Zagreb Conference 2022

On June 8, 2022, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Zagreb, a specialized conference SIGURNOST 22 (SECURITY 22) was held and organized by the College of Safety and Health (Visoka škola za sigurnost), co-organized by the Swiss School of Business and Management Geneva and the French-Croatian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The event took place under the auspices of Eccos, Učka Consulting, GP Krk, Croatia osiguranje and Marsh. The conference brought together a large number of high-ranking guests and prominent experts in one place in order to exchange practical experiences and examples of good practice in various aspects of the security space. Prominent speakers attended from academia and the industry alike, including a respectable number of industry leaders who discussed important current topics. These topics included international and national security due to recent geopolitical changes, security of large construction projects, security of tourists in Croatia, business and cyber security, modern concepts of environmental protection in mitigation and adaptation to climate change, etc.

This was followed by a video addressed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Ph.D. Zdravko Marić on the topic of financial security in the midst of the introduction of the euro and rising inflation. Mr. Marić presented precise data and certain dates that are, for the introduction of the euro, useful for every citizen of the Republic of Croatia.

During the panel discussion on the security of the implementation of large construction projects, led by the General Manager of Bina-Istra, Dr. Sc. Dario Silić, State Secretary Tomislav Mihotić, Director of Strabag Veljko Nižetić and Director of GP Krk Sanjin Purić participated. The State Secretary pointed out the realized and current projects under the auspices of the state, and one of the topics that dominated the panel from the security aspect was the issue of the workforce in the construction sector. We are honored and pleased to have leaders of construction leaders, such as Messrs. Nižetić and Purić, in the Economic Council of the College of Security.

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A presentation on the new international order caused by the invasion of Ukraine was given by prof. dr. sc. Mirko Bilandžić. Additional interesting considerations were made by Doc. dr. sc. Tonći Prodan and retired Colonel General Mate Laušić (former head of President Franjo Tuđman’s security) who presented an always topical issue of tourist security in Croatia, pointing to empirical examples of room for possible improvements. The presentations of the three mentioned security experts impressed many participants, so we are honored to have three external lecturers from the College of Security.

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Furthermore, mr. sc. Ivan Bilać spoke about the cooperation between the European Commission and Eccos, a company that beat global giants such as G4S in a tender to provide insurance to the European Commission. We are especially glad that a Croatian background is behind this success, which is proof that Croatia can compete equally in the field of security on the international scene.

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The panel entitled “Modern concepts of environmental protection in climate change mitigation and adaptation” was led by the Head of the Department of Environmental Protection of the College of Safety, M.Sc. sc. Tamara Tarnik. A very interesting panel was held with Maja Jerman Vranić (Director of the Department for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development of Ekonergo), Elvira Horvatić Viduka (Expert Advisor of Ekonergo) and Zoran Kordić, manager of the Green Energy Cooperative.

The panel “Risk Management: Insurance Risk Coverage” was moderated by Iva Rogović Lekić, Director of Marsh, a global leader in insurance mediation and risk management. Rogović Lekić, who is also a member of the Economic Council of the College of Security, hosted Robert Vučković (member of the Management Board of Croatia osiguranje) and Slaven Dobrić (COO, Allianz) at the panel discussion. The panel provided answers to a number of questions that concern companies, but also each individual.

The conference concluded with a discussion on business and cyber security, led by a lecturer at the College of Security, Dr. sc. Darko Palačić, which was detailed from a practical point of view by Ratko Drča (Director of the Risk Advisory Department at Deloitte Croatia), Ph.D. Dejan Čakija (Eccos Development Director) and Igor Pavleković (Cloud solution architect for the CEE region and security expert at Microsoft). The panelists presented concrete tips for improving the security of companies, but also individuals, for example by introducing a multifactor form of authentication.

Expert discussions and fruitful networking most often had a common conclusion, that this conference is one of the few that brought together so many eminent speakers from different security domains in one place, and that the Security School (part of SSBM Geneva) is a wind in the back for raising the bar on the new edition of the specialized conference on security.