This year, the Croatian Academy of Engineering entered its 30th year of existence. It was founded on January 19, 1993, as a non-governmental, independent, non-partisan, and non-profit association, and in 2009 it received the status of a scientific organization. In the total of 14 departments, it currently has 81 full members, 91 associate members, 86 emeritus members, 19 international members, and 9 honorary members. These are truly excellent scientists and engineers, who represent a significant driving force of Croatian society. There are also 9 members from the industry and 64 supporting members, significant companies, and scientific-educational institutions.

Owing to the dedicated work of previous administrations and five previous presidents, the Academy has gained a great social reputation. Nevertheless, we believe that there are opportunities for improvement. We believe that in the Republic of Croatia, after decades of neglecting the importance of production and industry, the consciousness is increasingly growing that the future of the country cannot depend solely on tourism and trade, but that we will be able to achieve betterment only through greater investments in production and reindustrialization, whereby by the concepts of production and reindustrialization we primarily consider high-tech activities, where the product is not exclusively a material thing, but also knowledge, patent, energy or software. The COVID pandemic, which is still, unfortunately, not behind us, has shown that high-tech companies have proven to be by far the most resilient and that they have managed to grow even in the most difficult times for the economy.

That is why the Academy will, in the following period, work intensively to raise the awareness that it is illusory to expect prosperity in the near or distant future without production and that it is crucial to invest in development and science to achieve any serious production in the 21st century. We will try to connect even more closely with the industry, engage in the Academy a greater number of industry-based scientists, and be a cohesive factor between the industry and the Croatian scientific community, a factor that will encourage participation in joint projects and in the development of national strategic documents important for the development of the engineering profession and the development of the Croatian economy and society. We will endeavor to act together towards the legislatures, with a clear opinion about current topics related to the technical profession. We will work on the inclusion of our publications in the relevant databases, on the development of the Technical Encyclopedia and the Technical Dictionary, on the promotion of the Croatian Qualifications Framework, and on active participation in the process of education of engineers. We will continue with the active role of the Academy in international associations, primarily within Euro-CASE and CAETS, but also through bilateral cooperation with foreign technical academies. We will also intensify cooperation with other Croatian professional academies and the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

All this is impossible to achieve if only the management or department secretaries work on it, and therefore we ask that, in accordance with their affinities, all members of the Academy become more intensively engaged in all these activities.

Prof. Vedran Mornar, PhD