PODIM brings together Start-Ups & Scale-Ups, international investors and established leading companies. The conference facilitates the first steps in challenging markets. The event is therefore a great platform for all those who are looking for an investor, information or simply motivation and inspiration for their further work.

Carinthia will present itself at the established PODIM conference this year as well. The economic focus of the federal state is on microelectronics, information technology and mechanical engineering. On the conference you can meet the research institute Lakeside Labs, that explores the aspects of the swarm intelligence or Joanneum Research institute, which concentrates on the cooperation between humans and robots and is looking for solutions for safety issues in robotics, will be presented.

Carinthia is a perfect environment for testing products and services and at the same time, due to its linguistic diversity, an excellent springboard for the 100 million people of the large German-speaking market. Moreover, the conference is a place where young companies can meet representatives of the microelectronics cluster or the Slovenian trade association, who can open many doors with their contacts and experience in the market.

"Integration is crucial in the Alpe-Adria region. Our agency offers free support to young companies in their first steps on the market. In some cases it is useful to establish a company to facilitate access to consumers. Here we offer help especially with questions about legal/tax issues and state subsidies," explains Jernej Dvoršak from BABEG | Invest in Carinthia.

"More than 4 million people live in the Alpe-Adria region - if we only count Carinthia, Slovenia and Friuli. The challenge for many companies is that the domestic markets are often too small, which is why cross-border cooperation is particularly important. One of the central tasks of the SGZ is to facilitate networking in both Slovenia and Austria," said Andreas Hren from the Slovenian Business Association of Carinthia.