News

They’re exporting to Antarctica too!

Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Slovene newspaper Dnevnik is starting a series of presentations of global high-tech companies, recognized as incredible by Technology Park Ljubljana. 
 
Do you know what engineering heaven looks like? From afar, it’s very silent and motionless, maybe even desolate. For example, Technology Park Ljubljana sometimes seems too quiet and calm. But that’s only on the outside, the technology is practically bursting at the seams on the inside. You can only see it if they trust you nearly as much as they trust their own moms. It is our privilege to learn about these stories first-hand, including the technologies and incredible individuals.
 
Let’s outline the group of eight companies that we call The G8 of Technology Park or TopTech for short. Why TopTech? Because they are 100-percent top and 100-percent tech. Years ago, they started their growth as garage companies. Many had barely survived their first steps, but today they are companies with up to 200 employees. They have between 3 and 21 million euros in annual revenue and an export of around 95 percent. Not to our Southern brothers, however, their exports are to the most demanding markets – US, Japan, Germany … These companies are like a House of Experiments, but one for development minds, for crazy scientists and for “mad”, daring designers. All with a global reach.
 
In these companies, developers form up to 85 percent of all employees. Can you imagine? In order for a collective of a hundred people to support 85 developers, something needs to be very right with the technology! Together, this crew of eight companies is exporting to all continents. Once, when we were having coffee, my mind was blown when I found out that three of the eight companies are even exporting to Antarctica. And one amongst those that joined recently is exporting “to Mars” – you certainly recognized that one. Could the technology even be more out of this world?  
 

Who are the G8?

EKWB – a premium global brand of cooling components for high-performance gaming computers and industrial computers.

Cosylab – control systems for atomic accelerators, telescopes, fusion power stations and proton therapy for cancer patients.

Elaphe – in-wheel propulsion engines for electric cars, generating 100 horsepower in each wheel.

XLAB – remote computer access (ISL Online) and combining academic research with industrial technologies.

Optotek – ophthalmic laser devices for eye surgeries, for hospitals across the world.

Sensum – computer vision devices for supervising the quality of the manufactured tablets and capsules in global pharmaceutical companies.

Biosistemika – software solutions for lab management and pharmaceutical research.

Geneplanet – preventive genetic analyses for illnesses, diet, and sports (healthy lifestyle).

Duol – air-supported structures for sports, the industry, agriculture, and space missions. It is one of the companies that joined the G8 later.
As you can see, we included two startups companies into the G8, because they are growing so fast that they will pierce three million euros in turnover this year already.
 
In the future, we will see what the best moves and achievements of these companies were, how they’re leading, what their technological kicker is, which global trends they’re riding … Why is it important for us to know them and for me to write about them? Because engineering is in the Slovenian DNA and we too often forget to show our children what’s in our blood. If we follow our noses, which have a strong taste for world-class technology, we can’t miss the goal – neither as a country nor as individuals. When we are done, they will be even bigger, because many of them grow by at least a fifth every year, despite their size. Some even a lot faster. And now back to the national tech hub … where, as Betty Hutton and Björk sang, “it’s oh so quiet”.

 

The full article is available at Dnevnik.si (in Slovene).