The funds for the project to reconstruct and convert one of the halls of the former Torpedo factory into a Technological and Educational Entrepreneurial Incubator called ‘Torpedo Production Park’ were approved at the tender of the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, which, as an intermediate body, carried out the procedure for allocating EU funds. A total of 97.22 will be provided through European funds. % the value of the project, with the City of Rijeka investing an additional HRK 2.8 million in the preparation of documentation projects. The new business incubator, as part of the project, will round off the technological unit of modern 3D technologies in metal.
The Mayor of Rijeka Vojko Obersnel recalled that the space of hall 14 a few years ago the City of Rijeka bought together with utility companies Vodovod i kanalizacija and Čistoća for 17 million kuna, and the fact that more grants were received than space was paid, speaks about the justification of the invested funds.
‘The grants provided are a continuation of the successful policy of the City of Rijeka to withdraw funds from EU funds, from which as much as HRK 560 million has been approved for a total of 67 projects over the past three years. Additional, newly submitted projects are also expected to be approved, confirming Rijeka as the leader in withdrawing funds from European Union funds, "said Mayor Obersnel.
According to the director of the Rijeka Development Agency Porin Ernest Cukrov, the main objectives of the project are to support innovative start-up companies in the manufacturing sector and related activities, who want to develop products faster, more efficiently and more easily, then to establish new education programs, as well as commercial support, i.e. to enable small and medium-sized entrepreneurs from the Rijeka area easier access to high-quality services and improve their entrepreneurial results.
"Our ultimate goal is – after electric bicycles, motorcycles and cars, also to produce an electric motor, thus somehow restoring the old glory of the Torpedo factory," said Director Cukrov.
THE NEXT PICTURE OF THE HALA 14 BIOGRAPHYS TORPEDO
The obtained funds will reconstruct the existing industrial hall 14 with ground floor and gallery of 1,727 square meters, in which will be arranged 14 workshops and 2 offices for entrepreneurs, incubation teh-lab that will function as a coworking space for workshop works and equipment accommodation, conference hall and meeting room, while the central part of the hall will also be an exhibition space. The value of the works was estimated at HRK 7.97 million, while the most valuable part of the project is the purchase of equipment in the amount of HRK 13.25 million. There will be four 3D printers: 3D printer FDM (plastic), 3SD printer for sand, 3D printer DMLS (metal) large volume and 3D printer DMLS (metal) small volume, and scanner.
The project will last 18 months and the grant agreement is expected to be signed in October. Construction work on the premises should start by the end of the year, while the Torpedo Production Park could open its doors as early as the first half of next year.
Tina Ragužin from the Department of Entrepreneurship expressed her satisfaction that the European funds will regulate another Rijeka incubator and thus further expand the network to help entrepreneurs in the initial phase of the realization of their idea. Two decades ago, the City of Rijeka established two business incubators, in the meantime, equipment of a high technological level was procured with the aim of greater support for the work of start-up entrepreneurs, and in 2013 it opened its doors to Start up incubators in which the eighth generation of young people is provided with entrepreneurial infrastructure for the development of their business ideas.
PROJECT OF THE FUTURE ENTREPRENEURSHIP TORPEDO
