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The role of the Croatian IT Association in implementing Digital Agenda 2020

After the “Lisbon Agenda 2000”, the European Union passed a new agenda titled “Digital Agenda for Europe 2020” urging the member countries to achieve earlier defined goals in order to provide the conditions for their joining with the developed countries: USA, Japan, South Korea and others. One could say that Digital Agenda 2020 is the second half time of Lisbon Agenda focusing on more concrete goals and activities with defined terms of implementation for member countries.

Croatia is just to join the European Union, in June this year the negotiations for joining the European Union were finished, and in July 2013 Croatia will become a full member of the European Union, so the decisions defined by the Digital Agenda will become the obligation for our country as well.
The Croatian Government has been making the activities contained in the Digital Agenda for many years, but the economic crisis present in the country still affects the realization of planned activities.
The Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia is responsible for the implementation of the Digital Agenda.

Croatian IT Association (CITA) is the umbrella organisation of Croatian ICT experts founded in 1975, ever since it has been acting continuously with the goal to create the conditions for faster and more efficient introduction and application of ICT.

The participation of the representatives of the Croatian IT Association at the Second Regional Conference IT STAR 2002 in Slovenia, the acceptance in CEPIS and IFIP, and the organisation of ITSTAR meeting in Croatia in 2003 represent the beginning of Croatian IT Association being included into the work of international ICT organisations, which has significantly contributed to transfer of new skills in Croatia, the exchange of experiences, and have made Croatia more prepared for the transition into information society.

Croatian IT Association participates in the work of ITSTAR, CEPIS, IFIP, ECDL, EUCIP and participates in the programs of the European Union.
Apart from many significant activities at the top level of CITA, there are several organisations, experts and users of ICT active within the scope of Association aiming to introduce and apply ICT technology more quickly and more effectively, and to open the opportunities of the exchange of skills and experiences, as:Open computer systems and Internet, Oracle technologies, Young informaticians, Linux technologies, GIS technologies, SAP solutions and Health.

Croatian Information Technology Association participates in many activities contained in the Digital Agenda, as the following:
A vibrant digital single market The members of Croatian IT Association have initiated the Strategies of electronic business activities and have participated in the application of e-business in the Republic Croatia for the period 2007 – 2010.

Together with IT STAR, in November 2010,CITAorganised in Zagreb the international conference on electronic business with the intention to provide the exchange of experience in the achieved level of e-business and with regard to the problems of application, and equal development of e-business in the region, especially in the countries involved mostly with Croatia in the foreign trade activities.
The representative of state administration, economy, universities and IT sectors from 11 countries participated at the conference.
According to the opinion of the participants, the conference was evaluated as one of the most successful in the region concerning the topic of e-business.

In order to provide conditions for quicker development of e-business in the region with the information literacy being on of essential presumption, in 2007 we organised the first annual regional ECDL conference, next year they were held in Slovenia, then Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We expect that his year conference will be held in Kosovo.

CITA has initiated the activities under the title “e-business for competitive Croatia” for the purpose of accelerating the application of e-business in the country, which was supported by the President of the Republic of Croatia, Dr. Sc. Ivo Josipović, the prime minister Mrs. Jadranka Kosor, and the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship, the Croatian Employment Institute and the Central State Administration Office for e-Croatia.

The most important part of this activity is the organisation of round tables in all county chambers of Croatia with the participation of the representative of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, the Croatian Employment Institute, of the administrative departments for educating system in counties and cities, of economy, media and others that we found competent to give contribution in the success of these activities.
The goal of the activity is to achieve the conditions for the continuation of the existing and initiating new programs of IT literacy and e-business.
Interoperability and standards .

Croatian Association of Open Systems and Internet (HrOpen), the member of CITA, was founded in 1992 in order to promote and encourage the development of open systems and Internet in Croatia.
HrOpen presents the applicability of the open code program, emphasizing the importance of developing the information standards. It helps the institutions and firms to transfer into the open programme support, educates present and future user of open code systems and deals with the improvement of IT profession and the establishment of information society.

HrOpen became in 2010 the member of the OpenForum Europe (OFE) with the residence in Bruxelles, Belgium. They both want to support open standards within public and business sector in Europe. HrOpen thus get the possibility to participate in the activities of OFE, to have access to OFE partner institutions and offices.
The members of CITA participate in the adjustment to European norms for e-business.
Trust and security The Association of Open Systems promotes also Internet and net services, and encourages the trust of the citizens in secure net business.
Enhancing digital literacy, skills and inclusion CITA has the licence for carrying out the certification users of personal computer according to ECDL standards and European Certification of Informatics Professional – EUCIP.

The government of the Republic of Croatia has accepted in 2004 ECDL as a standard in schools and state administration. So far, more than 20.000 teachers in primary and secondary schools, and more than 5000 employees in state administration have this certificate to work on such jobs.

In 2006 there was ECDL Forum held in Dubrovnik with the representatives of 140 countries that apply ECDL, giving full credit to CITA for successful application of ECDL in Croatia.

Croatian IT Association has been working successfully on ECDL program since 2003 in Croatia. More than 55.000 employees, citizens, unemployed, persons with special needs and others have been working so far within the scope of some of the programs, with 47.000 of them having certificates to do so.
In order to encourage the application of ECDL, we entered into the agreement with the largest WEB portal of supply and demand of labour force in Croatia, «Mojposao» (My job), www.mojposao.net. When defining the employment conditions, employers prefer the candidates having ECDL Start certificate and the candidates need to mention in their Curriculum Vitae whether they have ECDL (Start, Basic, Advanced or Expert). So far more than 80% of employers have given priority to the candidates with ECDL certificate.

Together with the test centres in Croatia we organised the action titled «With ECDL for more competitive Croatia» in order to include as many employees as possible, especially in economy and state administration offering significantly more convenient financial conditions for the education and certification of candidates, and 40% lower prices in comparison with earlier conditions.

It is well known that there is no e-business without digital literacy, so we have initiated together with the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship, the Croatian Chamber of Economy, and the National Unemployment office, a large promotion action under the title «e-business for more competitive Croatia» including into it our earlier initiated activity «With ECDL from more competitive Croatia».

The aim of the programme is to make the economic enterprises, especially the smaller and medium ones, the state administration, schools and the unemployed more interested in the advantages of using e-business and ECDL.

We started with this action in all counties (20 counties) by organising presentations and round table discussions with the topic of «e-business and ECDL». We invite the directors of companies, especially SME-s, then the representatives of local offices of the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship, county chambers, local offices of the National Unemployment office, the directors of primary and secondary schools, and others, in order to continue the initiated ECDL programmes that were interrupted by the economic crisis, and to initiate new programmes with the possibility of finding financial means for the education and certification of candidates.

The Croatian Association of Young Informaticians (HSIN) gather ever since its foundation in 1993 several thousands of those who are interested in using IT technologies, it organises the Olympics of the young people in Croatia. The members of the Association participate at the Olympics in the Balkans, Central Europe and International Olympics. In addition, it also organized the International IT Olympics for the Young People in Zagreb in 2008. The members of the Association are the winners of golden medals at many Olympics of the Young People in the world.
This year the members of the Association achieved excellent results at the World Olympics and in Thailand, achieving the best results in Europe and the second place in the world.

Apart from these activities, CITA works on many other activities. It is especially important there are also many young interested people being active in CITA apart from legal persons who are interested to encourage the development and improvement of the application of ICT and information science fighting to achieve professional attitude, status and the quality of the profession, protecting the image and interests, and developing the professional ethics, supporting optimal application of ICT and information science, connecting with international organisations, organising professional and scientific gatherings and encouraging the publishing activity.

Marijan Frkovic
Croatian IT Association
President
National ECDL Coordinator

Croatian Information Technology Association (CITA) (www.hiz.hr), is the umbrella organisation of Croatian ICT experts founded in 1975, ever since it has been acting continuously with the goal to create the conditions for faster and more efficient introduction and application of ICT:

• by advocating the status and the quality of profession
• by initiating and implementing the projects of mutual interest
• by promoting and using open systems
• by encouraging and organising the participation of the young in ICT
• by exchanging skills and experiences in using ICT
• by organising professional gatherings

CITA participates in the work of international ICT associations of informatics experts; regional, ITSTAR (www.starbus.org), European, CEPIS (www.cepis.org) and the world, IFIP (www.ifip.org).

The organisations ECDL Croatia and EUCIP Croatia are active within CITA.
CITA has got the licence for carrying out the certification users of personal computer according to ECDL standards (www.ecdl.com) and (www.ecdl.hr), and the certification of professional ICT experts (www.eucip.com) and (www.eucip.hr) in Croatia.
CITA participates in the programs of the European Union.

The members of CITA are included into implementation of the National ICT strategy, especially The strategy of electronically business in the Republic of Croatia for the period between 2007 – 2010.

There are more than 200 legal entities active in CITA, and a few thousand of individuals.

Last year CITA was celebrated the 35th anniversary of its continuous activity. There were a few occasional manifestations and conferences organised on the level of the umbrella organisation and its associations marking the anniversary. One of the more significant is the international gathering of the member countries of IT STAR within the frame of which there were a regional conference on electronically conducted business held in Zagreb on 12. November 2010, where it was opportunity to exchange experiences in achieved level of application and with problems referring to the introduction of electronically conducted business in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (http://www.starbus.org/ws5/ws5.htm).

There are several organisations, experts and users of ICT active within the scope of CITA aiming to introduce and apply ICT technology more quickly and more effectively, and to open the opportunities of the exchange of skills and experiences, as e.g.:

• Open computer systems and Internet
• Oracle technologies
• Young informaticians
• Linux technologies
• GIS technologies
• SAP solutions
• ECDL test centres

Croatian Society for Open Systems and Internet (HrOpen) was founded in 1992 with the intention to promote the development and advancement in applying these systems in the Republic of Croatia (RH), which is being implemented by organising seminars, lectures and workshops, by establishing the collaboration with the experts and associations for open systems and Internet in Croatia and abroad, by encouraging the usage of program support in the field of Open Source and Free Software.

One of the most important activities of the Society is the annual conference «Open Systems Days» (DORS) organised for the purpose of informing people about open systems, their usage, the experiences of users and problems in application.
It should be also added that HrOpen participates in training activities for teachers of primary and secondary schools to use open systems, and it is also very active in technical committees of the Croatian Institute for Standardization in the field of open systems, introducing and applying international standards.

Croatian ORACLE User Group (HrOUG) has been active ever since 1995 working on the exchange of skills and experiences of users in the application of ORACLE technologies, and on the improvement of the relationship between the users and ORACLE Corporation.

The annual conference of Oracle users needs to be specially pointed out with several hundred of participants with goal to make people acquainted with the new Oracle products and present the new solutions for users, with the existing problems, the talks with the representatives of Oracle organisation, etc.

Croatian Society of Young Informaticians (HrSIN) was founded in 1985 with an intention to organise the work of young informaticians, to carry out the program of works and to provide help to members, organise district and state competitions, winter schools and summer camps for informaticians, preparations and participations of young informaticians at international competitions, information schools and manifestations, and organising the competitions for software works of young informaticians and their presentation.

There are several thousand young people being active in HrSIN and the best of them participate successfully at state, regional, European and world Olympiads in informatics for young people, where they have won more than 100 medals.
HrSIN organised successfully in 2007 the World Olympiad in Informatics in Zagreb, and this year they won one gold and three Olympic medals.

Croatian Linux Users Group (HULK) was founded in 1966 in order to promote the operational system Linux, to advise and inform the members about new achievements in open standards and technologies, to help those who are interested how to use Linux, to organise the program of translating well known open programs and system, to collaborate with other societies, as HrOpen, and others.

HULK maintains the Central Linux portal in Croatia (www.linux.hr), organises central Linux conference (cluc.linux.hr), adjusts Linux to the users in Croatia, and generates open code programs.

Croatian Society of Geographic IS (HrGIS) was founded in 1994 in order to make GIS technologies popular and organise education in GIS, to promote the production of national GIS standards, to participate at European projects and programs, to organise professional presentations at Croatian and international gatherings, to raise the level of skills in the field of GIS technologies at the faculties and vocational schools, to collect and distribute the publications and professional works in GIS.

HrGIS organises successfully annual conferences titled „GIS Odyssey“ where GIS works are presented, professional exhibitions and manifestations held.
In collaboration with the embassy of the Republic Poland in Zagreb the exhibition «New and Old Polish Maps» was held in Zagreb last year, and the this year the exhibition with the same topic will be held in Poland, this time with Croatian maps.

In collaboration with the State Geodetic Agency from Zagreb and the one from Warsaw, the work on the project of producing maps and plans for blind and low vision people is being continued.

Croatian Society of SAP users (HrUSKO) organises mutual communication of users with the firm SAP and helps in exchanging the information among the members, organises professional conferences for the users of SAP tool and databases, represents the interest of the members in publication of their new products, organises a demo centre of new program products, as well as the teams for testing beta versions, organises mutual performance of the members at Croatian and international fairs, exhibitions, conferences.

Croatian Society of ECDL test centres (HrECDL) unites the activity of test centres in Croatia dealing with the problems of introducing and applying ECDL in Croatia, the introduction of new versions of ECDL programs, publishing literature, ECDL marketing, and delivering the conclusions and suggestions to ECDL Croatia.

CITA has been working successfully on ECDL program since 2003 in Croatia. More than 53.000 employees, citizens, unemployed, persons with special needs and others have been working so far within the scope of some of the programs, with 48.000 of them having certificates to do so.

The government of the Republic of Croatia has accepted ECDL as a standard in schools and state administration. So far more than 20.000 teachers in primary and secondary schools, and more than 2000 employees in state administration have got a certificate to work on such jobs.

In 2006 there was 10. World Conference held in Dubrovnik with the representatives of 140 countries participating who apply ECDL, giving thus full credit to CITA for successful application of ECDL in Croatia.

In order to provide conditions for quicker development of electronic business in the region with the information literacy being one of essential presumption, CITA organised in 2007 in Croatia the first annual ECDL conference, and the next were held in Slovenia and Serbia after that. Last year it was organised in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The participation of the representatives of CITA at the Second Regional Conference IT STAR 2002 in Slovenia, the acceptance in CEPIS and IFIP, and the organisation of ITSTAR in Croatia in 2003 present the beginning of CITA being included into the work of international ICT organisation, which has significantly contributed to the acquisition and transfer of new skills in Croatia, the exchange of experiences, and have made Croatia more prepared for the transition into information society.

Marijan Frković, M.Sc; president of CITA and National ECDL coordinator

HIZ (C)