President Milanović: Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture are Croatian Traditions and Should Persist as National Priorities

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović visited the University of Zagreb Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture where he attended a special session of the Faculty Council on the occasion of Faculty Day.

President Milanović stated in his address that the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture is a major academic institution, which absorbs funds from the budget as well as from European funds. “European money most frequently ends up where it is not as needed because they already have sufficient funds, but where it is necessary like here at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture it ends up in smaller amounts. This is because the system is such that everybody has to be content, and the most content are those who have founded it and who have the most, namely the big rich countries. The European Union wasn’t devised for the smaller and poorer states to catch up to those who are the keepers of secrets. That’s how things are and won’t change, but that is no reason for the best among us and among you not to be resolute and vocal with those you’re competing with”, the President said.

As regards mechanical engineering and naval architecture, he said it’s a tradition that has existed in Croatia for decades. “Technical culture, industry, mechanical engineering was on a high level here in the seventies and the eighties. Maybe not like in Germany or northern Italy, but Croatia in the former Yugoslavia was top-class. These were numerous Zagreb industries, shipyards, an integral part of this school, of this academic branch. At that time Croatian shipyards constructed ships by international public tenders for wealthy clients not because we were the least expensive but because you had the technology. Those are big things, a tradition and a seed that cannot be uprooted. Therefore we have to persist and fight for this, it’s in the national interest. This is where the difference is made, in the wealth and in the profits”, President Milanović noted.

“I commend this view of life and of work, you as the protagonists of this generation as well as those who preceded you and those I met today at the Regional Center of Excellence for Robotic Technology (CRTA), President Milanović said. Prior to the special session on the occasion of Faculty Day, he toured the Regional Center of Excellence for Robotic Technology, a reference center for research, development and education in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence on the territory of the Republic of Croatia. The project for the interior design, equipping and foundation of the CRTA was worth roughly 38 million HRK of which 37 million HRK was funded by the EU Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion.

The Centre’s activities are directed towards the research and development of advanced robotics applications in industry and medicine where traditional automatization and human labour have to be replaced by flexible, versatile and adaptive robotics systems. The Center integrates three laboratories: artificial intelligence, autonomous system and medical robotics, which President Milanović toured in the company of the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture Dubravko Majetić, and the Head of the Regional Center of Excellence for Robotic Technology Bojan Jerbić.

Also speaking at the Faculty Council’s special session in addition to President Milanović were the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture Dubravko Majetić, the Rector of the University of Zagreb Damir Boras, the Mayor of Zagreb Tomislav Tomašević and the State Secretary in the Ministry of Science and Education Ivica Šušak.

Alongside President Milanović at Faculty Day of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture were the Head of the Cabinet of the President Bartol Šimunić, the Adviser to the President for Education Jadranka Žarković, and the Special Adviser to the President for the Economy Velibor Mačkić.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan