The mayor of Osijek, Ivan Radić, together with his colleagues, contractors, and expert supervision, visited the works on the construction of the IT business center, the central building of the Osijek IT park. On that occasion, he expressed his satisfaction with what he saw and reported that the opening is expected in the middle of January next year. Synergistic effect – The building covers an area of 4,000 square meters and will have a modular conference hall with 305 seats that can be partitioned, 30 offices, a coworking space, an IT laboratory, a catering facility, and all other facilities that the Osijek IT community needs in order to continue to develop at the desired speed.

The value of the works is 8.5 million euros, of which 4.4 million euros are grants from the European Union funds - said the mayor, emphasizing that the City is a partner of the IT community of Osijek. - The IT community in Osijek currently employs around 1,500 people, and our goal is for smaller companies that are not strong enough to build their own facilities to come to this IT business building. This would achieve a synergistic effect from which these companies would become strong enough to build their facility and employ our fellow citizens. The IT scene in Osijek and the entire economy would also grow - he added. The mayor also pointed out that six of the nine parcels in the IT park have been leased, and the drafting of regulations for the lease of business offices in the central building of the park is underway. Ante Ćurić from the company Massa d.o.o. who is carrying out the works, said that everything is progressing according to the planned dynamics, but also that they still have a lot of work to do. - The most demanding construction is where we have another month of work. The space is quite high, and there is a lot of concrete work, which is the most difficult for us. After that comes the finishing works, although the facade, partition walls, and plaster are already largely done. So far, we are satisfied with how the works are progressing - said Ćurić.

The president of Osijek Software City, Mihael Tomić, pointed out that the IT park is a very important item for Osijek's IT sector, which has experienced a 50 percent growth in the past five years. Unique in the Republic of Croatia – In 2022, over 88 million euros of revenue was generated, of which 50 million came from abroad. The realized profit is 11 million euros. The number of 1,500 employees is only in the area of Osijek-Baranja County, not including craftsmen, freelancers, and many companies that do not have their headquarters in Osijek. With them, that figure exceeds 2,000 employed people - asserted Tomić, adding that this building is coming to them at the right time. - All these companies need to place their employees somewhere. In addition, the building will have excellent conditions for community development, with conference spaces, where various events and activities, workshops, and everything Osijek needs to have a solid scene can be organized. The number of companies is also growing, we are currently at over 280 in 2022, and I believe that this year will exceed 300. We will have companies gathered in one place, in one park. No one in Croatia has that, Osijek is unique in that respect - Tomić concluded.

Source: localni.vecernji.hr