SLOvenia

www.slo-mag.si invites
you!

How to spend
3 to 48 hours
in the City of Dragons

“In Slovenia you will

find export companies
with highly educated
employees”
High-speed Embedded Vision Cameras
Added value for industrial image processing applications through
semi-custom camera solutions

Cutting edge technology for production automation and quality assurance

• Optical survey
• surface inspection
• Robot guide

Optomotive Ltd. e: info@optomotive.com

Koprska ulica 98 w: www.optomotive.com
SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, EU t: +386 (0) 1 4292914
2 Словения приглашает Ваc! www.slo-mag.si
 43.55 2,8% 1,560
billion pounds – gross – GDP growth in pounds – average net
salary in June 2019
Republic of domestic product in
Slovenia in 2019*
2019*

Slovenia
Capital:
Ljubljana 5.1% 1,006
Population: 21,077 – exports growth in
2019*
– average net salary in
pounds – gross domes- June 2019
2 million
tic product per capita
Land area: in 2019*
20,273 km2
Coastline length:
6.0% 1.6%
– imports growth – average inflation in
46 kilometres in 2019* 2019*
Currency:
EURO
A member of:
* – latest forecast
of economic trends
7.6
by the Institute of – registered unem-
EU, NATO, OECD Macroeconomic Analysis ployment rate in
and Development of the 2019*
Republic of Slovenia

A Billion More to Go
R
elations between Slovenia and Great Britain are
traditionally good. This also applies to the eco-
nomic cooperation between the two countries,
which has strengthened since 2014. The data
for 2018 are particularly encouraging – for the first time
in history, trade between one of the smallest European
countries and the sixth largest economy in the world
exceeded the milestone of a billion euros (£890 million),
and it reached almost 1.5 billion euros if we count in
services (£1.32 billion).
Stimulating trade figures are a fine demonstration that
potential barriers created by politics or distances are not
an obstacle to cooperation and that talented individuals
with a lot of knowledge always find a way to cooper-
ate. Twenty years ago, David McMurtry, Deputy Chief
Designer at Rolls-Royce and one of the founders of the
British engineering company Renishaw, and the Sloveni-
an entrepreneur Janez Novak, agreed on a partnership in
a special niche – the production of advanced movement
and rotation sensors, without which today’s modern ro-
bots would not exist. The project, which was defined by
McMurtry and Novak in 1999, continues today. Coopera-
tion between talented engineers at the Faculty of Electri-
cal Engineering in Ljubljana and the Renishaw company,
which established its research and development centre
in Slovenia four years ago, runs smoothly.
An increasing number of Slovenian companies have
come to the realisation that only environmentally
acceptable, energy efficient and sustainably demand-
ing solutions open the door to new customers.
Technological breakthroughs are crucial for Slovenian companies,
since for most of them Slovenia, with its population of two million peo-
ple, rapidly becomes too small, and the companies are therefore forced
to search for new business opportunities in foreign markets by way of
exports, which have been growing steadily. The relatively favourable
outlook of this year’s 2.8 per cent growth of the Slovenian economy
is primarily based on more than the solid achievements of domestic
exporters. An increasing number of Slovenian companies have come to
the realisation that only environmentally acceptable, energy efficient
and sustainably demanding solutions open the door to new custom-
ers. To find out how they manage to do so, read more about it in our
magazine, in which we ask Slovenian exporters about the direction their
product development is taking, and how they hopped onto the train of
technological development, without which we can no longer imagine
the future of humanity and society in general.
Vanja Tekavec

www.slo-mag.si Follow us on
Slovenia Editor: Vanja Tekavec
Project Manager: Publisher: Časnik Finance, d. o. o.,
invites Writers: Mateja Bertoncelj, Aleš Ogorevc Bleiweisova cesta 30, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
you! www.finance.si
Mladen Miković, Aleš Ogorevc Telephone: +386 1 30 91 597
September 2019 E-Mail: ales.ogorevc@finance.si Niche Projects Director: Monika Klinar
On the cover: Technical Editor: Maja Volk Director and Editor in Chief: Peter Frankl
Butchers’ Bridge, Ljubljana Advertisement Marketing:
Translation: PSD, d. o. o. Telephone: +386 1 30 91 590 Circulation: 30.400
Photography: E-Mail: oglasi@finance.si
Shutterstock (www.psdtranslation.com/en)
Izv zniki.si
Slovenia invites you! 3
 What kind of
innovations
are being
designed by
Slovenian
companies?

C
an you guess which Slovenian glassware manufacturer has been working on a special bottle with
an incorporated electronic chip that will connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth? Or, which
Slovenian company has replaced petroleum-based plastics with sugar cane and has used it to
produce environmentally friendly picnic dishware that is safe for use and dishwasher proof? What
is more, do you know which Slovenian provider of equipment, systems, logistics solutions, and
automatic identification has convinced more than a hundred British companies to use Time &
Space, its mobile solution for tracking work hours with the phone?
These are but a few products with which successful Slovenian exporters are paving their way to foreign
markets. To find out how they manage to do it and what kind of solutions they offer their customers, we invite
you to have a read of the following pages and delve into brief conversations with the crème de la crème of the
Slovenian export economy.

Slovenian Špica International

engineering Group,
company Riko Identification and
Prefabricated IoT specialist
construction enables Spica International is leading
Riko to construct supplier of workforce
Rıko

a house in management and supply-chain

2-3 management solutions in

weeks, 5 European
and does not disturb the
The Riko
Engineering Company countries.
idyll for the neighbours. will build another 50
houses, a small hotel and a
clubhouse with a restaurant
in Lechlade, an enchanting
village by the
Cotswolds lakes.

4 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si

 Steklarna
Hrastnik, a
Slovenian
manufacturer of
glass products
Products of
Steklarna Hrastnik

Steklarna Hrastnık
are present in
55 markets.

Picnic dishes and

cups made of sugar A bottle
cane are completely from the
HighGlass Spirits
TPV, Development suppliers
safe for use and of automotive industry
dishwasher- collection
of Steklarna The automated guided vehicle, Optimatik
proof. 160, saves up to
Hrastnik
25,000 kilowatt hours
of electricity annually.
Plastıka Skaza

TVP developed
its own automated
guided vehicle (AGV),
the Optimatik 160, to
Plastics processing company supply production
Plastika Skaza sites.
Last year the London Stock Exchange
selected Skaza as
one of the
1000 companies
that inspired Europe. Last
year Vivapen
introduced Switch
Over pen, a pen that
100 British switches between
companies already ink cartridges with
use Time & Space, the different tips and
mobile solution for colours.
tracking your work
hours by Špica
International.
Pen Developer
and
Manufacturer
Vivapen
89 per cent
Špica International

of the company’s
Vıpapen

production is exported
to almost forty foreign
markets.

www.slo-mag.

Aleš Beno
J
ust an hour’s drive from London, in the idyllic
village of Lechlade by the alluring Cotswolds
lakes, the estate agents John Hitchcox and
Anton Bilton have designed the Lakes by Yoo
project. The showhouses for the project were created
by the designers Phillip Starck, Kelly Hoppen, Jade
Jagger, and Marcel Wanders. The vast majority of
homeowners in this residential area live in houses
based on architectural designs by the Riko Engineer-
ing Company. We discussed with Janez Škrabec, the
CEO and owner of Riko, the characteristics of eco-
friendly and low-energy houses that offer homeliness
to many of the famous and well-to-do in the United
Kingdom.
What convinced the buyers of houses in
Lechlade village?
Certainly, the construction concept – wooden, prefab-
ricated and individualised construction down to the
last detail suited the residential area for affluent buyers.
Environmental standards ensure health-aware construc-
tion and prefabricated building components do not
place a burden on the environment. What is more, we
do not cause noise pollution and do not disturb the
idyll for the neighbours with long construction times.
The building of a house is completed in two to three
weeks in almost complete silence. Since we build ex-
clusively custom-made wooden housing, we can realise
even the most demanding architectural or design ideas.
These are our major assets, which have persuaded the
investors of The Lakes project and other contractors we
cooperate with.
According to Wasya Awori, the chief
operational architect of the project, your
wooden and low-energy houses blend
seamlessly into the landscape. Who are the
buyers of such houses? Do they prioritise
sustainable construction or do they just love
wooden construction?
6 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si
Janez Škrabec, CEO and owner
of Riko d.o.o.
“British
Homebuyers
Have a Keen
Sense of
Aesthetics”
Certainly, it is partly a matter of ethics and partly aes-
thetics, or a combination of both. Wood and sustainable
concepts in general have entered the domain of our
daily lives, which is why we make decisions based on
“green” criteria more often. Yet, wood is not only that – it
is by all means also a carrier of special aesthetic empha-
In words of sis. Wasya Awori, the chief architect of The Lakes by Yoo
the architect project pointed out that wood, just like wine, just gets
Wasya better with age. If you take a close at the houses that
were built in the area a decade ago, it becomes obvious
Awori,
that they are even more beautiful than before – good
wood, just news for the owners, as it helps with retaining or increas-
like wine, ing the value of real estate.
just gets
better with Riko has been building its houses all
age, which across Europe and the P.A.T.H. houses,
is why the which you built together with Phillip Starck,
are situated in Paris and New York. Do the
houses British distinguish themselves from your
retain their other clients in any way?
value. Soon, we will be able to admire the P.A.T.H. houses in
the United Kingdom. The investor was impressed and
we will soon align the latest details. I tend to disregard
the differences between investors and customers; I try
to observe how the British identify with the rest of our
customers. Not only do they have a good overview of
trends, they are also very educated as far as sustainable
construction is concerned. They also have a sharp sense
of aesthetics.
The area where the houses rise just above
the lakes is particularly attractive, because it
is located one hour away from London. What
will be its future, or, how many houses are
intended to be built?
The Lakes by Yoo project has long since exceeded its
scope and continues to expand, and rightly so, as it fulfils
the high expectations of its new owners. We estimate
that in the future we will construct at least 50 houses, a
smaller hotel and a clubhouse with a restaurant.

Jure Makovec
T
he TVP Group, a developer and producer of body
and chassis components, seat components, and
engine gaskets, is facing the future with a very
special project – an intelligent car body. “Such a
body will work interactively with its users and assist them
in running dynamics, safety, and driving comfort,” says
Marko Gorjup, TVP Group President and CEO.
By 2025 it is estimated that as much as 7.7
per cent of all cars produced worldwide will
be electric. How is the TPV Group preparing
for the green mobility era of the future?
As a company operating as a development and pre-de-
velopment supplier for premium car manufacturers, we
are also deeply involved in the development of electri-
fication and using light materials for the vehicles of the
future. We are already peeking into the future of vehicles
based exclusively on electrical drives, and, consequently,
the philosophy of zero CO2 emissions. In general, we try
to use materials that can be 100% recycled and can be
used ecologically for new generations of vehicles.
You are developing a product called
“intelligent car body.” How can intelligent
bodies help drivers, and when will they hit
the roads?
Intelligent car bodies and chassis are the successors of
smart factories, or Industry 4.0, that will shape the car
industry in the following decades. They will bring wider
applicability of the vehicle, such as autonomous adapta-
tions to road conditions, active vehicle interaction, and
safety enhancements in accordance with the environ-
ment.
How can the TVP Group use its solutions
to help car manufacturers improve their
business efficiency?
Through our own production needs, wealth of knowledge,
and industry experience, we develop and market smart
factory modules based on automation, digitalisation, and
8 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si
Marko GORJUP, TVP Group President and CEO
“Intelligent car
bodies will shape
the auto industry
in the following
decades”
artificial intelligence, thus improving the manufacturing
companies’ efficiency. One of the modules, for instance, is
in-house logistics automatisation, under which we have
also developed an automated guided vehicle (AGV), Opti-
matik 160, with its own central control system, which can
be connected to other digitalisation systems and enables
Last year an efficient and reliable production supply. I would also
the TVP like to draw attention to “bin picking” – a module for ro-
Group botic sorting of randomly scattered objects with the help
of machine vision and robotic placement of the sorted
presented
objects into the tool for further manipulation.
the first
integrated Last year you were awarded the Golden
stepless Innovation Award by the Chamber of
door check, Commerce and Industry of Slovenia for the
which has integrated stepless door check. Which type of
been named problem does it solve?
Unlike a regular door check, which holds the car door
the best in only three positions while the door “bounces” either
Slovene forward or back in all other positions, our integrated
innovation stepless door check holds the door in any position. In
in the this way it considerably facilitates entering and exiting
opinion of a car and simultaneously reduces the risk of car door
the national damage. It has already been recognised as an outstand-
ing functionality, so we were awarded the Chamber of
audience. Commerce and Industry of Slovenia Innovation Award
in addition to the already-mentioned Golden Innovation
Award for the best Slovene innovation in the opinion of
the national audience.
You recently launched a TPV Innovation
Station innovators’ platform. What kind of
ideas are you looking for, and who can reach
out to you?
We are looking for innovative ideas and solutions in the
mobility and electrification fields. Through the platform
we plan to connect with innovators, start-ups, research
and developmental institutions, and for whom we can
enable upgrades and generic development of their ideas
through to the final product.

Alenka Leskovšek
S you with the
teklarna Hrastnik, which boasts a 160-year tradi-
tion of glassware manufacturing, has been work-
ing on a special bottle with an incorporated elec-
tronic chip that will connect to your smartphone
via Bluetooth. “When you approach the bottle with your
phone, the personal story and history of the beverage
manufacturer will be revealed all the way to the level of
an individual consumer,” as predicted by Klemen Resman,
Sales and Marketing Director at Steklarna Hrastnik. This
unique innovation has been named the electronic bottle
or e-bottle.
What type of opportunities have been
presented to you in the British market,
the intersection of all the major beverage
multinational companies?
The British market has been placed among our strategic
markets on the basis of our experience up to now. New
prospects are opening up to us for cooperation with
important brand owners in the spirits segment or small
craft beer and gin manufacturers, since we are flexible
about the production quantities and can manufacture
small or large batches of bottles.
Customers today prefer personalised
products – does that present a window of
opportunity for Steklarna Hrastnik?
The entire market has been shifting towards personalisa-
tion, and in recent years we have been using it to our
advantage, which is reflected in a number of areas of our
business. We have the capacity to produce technically
demanding glassware from one of the purest glasses in
the world. We are also flexible about what we can offer.
For major brand owners we provide full service – from
development to manufacturing and to decoration. The
customer comes to us with an approximate idea for a
bottle and together with our experts, designers and part-
ners we develop, manufacture, and decorate it, as well as
providing stoppers and the rest. The customer only has
to fill it. Smaller customers can choose among the bottles
in our HighGlass Spirits standard collection.
Klemen Resman, Sales and Marketing Di-
rector at Steklarna Hrastnik
The bottle of the
future: the chip
inside the bottle
will “connect”
spirits producer
Which trends will shape the glassware
industry in the future?
In the field of manufacturing, the focus on the environ-
ment is coming to the fore. At Steklarna Hrastnik we
In the near keep up with this trend by transition to industry 4.0,
future, which besides ensuring the highest quality of products
enables us to shorten production times and further
Steklarna
reduce the impact on the environment.
Hrastnik In the field of design, we have seen the Scandinavian
will also influence that dictates clean lines. In addition, a trend
open a of combining different natural materials with glass is
sales office well pronounced. In the field of decoration, combining
in Great white ceramics and black bottles is trending. Due to
environmental responsibility, the market has been shift-
Britain.
ing towards the use of lighter bottles and their multiple,
diverse uses. After use, a bottle is not discarded, but
repurposed – for instance, it is used as a vase.
How do you increase your visibility in the
British market?
We cooperate with design agencies in the British market
in the field of bottle design. We are also a partner at
the annual Gin and Whisky Awards in London. Together
with the British-Slovenian Chamber of Commerce, we
organise an event for spirits manufacturers in this mar-
ket. In the near future, we plan to open a sales office in
the British market, which will enable us to connect more
quickly, to have a better insight into the market and
be more responsive and able to adapt or to match the
demands of the market. In short, we want to be as close
as possible to our customers.
www.slo-mag.si Slovenia invites you! 9
 Bart Stegeman, supply chain and IT man-
ager at Plastika Skaza

“The customers
appreciate our
innovation and
design along with
our bold colour
Skaza

A
producer of innovative and sustainable prod-

selection.”
ucts made of human-friendly, nature-friendly,
recyclable bioplastic, they have recently re-
ceived a prestigious Red Dot Award: Product
Design 2019 for their Bokashi Organko 2 composter.
How do the international awards affect
Plastika Skaza?
Our customers are the reason we are in the market. Our
greatest reward is the long-lasting and trustworthy relation-
ship we maintain with them. Professional awards, such
as the Red Dot Award or the Solutions Award 2019 we
received at the Ambiente Fair in Frankfurt, bring excep-
tional recognition and motivation to those directly involved
in creating the product along with our employees. Awards
give an added value to our product, building public aware-
ness, trust, and reputation of our company as a whole. The
awards reflect the excellence integrated in all our products.
You develop plastic products made from
recyclate and bio-based materials. Which
type of materials or raw materials are
involved, and from where do you obtain
them?
We have devoted our mission to the manufacture of prod-
ucts representing a sustainable alternative to classic dispos-
able plastics. Our bio-based materials are mainly produced
from sugar cane, which is harvested in a strictly controlled
manner and prevents long-term adverse effects on the en-
vironment. The products do not contain melamine or BPA
(bisphenol A), which have harmful effects on humans and
the environment. We wish everyone would be responsible
for their little bit of the environment.
How do consumers accept household
products, e.g. picnic dishes, cups, and other
products, made from natural materials, since
the products are used for food?
Our customers are environmentally conscious. They have
high expectations of companies. They are responsible
inhabitants of our planet, who care about disposable
plastics polluting our only home. Our products are made
of bioplastics, which is based on natural raw materials, so
customers are assured they are completely safe for use,
reusable, and recyclable into new products after their lifes-
pan expires. The customers appreciate us not only because
The of the materials we use, but also because of our innovation
and design along with our bold colour selection.
company
Plastika Plastika Skaza is also a furniture
Skaza has manufacturer. How much of the plastic used
replaced for the production of chairs has already been
classic recycled?
petroleum- We produce various elements for kitchen fittings, chairs,
computer trolleys, and office furniture. The furniture
based
designers and all those involved in the manufacturing take
plastics into account what the product will be used for in associa-
with raw tion with the standard of the materials used. Bio-based or
materials recycled materials have already achieved certain function-
and natural alities, but not all of them; therefore, together with our
resources, partners, we have set a goal to implement purely biological
materials or recyclates.
such as
sugar cane. What kind of innovations have you been
working on?
We have just offered our customers an ECOCARE collection
with organic products that combine all the aspects that are
important to individuals. The collection, which also includes
a special ECOCARE CUP, is made of a biomaterial (EcoBib).
Its entire manufacturing process places a minimal burden
on the environment. All products from the collection are
intended for repeated use and ultimately recycling, which
additionally reduces the burden on the environment. We are
already preparing a new generation of the Bokashi Organko
2 composter and a variety of other solutions.

10 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si

 Andrija Pušić, Product Manager of the
Špica International Group

“We created a
global product,
but being from
Slovenia is a
Mladen Miković

considerable
T
he latest great success of Špica International,

hurdle”
the leading Slovenian provider of equipment,
systems, logistics solutions and automatic
identification, is the development of smart
cloud access control, the Door Cloud, which allows the
door to be opened without readers and based on the
location, but also works in combination with readers
and cards that are already being used.

Špica Interna­tional has developed

Is Door Cloud the only company
offering this solution?
If I am not mistaken, it is the only such product
available in the region of South-Eastern Europe, and
therefore the best. It is competitive on a global scale,
as it offers the feature of mobile phone access without
any readers on the door, based entirely on the phone’s
location. Until recently, we were the only company
that offered anything comparable.
How do the customers in Great Britain
respond to the product?
After presenting our product in our region and in the
Middle East, we also intend to put it on the British
market, where we are looking for reliable partners. In
part, we have already managed to enter it with the
Time & Space system, which allows you to track your
work hours with your phone. We are pleased that we
have received endorsement of the concept and that
it has already been adopted by more than 100 British
companies.
What is holding you back from taking
an even bigger step?
Partners. At the moment, we have one with whom we
cooperate successfully, but we are constantly looking
for new partners. Picking the right partner is an impor-
the feature of mobile phone access
without any readers on the door,
based entirely on the phone’s location.
tant criterion, that is, it is important to find somebody
who carries out a similar activity, or complements its
own with our solutions, and has good results from its
past performance.
How much of an obstacle to your
breakthrough to foreign markets is the
fact that Slovenia is not recognised as a
technological force in the world?
Indeed, Slovenia is more famous for its tourism and
nature, yet a number of people who visit our country
are taken aback by how technologically advanced we
really are. Regardless of the fact that Slovenia is not
recognised as a technological force in the world, many
of us are reaping success in exporting and breaking
new ground with the common goal of achieving glob-
ally acknowledged success. After all, several Slove-
nian companies, such as Outfit7 with its Talking Tom,
Akrapovič with its exhaust systems, and Pipistrel with
its small aircraft, have managed to do just that.

www.slo-mag.si Slovenia invites you! 11


Arhiv Vivapen
T
he family business Vivapen has been pursuing
the development and production of various
types of pens for 52 years. While the company
was founded by Petra’s father Jože, the work
is now spread across three generations. Innovation,
managing the product development process, and retail
distribution are key to this company’s success. The tools
needed for the manufacturing process are made in the
company’s own tool shop. They collaborate as a develop-
ment supplier with a number of companies and pens are
mostly sold under their brand names. The company also
manufactures roller ball pens, fountain pens, ink eraser
corrector pens, and the list goes on.
Is there still room for innovation in the
field of pen development and manufacturing?
We are currently developing our newest pen product NU
Pen, and our first piston-fill fountain pen B4 with a built-in
piston-filling system, which allows users to pump ink
straight from a bottle. There may not be that much room
for innovation left with pen design, but there is still plenty
of elbow room regarding materials, manufacture, ink feed
system, tips made of different materials, printing options,
assembly process upgrade options, packaging, etc.
Which innovations are already available to
the British market?
We have been cooperating successfully with the British
customers, to whom all our products and innovations
are available. Last year our major customer in the United
Kingdom, Manuscript Pen Company, was the first and
only company given the chance to introduce an innova-
tion to the market, Art Pen or Switch Tips, as it is called by
the British, which, as the name implies, switches between
ink cartridges with different tips and colours.
What is the competitive advantage of your
ink feed systems expertise?
It is the pen’s heart or engine, which ensures that the
writing runs smoothly, and combines knowledge of
12 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si
Petra Melanšek, Managing Director at Vivapen
d.o.o., Pen Developer and Manufacturer
A Family
Business
Conquers
the Innovative
Pens Market
physics, chemistry, and mechanical engineering. Our
pens can successfully withstand temperature differences
and air pressure changes. When designing our own ink
feed system, we considered the technical characteris-
The family
tics of the ink feed systems of global brands. The main
business disadvantage of most ink feed systems is that when the
Vivapen fountain pen is filled with ink for the first time, a drop of
has been ink often falls from the pen before the air in the ink chan-
pursuing nel closes the ink flow path from the ink cartridge. This
the develop­ predominantly happens with ink feed systems whose
ment and ink channel is positioned at the opposite side to where
the ink enters the feed. The ink channel at the inlet of the
production ink into the feed channel is very sensitive and allows the
of various ink capillary to be torn and the writing lose to its fluidity
types of pens when ink is rapidly removed. We decided to position the
for 52 years. ink channel right next to the inlet of the ink into the feed
channel. This decision was based on the assumption that
very low surface tension (approximately 35.0 mN/m) af-
fects the “first drops” of ink when filling the feed channel.
That is the consequence of processing the ink feeder
with an accelerator, which allows the ink to flow to the
tip of the pen within the shortest possible time.
What is the level of robotisation of
manufacturing processes in your company?
In 2016, when we visited the Automatica Fair in Munich,
it became clear to us that we would need to shift to a
higher gear if we wanted to keep pace with technologi-
cal development, and in the second half of the year, we
established an automation team, which includes experts
from all our departments. In less than three years we
have built seven fully functional robots and have auto-
mated processes to a large extent, although that does
not imply that the number of people has been reduced.
The number of our employees increases proportionally
to the demands and development of our customers and
new products.
Data for Slovenia
External trade Economic growth Partners
of this edition
Exports
5.1 of the magazine

77%
to the EU
%
2 Optomotive d.o.o.
Share of www.optomotive.com
exports in GDP

80%
T +386 1 429 29 14
of exports

4.4
E: info@optomotive.com

%
7 RIKO, d.o.o.
www.riko.si/en
T: +386 1 581 63 00
15.90%
3.1
E: riko@riko.si

%
41.40% 2.8 17 ORO MET d.o.o.
www.oromet.si
10.10% % T: +386 5 753 20 12
Structure of
Slovenian E: info@oromet.si

Exports
27 SPIRIT Slovenia,
9.60% public agency
www.spiritslovenia.si/en

2.70% 5.20% T: +386 1 589 18 70

4.80% E: info@spiritslovenia.si
3.00%
3.30% 4.00%
28 Slovenian Tourist
Road vehicles Industrial machines Iron and steel Board
for general use
Electrical machines Petroleum and
and apparatus Metal products petroleum derivatives www.slovenia.info

Medical and Various finished Coloured metals T: + 386 1 589 85 50

pharmaceutical products E: info@slovenia.info
products Other
2016 2017 2018 2019
Life expectancy Tourist arrivals: forecast

81.2
years
1.4 5.9
million tourists million tourists
in 1991 in 2018
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development

13 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si

 Expertise and Quality from Slovenia

These are Slovenian

companies that
have been conquering the
world markets
with their
innovations
C
an you guess which Slovenian company has about 4
won the Customer Satisfaction Award for the per cent
fifth time in a row as judged by British consum- annually in
ers? Which Slovenian company has developed recent years.
a camera able to process images of the manufacturing This has been
process in real time? Whose power transformers have advantageous
convinced the largest energy giants in Europe? This is for Talum, a Slo-
only a handful of the products with which Slovenian venian producer
companies have been paving their way in the global of aluminium and
markets. Some of them are presented below. aluminium prod-
ucts, which has been
Our customers want 100% recyclable increasingly shifting
packaging towards the production
Aluminium production, driven primarily by the strong of higher added-value
auto industry, has had an average global growth of products. They are particu-
larly successful with packag-
ing slugs for the pharmaceuti-
Talum,
cal, food, and cosmetic industry,
producer of
aluminium with which they have already
and acquired one fifth of the European
aluminium market. Talum currently produces
products, approximately 40,000 tons of slugs an-
has acquired nually, and after a recent investment in
one fifth of
the European slug production amounting to 7 million
market euros, the company expects to increase
with the its annual capacity to 50,000 tons per year.
production In recent years, a lot of attention has also been paid to
of aluminium the sustainable demands of its customers, who want
slugs.
100% recyclable packaging. With this in mind, they have
offered an innovative product – slugs made of waste
material that is generated in the production process.
Talum

An aerosol that can be made of the recycled slugs was

14 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si

 reprocessed by Talum’s buyer, Alltub Italia, and present-
ed under the Eco Light Can brand at the recent annual
Aerosol and Dispensing Forum held in Paris, triggering a
lot of interest.
With e-mobility and electric cars, the door to alu-
minium, the material of the future, is being thrown wide
open. This year Talum presented HEATRAPLATES (Heat
Transfer Plates), a new brand with which they want to in-
crease their visibility in the development and production
of highly efficient flat-plate heat exchangers, which are
used for cooling batteries in electric vehicles, and also in
construction and power-driven vessels. “The projections
show that all existing and new car manufacturers will
present their electric versions of vehicles on the market.
In the light of trends, in most cases they will require ac-
tive fluid cooling systems, which will significantly affect
the car charging times at the charge stations and extend
battery life,” the company points out.
Optomotive – Conquering the cell phone
industry with its intelligent machine
vision cameras
Optomotive develops and manufactures fast intelligent
machine vision cameras, without which nowadays we
cannot imagine mass production and which is crucial for
the automation of production processes. The company
was created in mid-2008, and its specialty is cameras that
can process the image of the manufacturing process in
real time and thereby enable customers to avoid bot-
tlenecks in manufacturing. The cameras contain logic
circuits with high computing power. Circuits can be
customised to the user’s requirements, programmed to
process a large number of images in the camera in real
time, and to recognise objects or movement on them.
This is what sets them apart from the competition, which
does not ensure the processing of images within the
camera, but with a delay.
“Our major customers are mobile phone manufactur-
ers, who use intelligent cameras for quality control at
the production lines. In mobile phone manufacturing,
they only have a few seconds to scan a product and
determine whether something is wrong with it.
The advantage of our quick cameras is that they
Aleš Gorkič
Branko Čeak/Adria Mobil
can scan products with thousands of images per second
Adria Mobil, a at a resolution of three megapixels,” explained Barbara
leisure vehicle Rakovec Gorkič, the Managing Director of Optomotive.
manufacturer, The person who came up with the idea for the develop-
has been ment of fast intelligent cameras with high computing
winning
British power was her husband, Aleš Gorkič, who, during the
customers research for his doctoral thesis on aluminium laser treat-
with its van ing processes, realised that he needed a smart camera to
from the Twin control the processes and to determine results.
Supreme Optomotive’s intelligent smart cameras are developed
series.
and sold to fit into larger optical 3D systems. Some 90
per cent of their production is sold abroad. Intelligent
cameras are not only an indispensable part of production
processes, but also have a wide range of applications,
adds Barbara Rakovec Gorkič. “Our second largest cus-
tomer uses cameras to analyse human movement after
head injuries, where one has to learn to walk again. With
fast cameras, we also help athletes such as football play-
ers in endurance and knee stability tests. We also cooper-
ate with a company that uses our cameras to review the
quality of railway tracks, and a food company that uses
cameras to scan beverage packaging,” she explained.
Adria Mobil: “We are well-known even in
Australia and Japan”
Optomotive, Only a few Slovenian companies can boast winning
a high-
performance the Customer Satisfaction Award five times in a row as
machine judged by British consumers. One of them is Adria Mobil,
vision camera a manufacturer of campervans, caravans, vans and mo-
manufacturer, bile living units from Novo mesto, and the Overall Winner
has developed of the Gold Customer Satisfaction Award, for which the
a camera that
British market is of fundamental importance. “Travelling
processes
images of the still arouses special feelings in people; these are adven-
manufacturing tures that enrich us, expand our horizons, and change
process in real our worldview. At Adria Mobil, we are convinced that
time, therefore leisure vehicles are the best way to travel and discover
enabling the world. They offer a special experience of freedom,
manufacturers
to avoid spontaneity in route planning, and all the comfort, func-
bottlenecks in tionality and connectivity that customers expect today,”
manufacturing. added Adria Mobil, which ranks among the three largest
On photo: caravanning brands in Europe according to its market
Barbara and share, and is present more widely – the Adria brand is
Aleš Gorkič, also known and “driven” in Australia and Japan.
Optomotive
www.slo-mag.si Slovenia invites you! 15
 Vans and travel vans are currently the biggest hit in
the leisure vehicle industry. Young people are espe-
cially fond of them, and they are becoming increasingly
popular with older couples who are thrilled both by the
level of comfort and easy manageability of the vehicle.
“Certainly, vans are small leisure vehicles, but their er-
gonomic design, which offers a high degree of comfort
for sleeping and living in a small space, is incredibly
attractive. British campervan buyers like to choose
sleeping in separate beds, and are impressed by glass
panoramic roofs that enhance the sense of space,” ex-
plained Adria Mobil. In Great Britain, customers prefer
to buy the Adria Twin Supreme campervan, which last
year impressed the industry media of 16 countries and
won the European Innovation Award (EIA). The stars of
the British market are the series of Matrix campervans
and the Adora caravan.
Kolektor Etra uses artificial intelligence
to grow three times faster than the
competition
Great Britain is also one of the major markets for
Kolektor Etra, a manufacturer of power and generator
transformers. Among their major customers are the
European energy companies E.on, RWE, Vattenfall, EDF,
Statkraft, to name just a few. Their largest single busi-
ness deal has been the supply of 13 transformers for
the largest wind farm on the European continent, built
by the Norwegian company Fosen Vind and scheduled
to be completed in 2020. Kolektor Etra now has a 2 per
cent share in Europe and about 0.5 per cent worldwide.
In the last five years, they have achieved an average
annual sales growth of 15 per cent, which is three times
faster than the average of the competition. They gener-
ate 90 per cent of their revenue abroad, more than
half of which comes from the demanding markets of
Scandinavia. It is also worth mentioning that they enter
foreign markets with their own brand name.
One of their important advantages is the use of
artificial intelligence, which they use primarily as a tool
Vojko Opaskar
16 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si
Jure Makovec
for optimising the individual parameters of the trans-
former. They are paving their way to the world market
Incom, an
with the development and manufacture of power
ice cream
manufacturer, transformers with rated power of up to 500 MVA and a
has made primary voltage of up to 420 kV, which ranks them in
its name by the elite class of power transformers.
manufac­
turing specially Incom rocks on Instagram with rainbow
designed
licensed cones and mermaid cones
cartoon Among all the food businesses operating in Slovenia,
character Incom, an ice cream and frozen dessert manufacturer,
ice cream, is the most export oriented. Last year, as much as 90
including Hello per cent of their total revenue of 55 million was gener-
Kitty, Olaf, ated on foreign markets. Their ice creams are enjoyed
Peppa Pig, and
Minions among by people in as many as 48 countries, from America to
many others. New Zealand, as well as on the British market, where
they cooperate with all the major retail chains, which, in
addition to Germany and the Scandinavian countries, are
among their most demanding markets.
Among their new ice creams, two particularly stand
out – rainbow cones and mermaid cones. The ice creams
combine several flavours, they are rich in colour, and
their rise to stardom on social media, especially Insta-
This is one of gram and Twitter, has been anything but slow. “Last year
the 400-ton we were successful in presenting new flavours in several
transformers markets, including Great Britain and Australia,” said
with which Boštjan Jerončič, Director of Incom.
Kolektor Etra,
In addition to manufacturing ice cream for the largest
manufacturer
of power retail chains in Europe and worldwide, which represents
transformers, the largest part of its business, two years ago the compa-
has entered ny put its own brand of ice cream, Leone, on the market.
the elite class, Incom has made its name by manufacturing specially
where the designed licensed cartoon character ice cream, including
added value
is greater. Hello Kitty, Olaf, Peppa Pig, Minions and many others. It
produces between 140 and 150 million ice cream stick
bars and almost 200 million ice cream cones.
Door manufacturer wins one design
“Oscar” after another in Germany
The family-owned company Pirnar, which ranks among
the best manufacturers of prestigious and innovative en-
trance doors in the world, once again amazed the profes-
sional public with its most recent innovation, the Pirnar
Theatrica Entrance Wall. At the beginning of the year, the
Theatrica impressed the commission of the distinguished
German design council. They won a prestigious German
design award, German Design Award Winner 2019, 2019,
which was the third such accolade for this family-owned
company, followed by the Red Dot Design Award in
March this year, which ranks among the most prestigious
and recognisable design awards in the world. Pirnar, a door
The company likes to emphasise that the Theatrica manufacturer,
Entrance Wall is a technological masterpiece, since it is has received
a contactless and completely automatic entrance door. two
The Theatrica, suitable for passive houses, attracted the prestigious
international
attention of the professional public with the fact that awards for
the owner can open it with just a look. The built-in face the Pirnar
recognition opens and closes the door for the owner, Theatrica
automatically and without a touch. “With Theatrica we Entrance Wall
focus primarily on customers who are innovators at heart – the German
Design Award
and want advanced products, such as those custom-
2019 and
ers who bought their first plasma television and their the Red Dot
first advanced phone 15 years ago. We are particularly Design Award.
pleased that we impressed the commission of the Ger-
man council before the door came to the market,” under-
lined Gašper Pirnar. The series production of Theatrica
is planned in 2020. “The German customers welcomed

Press
our OneTouch door, which received the German Design
Award 2017”.

ADVERTORIAL: ORO MET d.o.o.

ORO MET D.O.O. - MASTERS OF CUSTOM-ENGINEERED

TOOL PLATES, BASED IN SOUTH-WESTERN SLOVENIA
Last year, ORO MET mechanically treated
6,700 tonnes of tool steel and manufactured
approximately 60,000 tool plates for mainly
German toolmakers.
Major buyers of tool plates manufactured at
ORO MET are toolmakers, who need the tool
plates for manufacturing various types of tools
used by manufacturing companies for plastic
injection moulding, aluminium pressure die
casting, sheet metal folding, for manufacturing
cutting and chopping tools, or tools for
manufacturing rubber products.
The majority of tool plates are exported to
Germany, where approximately half of the total
sales are generated. Last year, it increased by
almost a fifth.
60,000 tool plates last year
The main mechanical treatment operations
they perform in manufacturing are milling,
flat-surface grinding, deep drilling, CNC milling
and five-axis CNC-milling, while they also offer
three-dimensional (3D) scanning services.
According to Jernej Pavlin, the company’s
CEO, last year ORO MET mechanically treated
6,700 tonnes of tool steel with just over 80
employees, which is 700 tonnes more than the
previous year, and manufactured approximately
60,000 tool plates for toolmakers. A smaller
proportion of ORO MET’S customers comes from
the field of mechanical engineering.
Two main product lines
The company’s two main product lines are the
ABC and CNC programmes.
The first involves six-sided milling and
grinding tool plates of standard and non- Each tool plate is manufactured on four to six different
machines, both classic and computer controlled CNC machines.
standard dimensions in width, length, and
thickness. According to Bojan Srebot, the company’s
The CNC programme covers the processing Quality Manager, the tool plates in the
of tool plates according to three-dimensional manufacturing process are measured on an on-
(3D) customer models in fine tolerance. going basis and the results are sent to customers
so that they can monitor their progress. Real-time
The quality of tool plates is communication and responsiveness are greatly
measured in real-time appreciated by customers.
One of the factors with which ORO MET
convinces its customers most strongly is their
principal task of manufacturing high-quality tool
plates. www.oromet.si
 View of the second largest
Slovenian city of Maribor from
Shutterstock

Pohorje, Slovenia’ s largest winter

resort
18 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si
What attracts foreign investors to Slovenia?
In Slovenia you will
export
find
companies with
highly educated
employees”
T
he municipality of Komenda with a popu-
lation of just over 6,000 is situated only a
stone’s throw away from the Slovenian capital
Ljubljana. Last year’s average salary was EUR
1,118, which ranked it eighth among 122 Slovenian
municipalities in terms of salary. Also, in terms of
registered unemployment, it was among the better-off
municipalities. Both of these factors can be attributed
to the successful businesses that have their head-
quarters in the business zone that opened its doors in
2012, according to colleagues at our sister magazine
Moje Finance last year.
Komenda is also the place where RLS Merilna
Tehnika set up its headquarters. They are a company
that caters for a particular product niche – they are,
among other things, an exclusive supplier of advanced
position sensors for some of the best-selling robots. In
layman’s terms, they manufacture sensors which help
robots perceive space, control movements, and are
one of the most rapidly-growing parts of the “robot-
ics” market. In recent years, the company RLS Merilna
Tehnika, employing 196 workers, has been able to
boast double-digit revenue growth. They have also
been expanding their portfolio of products and devel-
oping smart sensors for use in autonomous vehicles,
both cars and aircraft.
RLS Merilna Tehnika is run by its co-owner, Slove-
nian entrepreneur Janez Novak, who incidentally has
one of the most common first names and surnames
in Slovenia. Novak owns 50 per cent of the company
and the rest is owned by a renowned manufacturer
of measuring instruments and medical equipment,
the British engineering company Renishaw and its
co-founder David McMurtry, who has been proclaimed
Ireland’s greatest innovator for this year. Novak and
McMurtry met in 1999 and agreed on a partnership –
“we also defined a mission that continues today and
has remained the same as when we set it nearly 20
years ago. While Renishaw opens the door wide open
to our products globally, RLS Merilna Tehnika opens
them in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, and we
work hand-in-hand on the development of new prod-
ucts and technologies,” explains Janez Novak.
www.slo-mag.si Slovenia invites you! 19
 In 1999, David McMurtry,
one of the greatest
Irish innovators and a
co-founder of Renishaw,
a British measuring
instruments manufacturer,
was impressed by
Slovenian expertise. In
2000, Renishaw entered
the shareholding structure
of RLS Merilna Tehnika,
a high-tech company,
which develops and sells
innovative intelligent
sensors for ‘collaborative
robots’. In the photo; Janez
Novak, 50 per cent owner
of RLS Merilna Tehnika, the
Aleš Beno
rest of which is owned by
Renishaw.
“For Renishaw
International,
choosing Slovenia
for the establishment
of a research and
development centre
was an natural choice,
mainly due to the highly
talented graduates
coming from universities
in Ljubljana and Maribor,
Slovenia’s second largest
city,“ stressed Jon Fuge,
Managing Director
of Renishaw Tehnični
Inženiring.
“In Slovenia, it is
not unusual to find
companies or employees
in the country or atop
a hill, cooperating with
global players of the
industry and creating
high value-added
products for them,“
emphasised Briton Jon
Locke, vice-president of
the second largest bank
in Slovenia, NKBM.
Jure Makovec
20 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si
Slovenia – European robotics hotspot
Slovenia has a number of surprises up its sleeve in
various sectors and boasts several companies that are
involved in robotics or creating solutions useful in robot
construction and production automation processes.
Perhaps the most well-known among them is the
Japanese multinational Yaskawa, which opened its new
European industrial robot company in April this year in
Slovenia’s Kočevje region, near the Slovenian-Croatian
border, and chose Slovenia as its European centre for
the development of robotics. When Yaskawa began to
search for the location of their new factory in Europe
four years ago, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia
were potential candidates, but in the end, the small-
est of the candidates was chosen – Slovenia, with its
population of only two million people. Yaskawa started
production of six-axis industrial robots this year in
Kočevje. Until now, the robots have been transported
from Japan to Slovenia, where they have been adapted
to the requirements of individual customers – now they
are manufacted in Slovenia.
Yaskawa is not the only multinational company to
expand to Slovenia. A few months ago, the Austrian-Ca-
nadian automotive multinational Magna Steyr started
a trial production run at the other end of Slovenia, near
the Slovenian-Austrian border. The automotive giant
has set up a car refinishing facility in Slovenia, but their
plans are much bigger – in the second phase, they plan
to set up a car factory. The Swiss company Lonstroff,
which is part of the Japanese company Sumitomo Rub-
ber Industry, has also chosen Slovenia to expand their
business. Sumitomo is building a medicine elastomers
factory In Slovenia, to name just one of the most
resounding examples of foreign investments in the last
three years.
Stable political and economic
environment
Although with its population of two million people,
Slovenia is a small consumer market and as such is not
a natural influx market for foreign investments, it has at-
tracted a number of important investors in recent years.
According to the analysts of the Bank of Slovenia, this
has captured the dynamics of incoming foreign direct
investments in the new EU member states, which is a
major step forward for Slovenia. This is also reflected in
the level of foreign direct investments growth. The latter
have been growing since 2014, and according to the
Bank of Slovenia, their volume increased from 8.9 billion
(£7.9 billion) to just over 13 billion euros (£11.6 billion)
from 2013 to the middle of last year.
In addition to the fact that Slovenia is part of the so-
called First Speed Europe, a member of the EU, NATO,
OECD, Schengen area, and a member of the Eurozone
since 2007, its main asset in attracting foreign capital
are its workforce, says Jon Locke, chief risk officer and
vice-president of the NKMB bank’s management board.
“Slovenia has highly educated employees in strongly
specialised niches, either related to engineering, the
automotive industry, computer skills, pharmaceutical
technologies, high-tech production, biotechnology, or
something completely different. Nearly 80 per cent of
Slovenia’s products are exported, with the expertise and
skills of the export-oriented Slovenians in the back-
ground. In Slovenia, it is not unusual to find companies
or employees in the country or atop a hill, cooperat-
ing with global players of the industry and creating
high value-added products for them,” notes Locke. The trade between Slovenia
banker has a good understanding of the business en-
vironment of Central and Eastern Europe, having lived and the United Kingdom
and worked outside Great Britain for almost 25 years.
Before joining the NKMB management team two and has been increasing again
half years ago, he worked in Romania, Slovakia, Croatia,
and Hungary. since 2014. According to the
For the British multinational Renishaw, too, the
knowledge of its employees is among the most British-Slovenian Chamber of
important factors involved in expanding to Slovenia.
Renishaw in Slovenia is not only a co-owner of the com-
pany RLS Merilna Tehnika, but in 2015 it also opened
Commerce, the two countries
Renishaw Tehnični inženiring, its high-tech research and
development centre at the Faculty of Electrical Engi-
exchanged goods worth more
neering of the University of Ljubljana.
“In Renishaw, we decided to establish a new research
than a billion euros (£890
and development centre in Slovenia on the basis of
more than 20 years of very good cooperation with the
million) for the first time last
Laboratory of Microelectronics at the Faculty of Electri-
cal Engineering. Renishaw’s location in Slovenia was a
year, nearly 1.5 billion euros
logical choice, thanks largely to highly talented gradu-
ates coming from universities in Ljubljana and the sec-
(£1.32 billion) together with
ond biggest Slovenian city Maribor,” stresses Jon Fuge,
Managing Director of Renishaw Tehnični inženiring. services.
When Renishaw Tehnični inženiring opened four years
ago, their team started out with four employees. Today,
it consists of 14 members and 6 students, among them
12 engineers.

Slovenia at the intersection of two

important European corridors
Among the important advantages of Slovenia, Locke
highlights a stable political and economic environment
and good connection with European markets. “Slove-
nia is perfectly connected with Germany, Austria, Italy,
where the most Slovenian exports are headed, and it
also has good rail and road links,” he explains, adding
that quality of life is also excellent. “Although its size is a
little over 20,000 square kilometres, Slovenia offers op-
portunities galore. One will find hills and mountains, and
bump into a hidden castle or homestead and rich culture
in literally every little town. Very quickly, in just a few
hours, you can reach Milan, Venice, Vienna or Dubrovnik
by car,” he points out. Foreign companies in Slovenia also
appreciate the multilingualism, the ability to work in a
multicultural environment, and digital literacy.
An important advantage in attracting foreign invest-
ment is Slovenia’s geostrategic position between West-
ern and South-Eastern Europe and excellent logistical
connections with regional and European markets. Luka
Koper, a Slovenian port that boasts the largest container
terminal on the Adriatic, plays an important part in this.
Two important transport corridors intersect in Slovenia –
the fifth, linking Lisbon with Kiev, and the tenth, linking
Munich to the Greek port of Thessaloniki. In the vicinity
of Ljubljana,around Brnik Airport, owned by the German
Fraport, a central storage and distribution centre for the
Central and Eastern region is being created.
A new record in trade between Slovenia
and Great Britain
For Slovenia, which is a highly export-oriented economy,
every million generated in foreign markets counts, and
the importance of trade cooperation with Great Britain
is already indicated by the fact that Slovenians exported
about the same amount of goods there last year as to
the United States of America. Trade between Slovenia
and Great Britain has been growing since 2014. Last year,
for the first time in history, it surpassed one billion euros
(£902 million) and it reached almost 1.5 billion euros
(£1.35 billion) if we include services. Last year, Slovenia’s
exports to Great Britain rose by 11 per cent and in com-
parison to the year before, by 14 per cent, according to
the British-Slovenian Chamber of Commerce.

www.slo-mag.si Slovenia invites you! 21

 A Quick Guide to Slovenia’s Capital – Ljubljana

How to spend
3 to 48
hours
in the City of
Dragons
Shutterstock

22 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si

 W
hen you visit Slovenia do not miss its
capital, Ljubljana, which is considered
one of the most beautiful, and at the
same time smallest, European capitals
with only 280,000 inhabitants. Its hidden gems have
been uncovered by an increasing number of tourists
from far and wide, who like to describe Ljubljana as
“green, peaceful, and cosy.”
Years ago a fellow journalist, Jaka Lucu, eloquently
painted the picture as to why Ljubljana is a touristic
treasure trove. Let us borrow his words for the introduc-
tion: “Ljubljana does not have the high-gear energy of
Manhattan in New York, yet New York does not have the
breezy comfort of Ljubljana. This breezy comfort can be
a sign of a lack of ambition, but it can also be a sign of
a high quality of life. Gross free time in New York equals
net free time in Ljubljana.”

The
Slovenian
capital boasts
138% growth of
tourist arrivals
generated in
the last 8
years.

Shutterstock

How many virgins are left in Ljubljana?

If you plan to spend just a few hours in Ljubljana, it is
best to have a stroll around the charming old town and
feel the pulse of the city, as residents of Ljubljana like to
describe the medieval part of the capital. Ljubljana Old
Town is in fact a long street, crammed between Castle
Hill and the Ljubljanica River, crossed by picturesque
bridges. Two bridges stand out – the much-celebrated
Triple Bridge, designed by the greatest Slovenian
architect Jože Plečnik, and the much-loved Dragon

www.slo-mag.si Slovenia invites you! 23

 If you want
to spend the
weekend like
a Ljubljana
local, be sure
to drop by the
food market
with a catchy
name, “Open
Kitchen.”

Aleš Beno
stretching below. In the castle you can also peek at the
You cannot
say you have Museum of Puppetry or explore the fate of the prison-
visited Ljubljana ers who were held in the castle dungeon. Foodies will
without seeing be catered to inside the castle walls, while thrill-seekers
the old city will love the escape room, where their knightly skills,
centre and including fighting a dragon guarding the city, will be
Ljubljana Castle. put to the test. It takes about twenty minutes to walk
Most of the top
attractions can up Castle Hill. The castle can be reached from all direc-
be explored on tions, but paths leading up from the Old Town are the
foot, since they most popular.
Jure Makovec

are only a short
distance apart.
Bridge, adorned with dragon statues, which have been
a huge hit on Instagram. Legend has it that when a vir-
gin crosses the bridge the dragons will wag their tails.
Tour guides love to share this legend and claim that
apparently there is not a single virgin left in Ljubljana.
A dragon, the symbol of Ljubljana, is depicted on the
municipal flag of Ljubljana and the coats of arms. Drag-
ons can also be found on the Ljubljana municipality’s
registration plates and on the bottle labels of Union, the
oldest brewery in Ljubljana.
Ljubljana Old Town will enchant you with its narrow
cobblestone streets, almost unchanged from medieval
times, but it was the Baroque era that contributed most
significantly to the appearance of the historic centre.
You can reach Ljubljana Castle, only a stone’s throw
from the old town, by using the funicular or one of the
many pathways leading up the hill.
The castle’s Viewing Tower is the real feather in its
cap. It offers a 360-degree panoramic view of the city
Ljubljana is described as “The City with the Green
Soul.” Slovenia’s capital boasts a collective 542 square
metres of green space. Some of those green spaces can
be found in the historic part of the city, which has been
closed to traffic by the city authorities for more than
a decade. Ljubljana has transformed the streets into a
pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly oasis. It was well worth
it, since Ljubljana won the title of European Green
Capital 2016. However, it does not end there – Ljubljana
has won numerous international sustainable tourism
awards, including the Best of Cities award at ITB Berlin,
the world’s largest tourism trade fair. You can rent a bike
for a few euros per day or become a user of Bicikelj, a
bicycle-sharing system (bicikelj.si). The first hour is free,
and the second hour costs one euro.
Another freebie in Ljubljana is its refreshing summer
rain. Ljubljana-based artist, Zmago Modic, created an
installation of artificial rain, which cools off the passers-
by in Prešernov Trg Square, named after Slovenia’s na-
tional poet, France Prešeren. Tourists were so delighted
by the artificial rain that the city authorities decided
to make it “The area with Ljubljana’s own weather,” as
Modic named his brainchild.

24 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si

Paddle through the city centre on an SUP
board or canoe
If you are planning a longer stay in Ljubljana, you might
want to see the charms of the city from a different per-
spective by joining a boat cruise on the Ljubljanica River.
The façades of the Baroque and Secessionist buildings
in the Old Town reflect on the river’s surface, glowing in
an entirely new light, while the boat takes you under the
bridges, some of the town’s most impressive features. Al-
lot an hour for a boat tour – the round trip lasts approxi-
mately 50 minutes. In summertime, adventure seekers
can paddle on the lazy, green river through the very
heart of town.
Spend Saturday like a true local and head out early to
Ljubljana’s Central Market. There you will find numerous
Slovenian farms offering their own products. Then treat
yourself to a cup of coffee at one of the many cafés along
the banks of the Ljubljanica River. Only a ten-minute
walk from the city centre brings you to a renovated Lju-
bljanica River embankment, called “Špica.” It used to be
a town beach, and not much has changed – now it is a
place attracting numerous locals and visitors wanting to
bask in the sun when the weather agrees. There you can
also join organised dance nights in the summer. If you
are fond of plants, cross the Špica Footbridge, and you
will find yourself in front of the Ljubljana Botanic Garden.
Lunch on the go
Do not pass up the opportunity to see an abundance of
open-air cultural and musical events and festivals. Before
you travel to Slovenia, look up the Ljubljana Festival line-
up, which marks every summer with its rich programme
of opera, concert and ballet events. In addition to the
Ljubljana Festival, which lasts from the end of June to the
end of September, a number of other exciting festivals
take place around Slovenia.
If you are an art lover, visit the National Gallery, a mu-
seum of historical art, which holds the country’s largest
collection of fine art from the High Middle Ages to the
Jure Makovec
haven for passionate shoppers, teeming with eye-catch-
ing boutiques and avant-garde design shop windows.
Fashion aficionados would be well-advised to stop by
Galerija Emporium, a shoe and accessories Mecca, or the
Maxi and Nama department stores.
Hostel Celica – one of the most
remarkable hostels in the world
Poke into hidden nooks and crannies with points of inter-
est and spots for hanging out dotted around Ljubljana,
all within walking distance from each other. Most hotels
are situated in the very heart of, or only a few steps away,
from the city centre. In the last few years, Ljubljana has
become richer by way of a host of new boutique hotels, as
well as an ever-increasing offer of Airbnb accommodation.
If you like quirky and unique buildings, top off your
short trip around the capital at Metelkova Mesto
Alternative Culture Centre, home to the cult Celica Art
Hostel. Once a military prison, today it’s one of the most
intriguing youth hostels in the world. What makes it
stand out are the 20 former prison cells, which have been
transformed into unique artistic hostel rooms with the
original prison bars on windows and doors. It is one of
Ljubljana’s most distinctive tourist attractions, and the
81 per cent occupancy in the second half of the year il-
lustrates its popularity best. The voguish hostel has been
honoured with multiple international awards and was
included in the “Top 25 Ultimate Experiences – Places to
Stay” by Rough Guides.
In Ljubljana
you can
paddle
through the
city centre on
a SUP board.

20th century. The Museum of Modern Art, MG+, houses

a permanent collection of 20th century Slovene art. The
main pedestrian entrance to Tivoli, Ljubljana’s largest
and most beautiful park, is only a stone’s throw away.
Do not fear being hungry in Ljubljana. Lose yourself
in countless restaurants and pubs that can be found at If you crave
adventure you
literally every step, along with a bounty of authentic can spend the
traditional Slovenian food. night behind
Slovenian cuisine is colourful and diverse, influenced bars! Celica
not only by the tastes of the Balkans, but also permeated Art Hostel in
by the culinary traditions of Italy, Austria, and Hungary. Ljubljana is a
former military
Every self-respecting capital has a local street food
prison with a
market. This, of course, holds true for Ljubljana, which cult following.
proudly advertises its own, Open Kitchen, at which top Twenty former
chefs gather to present passers-by with mouth-watering prison cells
Slovenian culinary delights, exquisite wines, and local have been
craft beer. transformed into
unique artistic
Visiting Open Kitchen on Friday afternoons in the hostel rooms
summer is a must, but do not forget to arm yourself with with the original
patience while waiting to get your order. Ljubljana Old prison bars on
Town, now open only to pedestrians and cyclists, is a windows and
doors.

www.slo-mag.si Slovenia invites you! 25

 6 ideas for a day trip from Slovenia’s
capital Ljubljana
Bled: an alpine lake that boasts the only Slovenian island
If you only have time for a single day trip from Ljubljana, we recommend that you visit Bled and its lake,
surrounded by the Alps and close to the Slovenian-Austrian border. Lake Bled was formed after the glacial
retreat and is one of the most visited and photographed sights in Slovenia. The lake boasts the only island
in Slovenia and a huge steep cliff 139 metres above the lake with a medieval castle perched on top, from
which you can look at the lake surface mirroring the surrounding mountains. In addition to walking in
unspoiled nature, Bled offers bathing in the thermal springs, which are part of the swimming pool complex in
Bled. The drive from Ljubljana to Bled takes around 40 minutes. Slovenians, who are committed to sustainable
and green tourism, have banned motorboats on Lake Bled.

Piran – the most beautiful city of Mediterranean Slovenia is a mini-Venice

The old Mediterranean and port town of Piran is one of the most colourful places on the Slovenian
coast. Slovenians proudly call it mini-Venice, because the town has preserved the medieval layout of
streets with their tightly packed houses that give the place a special charm. It is also worth climbing
the town walls, which offer a magnificent view of the town, the sea, and Italy in the distance. St.
George’s Parish Church sits high on a hill above the town and dominates Piran with its bell tower,
which was completed during a period of Venetian influence in the 17th century and is a smaller scale
copy of the San Marco Campanile in Venice. In Piran, you can also indulge yourself with a diverse array
of seafood in the restaurants along the seashore, although many visit Piran for its saltpans. The drive
from Ljubljana to Piran lasts about 90 minutes.
Podčetrtek - wellness tourism, the deer farm, pharmacy and monastery...
Nature has blessed Slovenia with thermal water, which is why medical and spa tourism is very prominent
here. Last year, the town of Podčetrtek near the Slovenian-Croatian border with its inviting spa Terme Olimia
was named the greenest sustainable destination in Europe, and this year it has earned the title of European
Destination of Excellence. Close to Podčetrtek and Terme Olimia Spa lies the tiny village of Olimje with
its Minorite monastery and one of the oldest pharmacies in Europe. Tourists love to visit Jelenov Greben
homestead, known for its 100-head free-roaming herd of deer and mouflons, which can be fed with corn
and seen close-up. The drive from Ljubljana to Podčetrtek takes almost two hours.

Goriška Brda – Slovenian Tuscany for wine enthusiasts

Just a short distance from the Slovenian-Italian border, you will find the Goriška Brda region, and there is
a reason why it is called Slovenian Tuscany. This wonderful landscape captivates you with its medieval
villages and hills sprawling with vineyards, fruit trees, and centuries-old dark green cypresses. In
addition to breathtaking views, it also offers numerous opportunities for wine tasting and enjoying
local delicacies such as dry-cured ham, pancetta, goat’s cheese, asparagus, polenta, and many others.
In the heart of Goriška Brda there are numerous villages, such as Dobrovo, Vipolže and Šmartno,
which is considered to be one of the most beautifully preserved villages in Slovenia. When the sky is
clear, you can enjoy the stunning view of the Slovenian Alps, Italian Dolomites, and the Gulf of Trieste
from the nearby 23-metre-high Gonjače lookout tower with its 144 stairs.

Lipica – the cradle of white dancing Lipizzaner Horses

Lipica Stud Farm, home to the famous white Lipizzaner horses, is only an hour’s drive from Ljubljana. The
stud farm was established in 1580 and is the oldest and largest stud farm in the world to breed the same
horses without interruption. You can visit the stables at Lipica Stud Farm and see the Lipizzaner horses,
while several times a week from April until October you can marvel at the famous dancing figures of the
elegant horses in shows presented by the Lipica Classical Riding School. Today, Lipica is home to almost 400
purebred Lipizzaner horses and one of the most beautiful and popular tourist destinations in Slovenia. On
guided tours, experienced guides will tell you about the special features of Lipica and the Lipizzaner horses.
However, you can also tour the estate by yourself, and the Lipica Guide mobile application is there to help
you. There is a playground in the park as well.

The Škocjan Caves – karst world from UNESCO’s list of natural and cultural world
heritage sites
About 70 kilometres from Ljubljana, the wonderful underground kingdom that is Škocjan Caves is
hiding. It is a nearly six-kilometre-long cave system, a true maze of unusual dripstones and burbling
waterfalls, underground gorges, chasms, narrow passageways and giant halls that the Reka River has
created over many thousands of years. The largest of the halls is the stunning Martel Hall, 314 metres
long and up to 158 metres high. The Škocjan Caves were included in UNESCO’s list in 1986 and the
members of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee were most impressed by the Šumec Cave, from
which one can hear the load roaring of the underground Reka River and where as many as 25 river
waterfalls can be seen in the summer. The quiet cave boasts mighty dripstone formations, the most
famous being the 15-metre-high stalagmites «Giant» and «Organ».

26 Slovenia invites you! www.slo-mag.si

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