Entrepreneurs, local and county authorities representatives, academia and business support organizations joined forces and developed four categories of recommendations on including digital transformation and DIGITRANS project results in regional strategic development. The workshop took place in Technology Innovation Centre Medjimurje ltd. (TICM) on 11th March 2019.

In the first part of the workshop participants were introduced to DIGITRANS project and its results and were given an overview of the existing development strategies on EU, national and regional level that are in any way connected to digital transformation. In the second part of the workshop, participants were divided in four groups with the goal of answering four questions about including digital transformation and DIGITRANS results in strategic planning on regional level.

Mr. Ivan Plačko, TICM's managing director, presented the project, its results  and  existing strategies connected to digital transformation on EU, national and regional level to the participants. Mr Vjeran Strahonja talked about what digital transformation is and how important it is to include it in economic development. He also mentioned some of the digital transformation politics and initiatives on EU level. Mr. Boris Kikelj, sector coordinator at Central State Office for Digital Society Development, talked about their work and the role they have in implementing the digital society development strategy.

The workshop was very productive, the participants in all four groups were active in sharing their opinion and giving a great number of good suggestions that will be used to form final recommendations. Some of the most imortant conclusions of the workshop are that it is neccessary to work on awareness raising about digital transformation and how important it is and this is to be achieved through active education on all levels. Also, it is of crucial importance to define concrete strategies for implementing digital transformation in business and society so that all the activity and initiatives from this area are based on the appropriate strategy. All the strategies should have achievable and measurable goals and objectives, and should regularly be updated so they are aligned with the real situation and needs. Further on, it would be good if end users – entrepreneurs,would initiate digital transformation strategy development, because they are on track with the latest business and market trends and are best aware of the needs they have.