How the time flies. Our assistant for international affairs has been supporting the SIC for one year now and takes care of the development of new sales channels, crisis-resistant cooperations and international business models for SIC members and the Carinthian IT scene.
Patrick Struger – Assistent for International Affairs
Our internationalization assistant Patrick has been supporting SIC member companies since mid-March 2021 when it comes to increasing internationalization activity and being present on the markets of the Alpe-Adria region, for example with the initiation of cross-border projects, connecting different network partners or enabling new business contacts. After a successful year, we are giving a brief summary with a compact retrospective.
“Crossing borders – benefit from regional know-how, internationally.”
What happened until now
A FOR and WITH
As part of our internationalization offensive and increasing the visibility of our members, the SIC Matchmaking Radar was set up on our website with its own member backend. This makes it easier for our members to be found and, based on their area of activity, to be identified more clearly as cooperation or project partners for external entrepreneurs. In addition, an English version of our homepage was implemented and set up with the help of our assistant.
During a joint internationalization project with addIT dienstleistungen GmbH & Co KG, an analysis of technical sectors in Slovenia was carried out. Common resources were used to create a compact inventory of the Slovenian business location in order to subsequently make it easier for regional companies to enter the market and promote it respectively.
Personal development
For personal development in the field of internationalization, our assistant was offered numerous opportunities to network with regional, national and international entrepreneurs at home and abroad, in addition to the extensive training modules of the Carinthian Economic Development Fund (KWF). Our assistant also visited Slovenia as a business location with its start-up scene and investor networks, and talks were held with business delegates from various countries in order to ensure the best possible basis for further and subsequent offensives.
Valuable Events
Our new format for young entrepreneurs – SIC Startup Breakfast – was launched in June 2021 together with Patrick and our focus group for startups and internationalization with spokeswoman Anja Silberbauer and was held for the first time in Hafenstadt Klagenfurt. This was followed by networking and information events such as the Export Breakfast in cooperation with Carinthia’s foreign trade department, where entrepreneurs were able to find out about export offensives and subsidies and connect to various export experts. The first Online Focus Talk was also held with Dr. Klaus Niedl from Novomatic organized and accompanied by our assistant.
Promising Cooperations
The first opportunities for cooperation have already arisen with the Coding School & Academy Wörthersee, where members from our network benefit from discounts on the wide range of offered courses and can even actively shape them by bringing in relevant expertise. The visibility of our members among prospective specialists should also be emphasized even more clearly.
Carinthia as a business and work location was also put into the spotlight through cooperation and organization of foreign delegations, such as Slovenia, with BABEG Carinthia, local IT companies were presented and networked with foreign companies.
Business contacts were intensified with our existing cooperation partner Silicon Alps Cluster, whereby visits to events were made possible, tenders for projects and cooperations in our network were made available and a themed trip to EBSCON in Graz was organized to explore regional IT companies in the Alpe-Adria region in the best possible way.
We look back on an exciting and successful year with our assistant Patrick and are now looking forward to another successful year! We would like to thank our partners and members for the great work together!
With cross-border greetings from SIC!
