STeP Ri — Science and Technology Park of the University of Rijeka

STeP Ri (Znanstveno-tehnologijski park Sveučilišta u Rijeci) is the Science and Technology Park of the University of Rijeka, founded in August 2008 with support from the City of Rijeka, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County and the national innovation agency BICRO — the first university-founded science and technology park in Croatia.

To help researchers and entrepreneurs turn university knowledge into business by advising on commercialisation, incubating spin-off companies, and managing intellectual-property protection, licensing and commercialisation for the University of Rijeka.

STeP Ri advises researchers, scientists and novice entrepreneurs, incubates spin-off companies, manages IP protection and licensing for the university, and has operated as an Enterprise Europe Network partner since 2011.

From 2013 through the end of 2019, STeP Ri advised 1,357 companies, scientists and novice entrepreneurs. Since 2010 it has contracted more than 50 projects worth over 225 million kuna (around EUR 30 million) in total, of which STeP Ri's own share was 21 million kuna. It has been self-sustaining since 2013 through space rental, consulting and project-implementation revenue, and was named Croatia's best entrepreneurial support institution in 2012.

The reported figures cover advisory reach and contracted project value rather than an independently audited count of spin-offs created or jobs generated, and the organisation remains small (around a dozen staff as of 2023). It nonetheless stands as Croatia's first university-anchored technology-transfer institution, sustaining a multi-level public partnership and EU project pipeline for over 15 years.