SVEUCILISTE U SPLITU

Their core work

The University of Split is a Croatian public university that serves as a regional hub for innovation support services, particularly helping Croatian SMEs access EU funding instruments and improve their innovation management capacity. Through its Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) role, it provides key account management, innovation coaching, and business support services. Beyond innovation brokering, the university contributes research expertise in areas ranging from meta-research methodology and clinical trial evaluation to agricultural pest management and microfluidics, reflecting a broad but applied research portfolio.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In 2014-2018, the university focused heavily on building Croatia's SME innovation support infrastructure through repeated EEN key account management projects, alongside science education and responsible research initiatives (HEIRRI, CRO-EU-REKA). From 2019 onward, while maintaining the EEN service line, they diversified significantly into applied research — picking up projects in agricultural pest management, nano-enabled microfluidics, high-performance computing, and university transformation. This shift suggests the university is transitioning from primarily a support/service role toward building its own applied research capacity in technology-intensive fields.

Moving from pure innovation brokering toward building in-house research strength in manufacturing, agriculture, and sustainability — expect growing capacity as a research partner, not just a service provider.

How they like to work

Almost exclusively a participant (13 of 14 projects), with only one coordination role in their earliest and smallest project. They work across large consortia — 229 unique partners across 40 countries indicates broad but typically non-leading participation. This profile suggests a reliable, low-friction partner that brings regional access and support capacity rather than driving project direction, making them easy to integrate into larger consortia.

With 229 unique consortium partners spread across 40 countries, UNIST has an unusually wide network for a Croatian university of its size — largely built through repeated participation in CSA-type coordination and support actions rather than deep bilateral research ties.

What sets them apart

As one of the few Croatian universities with a continuous EEN key account management track record spanning seven years, UNIST offers unmatched access to the Croatian SME landscape for any consortium needing a Southeastern European entry point. Their combination of innovation brokering experience with emerging technical research in microfluidics and biosecurity is unusual — most EEN nodes don't also do lab research. For consortium builders, they fill the dual role of regional SME outreach partner and contributing research institution.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MIROR
  Their largest funded project (EUR 495,522) in a highly specialized niche — meta-research and clinical trial methodology — through an MSCA-ITN training network.
• NextGenMicrofluidics
  Signals a significant pivot into advanced manufacturing with EUR 287,291 for nano-enabled microfluidic device upscaling, their most technically ambitious project.
• reSEArch-EU
  Part of the SEA-EU European University alliance (EUR 319,312), positioning UNIST within a strategic multi-university partnership focused on sustainability and institutional transformation.