Slavica Singer

J.J. Strossmayer University, Croatia

Slavica Singer is a professor in strategy and entrepreneurship and the head of entrepreneurial studies (undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate level) at the J.J. Strossmayer University in Osijek, Croatia. Educational background: BA in Economics, University of Zagreb, Croatia 1965; MS in Industrial Management, Purdue University, In., U.S.A., 1972; PhD in Economics, University of Zagreb, Croatia, 1975.

Her focus on entrepreneurship and SMEs was intensified through and after the war in 1990-1995, seeing it as an important vehicle for solving problems of developmental setbacks. From 2002 she leads the Croatian Global Entrepreneurship Monitor research team. Her educational and training activities are divided between university level educational programs and executive seminars and trainings through the Center for Entrepreneurship, established as an NGO, outside of the University. In year 2000 she and her team were pioneering entrepreneurship education in Croatia, by starting the first graduate program in entrepreneurship. In 2011, the doctoral program ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATIVENESS enrolled the first cohort of 30 students, as a result of EU funded collaborative efforts of five universities (Osijek, Croatia; Turku, Finland; Maribor, Slovenia; Klagenfurt, Austria and Durham, UK).

She is a member of Croatian Competitiveness Council and Club of Rome – Croatian Chapter, Country (Croatia) Vice President of European Council of Small Business, and she leads CEPOR, SMEs Think Tank. Slavica is chairing the board of directors of the microfinance institution NOA, Croatia. Her research activities are focused on regional development, Triple Helix concept of cooperation between university, business sector and government as well as on entrepreneurship education.

For her contributions to the development of university based entrepreneurship education (entrepreneurship across campus) with a transdisciplinary approach and international promotion of entrepreneurship education, she was awarded with the UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship in 2008 and she was awarded with a honorary doctorate by the University of Turku, Turku School of Economics in 2010.