Co-working entails sole-proprietors and other professionals sharing working premises. The production hall of the Mladinska knjiga publishing house measuring 1,600 square metres, which was once one of the largest printing facilities in south-east Europe, is an exciting example of this trend. The City of Design was created in it, providing areas for co-working where 66 people can hire work desks at, as well as 20 studios.
The co-working joint premises, operated by the Big Institute directed by Zmago Novak, are only part of the City of Design, which offers possibilities for co-creating and serves as an urban camp for socialising, creating, and exchanging skills, knowledge and services. The shared office concept, a type of co-working, was introduced in 2011 by the Young Entrepreneur Institute, which in its office at its current location combines several entrepreneurs and a few occasional clients. To join products of Kickstarter companies under one roof, Nejc Leskovar and Klemen Smrtnik from the Desnahemisfera design studio and the Woodstock team, hired business premises on the promenade Čop Street in Ljubljana, where the brands and projects of promising start-ups are combined under the title, Brands of Friends.
Numerous start-up programmes
The Initiative Start:up Slovenia was established to enhance and form national programmes for promotion of entrepreneurship and to provide a network of comprehensive support for launching and establishing start-up companies in Slovenia. The holders of the initiative, Venture Factory and Technology Park Ljubljana, and their strategic partners, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia and Coinvest, manage its development. To support business ideas of students, the Ljubljana University Incubator was developed within the framework of which a start-up camp programme or an accelerator was organised, where young entrepreneurs develop their skills in the start-up centre. The accelerator depends greatly on state resources whose funds are compensated for in the form of created jobs and new products.
Urška Sršen, co-founder of the Bellabeat start-up, is according to Forbes one of the thirty young Europeans under the age of 30 who are transforming the world. Her start-up, which she co-founded with Sandro Mur, was selected as the best young company in health care. The famous product of Bellabeat is BabyWatch, a product which with the help of a transportable ultrasound headphone attached to a smart phone enables pregnant women to listen to the heartbeat of babies in their bellies. The Bellabeat company, which develops systems in perinatal and neonatal care, employs 60 people, and with different teams in Zagreb, San Francisco and Shenzhen develops smart jewellery, the LEAF, which tracks women’s activities, sleep and menstrual cycle. In addition to her business ventures, Urška also finds time for sculpturing and kiting.
Zoic Bar is the renamed start-up of the original Buzzmade. The research in the field of insects and development of products for human consumption is the idea of Domen Krč, which came about while listening to lectures at the faculty. Together with Krištof Horvat and Matjaž Vidmar, Krč started a start-up. Their first investment was the purchase of 20 kilograms of mealworms. They now breed, pasteurise and dry mealworms and then grind the dry mass. The flavour is good, similar to nuts. The product contains 50 per cent of protein, 25 per cent of fat, 10 per cent of fibre and is rich in Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids. The bar does not contain gluten or lactose. The exoskeleton of mealworms is supposed to contain the important building block of joints and their composite parts, i.e. glucosamine. The insects intended for human consumption are said to be an excellent potential source of protein in future since little feed is needed for their rearing and less drinking water is used. This enables the setting up of undemanding breeding with minor emissions. Insect diseases are not transmitted to people and CO2 and methane emissions are negligible due to simple breeding. There are some two thousand insects in the world suitable for human consumption.
Musguard is a removable mudguard for the rear wheel of a bicycle designed by industrial designer Jurij Lozić for his own needs. The mudguard is made of polypropylene and comes in various colours. It is light, removable, simple, durable and cost-efficient. Its greatest advantage is that it can be removed easily when not needed. Since no comparable product was available on the market, Lozić registered his brand.
The 4th Office platform is a brand of the MARG Inženiring company. The 4th Office is a cloud workspace solution enabling simple business transactions and allowing the staff to do their work at any time irrespective of where they are situated. In 2015, the 4th Office platform, which employs 50 people, was among the most successful Slovenian start-ups when it comes to acquiring investors.
The Safe-Cover is also a product invented for personal needs – while on vacation by sea – by entrepreneur Miha Merlak. An open can left outdoor is unprotected against insects, while Safe-Cover enables safe and hygienic drinking from a can.
