuring of the Slovenian economy so that it becomes more adjusted to the demands of the global economy.
 > Visit site

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).
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

Triglav Group

The Triglav Group is the leading insurance-financial group in Slovenia, in the Adria region and one of the leading groups in South-East Europe. It is presented in seven markets and six countries. The Group builds its reputation on knowledge, experience, trust and excellent attitude towards its clients, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders.
 > Visit site

Iskratel

Iskratel is the leading European provider of infocommunications solutions, with 70 years of experience, EU-based R&D and manufacturing facilities, and presence in over 30 countries. We combine experience and know-how with creativity and innovation. We leverage ICT expertise in delivering integrated solutions across Telco, Transport, Public Safety and Energy industries.
 > Visit site

Telekom Slovenije

Telekom Slovenije is a comprehensive ICT service provider in Slovenia. It is recognised as the leader in the introduction and connection of new generations of mobile and fixed communication services, system integration and cloud computing services and multimedia content.
 > Visit site

Pošta Slovenije

Pošta Slovenije is a successful company owned by the government of Slovenia. It is the largest provider of post services and one of the largest providers of courier and IT services. The Group Pošta Slovenije with its 6.111 employees is responding successfully to the changes in the markets, by offering new technologically advanced services and at the same time establishing itself as the most important provider of post and connected financial and logistical services in Slovenia and the Alps-Danube-Adria region as well as an important provider of IT services for public administration, business and citizens.
 > Visit site

Nova KBM

Nova KBM is a universal bank with the longest, more than 150-year Slovenian banking tradition. The owners of the bank are renowned international company Apollo, a global operator of investments, and the European Bank for reconstruction and Development. With new owners came a new and ambitious vision - to become the leading bank in Slovenia. Nova KBM has for many years been actively involved with the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, in part as a general sponsor of the PODIM conference. In the period of digitalization, it is becoming more aware of the meaning of partnering with startups.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

Up to eleven

As a Company Builder for Mobile Startups, Up to Eleven takes proven online business models to the next level. The Graz-based powerhouse for startups provides seed stage funding for the growth of its ventures, takes care of ongoing administrative tasks by UT11 experts in Finance, HR and Legal and helps incubated startups to internationalize their business. In the Corporate Company Builder, UT11 creates fast-growing joint ventures and spin-offs with successful corporations in the field of mobile and digital.
 > Visit site

I feel Slovenia - Green, Creative, Smart

Green economy is an opportunity for the development of new technologies and services, green jobs, more efficient management of natural resources and the Slovenian know-how, as well as an opportunity for economic growth and improvement in international competitiveness while also reducing the environmental risks, which adversely affect the quality of life and well-being in people.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

CorpoHub

CorpoHub creates and manages internal innovation/startup programs for big organizations. From ideation workshops and hackathons through innovation sprints to agile transformation of teams. Obsessed by speed and effectiveness of your innovation.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

Red Orbit

Red Orbit assists companies with positioning of their brands on the internet and thus enables them to achieve better results with lower costs. In this way their partners attract a higher number of active buyers, establish their brand and enlarge advantages in regards to their competitors. Company provides their customers an opportunity to place them on the first page of search engines and reduce the cost of internet marketing up to 50 %. Red Orbit changes the website into market tool which brings benefits. The partnership with Red Orbit provides more saleable contacts, a higher reputation and orientation towards the buyers.
 > Visit site

INTRA

INTRA project focuses on the role of public authorities in creating internationalization services to support the competitiveness of the regional economies and thus contribute to the Europe 2020 strategy. Obiščite stran
 > Visit site

U.S. Embassy Ljubljana

PODIM 2017 conference program was funded, in part, through a U.S. Embassy grant. The opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the Authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of State.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

Sinhro

Sinhro’s philosophy is “Mobile first”. We know that more than 50% of consumers in the developed world access information with their mobile devices. We help our customers, business and individuals alike, to create digital strategies, define communication channels, develop strong communication storylines, activate different digital advertising channels and optimize user experience. Sinhro enables you to be on a front line when building your digital image and presence in the mobile world.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

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.
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
 > Visit site

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
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

"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
 > Visit site

"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!
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

"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
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

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.
 > Visit site

The Government Office for Slovenes Abroad

The Government Office for Slovenes Abroad carries out tasks related to the Slovene minority in neighbouring countries and Slovene emigrants around the world. The Office maintains constant contact with Slovene minority and emigrant organisations promoting their cultural, educational, economic and other relations with the home country and organizing conferences, seminars, tenders, etc. By means of public tenders, the Office ensures the close collaboration and financial support of the Republic of Slovenia for programmes and projects involving Slovenes in neighbouring countries and abroad. The Office is also responsible for monitoring and cooperation with Slovenes outside the Republic of Slovenia.
 > Visit site