LetsGrow! conference held in Pula: Startup contest is a blast
- Editors
- May 9
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 2
Kidlytic founders Goran Lisak and Dorotea Zorić won the startup competition held on Monday at the annual technology conference Let'sGrow! in Pula. Kidlytic is an app that interprets children's drawings, aimed at parents of children aged 3 to 10.
The runner-up was Antonio Labinjan, a student at the Faculty of Informatics in Pula (FIPU). His face recognition app Facemark combines CLIP and FAISS technologies. It can be used in schools, corporations and other public and commercial spaces where presence tracking and security are key. Third place went to Erik Fakin, Evan Dagostini and Denis Beletić, also students at FIPU. Their solution Lozalytic is a digital ID card for wine. The app allows the tracking of individual bottles, and is intended for winemakers who value quality, authenticity and the story of origin. It is also a solution for end consumers looking for transparent product information.
The jury included Fil Rouge Capital partner Stevica Kuharski, Plus Hosting head of customer experience and support Davor Makovac, founder and CEO of Pula-based telecom GT-NET Dean Benazić, and vice-dean for business cooperation and science at FIPU Ivan Lorencin.
TV host Aleksandar Stanković interviewed Srđan Kovačević, cofounder and CEO of Orqa, and tportal's tech Visionary of the year 2025. Based in Osijek, Kovačević revealed how Orqa became a global player in the drone industry, and how they compete with top Chinese companies. Prominent names of the AI startup scene, Davor Runje and Hajdi Ćenan, presented AI agents in practice. They showccased their application in digital advertising automation, where these agents can manage campaigns autonomously and with great precision.
The conference opened with a panel in English, titled Born in Sweden, Russia, Germany: working in Istria. Could the grass be greener? Led by Monika Ivanović of Infobip, it offered the views of foreign experts on how easy or difficult it is to move to an IT job in Istria from another country, start a company here, and become part of the local tech community. The panel included Swedish entrepreneur and digital nomad Arne Evertsson who lives and works between Medulin, Pula and Stockholm, Infobip's HR expert Nadezhda Mikhaylova who moved to Vodnjan from Russia, and German entrepreneur Tobias Benz whose address is now in Škatari.
The panel Programmers in the Jaws of AI: Vibe Coding and Other Wonders looked at the impact of generative artificial intelligence on the everyday work of software engineers. Pula-based programmer Ognjen Božičković and Zagreb-based engineer, scientist and entrepreneur Davor Runje offered different but equally convincing views on the impact of genAI on the programming profession so far. Young programmer Mirna Pušeljić shared experiences from the perspective of a student whose academic journey had significantly involved ChatGPT from the beginning. It remained a presence on her recent entry into the world of work, too. Political journalist Chiara Bilić moderated the conversation.
Vibe coding is the latest buzzword - and a new paradigm holding a lot of promise. However, even two and a half years after ChatGPT was launched, key questions persist. Where are the limits of this technology and the enthusiasm surrounding it? How should new generations learn to program, now that artificial intelligence seems to know almost everything? The panel agreed that programming is well worth learning; only when you understand the basics and logic can you get the most out of AI tools. In addition to the advantages, they also carry risks that society needs to address.
Ivan Piton and Luka Sučić, both with extensive international experience in blockchain, took the audience on a journey through the earliest days of this technology, and its development to the present day. They believe that it is on a safe path towards wider adoption and that it will have a positive impact on the financial system and other industries.
In the workshop area, the association of computer science students Šou program hosted a competition in solving software and hardware challenges. The Climate Tech workshop offered insight into methods of collecting and analyzing climate data. Infobip experts presented the Answers platform, demonstrating how to create your own chatbot in just a few steps. The team from Electrocoin, a leading Croatian crypto company, showcased how to manage a digital wallet and conduct cryptocurrency transactions in a secure manner. The SkyDive simulator – an advanced first-person view (FPV) system that allowed participants to learn to fly FPV drones in a fun and intuitive way – attracted special attention.
"We are very pleased that the Istrian County is the co-organizer of the Let'sGrow! conference for the fourth year in a row, confirming our commitment to further encouraging the development of the ICT sector, which is very successful in Istria. We want to continue to position Istria as an ICT region that will create and attract IT experts and companies due to its comparative advantages," said Istrian County Prefect Boris Miletić at the opening.
"I am exceptionally proud that we are opening the fourth Let'sGrow! conference; our mission is to show young people everything they want to know so that they can find their opportunities in the world of new technologies" said the ICT Istria Association president Dean Verbanac.
FIPU dean Darko Etinger, the president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce - Pula County Chamber Danijel Benčić, and the Head of the Social Activities, Youth and Sports Department of the City of Pula Ivana Sokolov also spoke at the opening.
Let'sGrow! conference is organized by the non-profit ICT Istria Association with partners. Held for the fourth year in a row, it brought together a diverse audience – students, teachers and professors, entrepreneurs, scientists, IT professionals and citizens interested in the latest in tech.
