The Institute of Economics, Zagreb (EIZ) is a public scientific institute founded in 1939. For more than eighty years it conducts scientific and development research in the field of economics as well as applied research, which includes the development and application of methodology, preparation of strategic documents, background analyses for economic policy-makers and advisory services.
In addition to research activities, team of 26 excellent and highly motivated researchers united with supporting services’ staff perform a range of complementary activities expanding from publication and dissemination of results of scientific research and development, provision of scientific and professional training of economic experts, provision of expert opinions and proposals on economic policy and business, industry and local and regional communities’ development problems, organization and management of scientific, educational and consultancy activities and publishing.
The Institute’s goal is to raise awareness of economic and other policy-makers, business owners and the general public about various socio-economic issues, simultaneously providing them with the knowledge, information and tools facilitating the resolution of key socio-economic challenges, while maintaining the highest level of quality, independence, impartiality and ethics of our scientific work.
In accordance with existing knowledge and scientific and professional references, in order to achieve scientific excellence, researchers of the Institute focused their research capacities in four thematic areas:
- Macroeconomics and international economics
- Social policy and labor market
- Regional development
- Business economics and economic sectors
As a part of the abovementioned area, researchers at the Institute conduct research in innovation and activities regarding research and development which have become ubiquitous topics in economics today. The reason for this lies in the fact that highly innovative economies are the ones reaching the highest level of competitiveness. Additionally, innovations are regarded as the basic lever of socio-economic development of national economies today. Researchers at the Institute of Economics, Zagreb are primarily concerned with innovation at the level of an enterprise, but also with the functioning of innovation systems on a national and regional level. As far as innovation analyses are concerned, the emphasis is placed on the analyses of innovation at the level of enterprises, especially SMEs. An important focus of the Institute's research is the analysis of the effects of individual innovation programs, but also the analysis of the effects of tax reliefs in connection with research and development projects on the overall level of innovation in Croatia.
The Institute of Economics, Zagreb first made the study, titled “The Impact of Digital Transformation on the Western Balkans: Tackling the Challenges Towards Political Stability and Economic Prosperity “, which calculated the digitization indices of the six Western Balkan countries and put them in mutual relation. In addition to the study, a conference called “The Impact of Digital Transformation on the Western Balkan Countries” was organized by the Institute and its partners. The work of researchers at the Institute of Economics, Zagreb on the development of the Digital Atlas of the HT Group is also worth noting.
EIZ’s experience and expertise are well recognized among many partners which results in a number of successful collaborations. Some of the Institute’s partners are ministries, state agencies and offices, local and regional government units, public and private companies, Croatian National Bank, World Bank, European Commission, European Parliament, various international organizations and others.