It has been growing in the lush valley of the Drava river for seven centuries and has grown to the number of over 33000 citizens. Koprivnica is situated at a strategic location – on the slopes of Bilogora and Kalnik from the south and river Drava from the north. Its position enabled it to develop numerous functions for the wider area such as trade, crafts and administration and in the 13th century, Koprivnica became a town settlement.
Its industrial growth is steady and its progress is based on production of food, beer, pharmaceuticals as well as wood and paper processing. Favorable climate conditions and flat landscape as well as local government's sustainable development policies have earned us more recently the nickname: Town of bicycles.
Koprivnica has a favorable geographical position, offering incentives, present industry and available skilled workforce which presents attractive location for investment. Compared with other regions of the Republic of Croatia, the City of Koprivnica can offer better infrastructure zones, lower overall operating costs, better education, strong support from the local authorities and a clean environment.
In 2014 Koprivnica has opened its regional university together with Varaždin. The University of North offers degree programs consistent with the mission and vision of institutions of Koprivnica and Varaždin .The mission of the University is the training of competent professional staff for the needs of the real economy and the health system in the region of northwestern Croatian through cooperation of following professional and graduate studies; electrical engineering multimedia, design and implementation, production engineering, construction, technical and economic logistics, biomedical sciences, journalism, media design, business and management in the media business economics, communication science and public relations.
For Koprivnica is very important development of the food giant Podravka. Koprivnica is therefore recognizable by the Croatian, and the world’s brands. Seasoning Vegeta is very recognized on all continents, and there are other brands, such as soups, baby food, Dolcela and others. Koprivnica is also the home to several multinational companies such as Belupo, the second-largest Croatian pharmaceutical company, “Danica” Ltd., company for production, sales and distribution of meat and meat products and “Carlsberg Croatia”, international beverage company.
Food and beverage processing industries contribute by over 50% to County profits and employ by far the largest number of people.
Other relevant industrial sectors in Koprivnica are the paper and wood processing (Hartman), pharmaceuticals and steel manufacturing/processing industry, as well as trade, other tertiary services and construction.
Entrepreneurs starting business in either of Koprivnica business zones are offered numerous financial and tax benefits. The new goal of the City government is to provide investors with a building permit within 60 days. Additional incentives include a partial exemption from paying the municipal company tax as well as municipal utility contribution.
Koprivnica has an array of dynamic businesses that is export-oriented and offers skillful workforce, and takes pride in the fact that University North Koprivnica has tailor-made education programmes depending on investor’s needs.
Business incubator offers its services on the market for the SME's. For start-ups requiring capital, the incubator helps in acquiring basic capital via start-up funds, EU or state grants when available, or cheap loans. Within business incubator, start-ups receive quality business space starting from 0,15 € per month + utilities.
Projects and Initiatives
CIVITAS DYN@MO
CIVITAS DYN @MO is the largest and most demanding project in which the City of Koprivnica participates as a partner. The project is funded by FP7 - 7th Framework Programme of the European Union which aims to boost scientific research and development in the competitiveness of the local economy.
It focuses on the development of the most effective measures of traffic sustainability based on electromobility and planning of sustainable urban transport, and it was approved as part of the CIVITAS initiative of the cycle CIVITAS II (2012-2015). The project will be implemented in four cities: Aachen, Palma de Mallorca, Gdynia and Koprivnica. The project is worth around 13.1 million euros, with the contribution of the European Union of EUR 8.5 million. The budget of the City of Koprivnica is 920.000,00 euros, with a contribution from the EU 556,221.00 euros.
QUEST, CH4LLENGE and ADVANCE
City of Koprivnica is implementing a number of projects and initiatives for modern traffic planning with the aim to reduce car use such as QUEST and CH4LLENGE and to improve the quality of urban transport and development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan. Project MOBILE 2020 aims to improve regional and national transport legislative related to sustainable transport, especially cycling. Besides that evaluation procedure of Sustainable urban mobility plan has been foreseen by the project ADVANCE. Cyclelogistics focuses on increasing the number of trips where the bike is used as a means to transport cargo.
Funded under IEE and SEE programmes
Active Access
Results:
- higher number of cyclists and pedestrians in traffic
- intensive promotion of benefits of sustainable transport
- citizens are motivated to use bicycles for work, school, shopping or for recreation purposes
ENCRO - Promoting and Testing Soft Measures for Energy Saving in Croatia
Results: guidelines, workshops and education of children aimed at raising awareness of their parents about the energy saving measures and possibilities in their homes
Useful links
http://koprivnica.hr/en/projekti-grada/inovativno-financiranje-za-lokalna-odrziva-energetska-rjesenja/
http://www.intense-energy.eu/hr/
http://www.koprivnica.hr/user_content/documents/akcijski_plan_odrzivog_energetskog_razvitka_seap.pdf