Corporate social responsibility

The project we are most proud of this year is the camp for gifted children that we organized on Sljeme. For five days, twenty elementary school children aged from third to fifth grade enjoyed excellent lectures and interesting workshops on the topic of science and technology at the Mala Hunjka mountain lodge. They studied meteorology, 3D drawing, IoT and drones with Nikola Vikić-Topić, Bojan Branisavljević, Robert Ljubek and Zvonimir Anić. We were helped in the organization by the wonderful teams from the Komunikacijski laboratorij and the association Dar i Vjetar u leđa.

You can see how the first HSM summer camp for gifted children went here.

The main focus of our corporate social responsibility program in 2021 was the scholarships for high school students with disabilities, which we launched a year earlier. The applications that would arrive for the tenders have shown us the need for such initiatives, but also the incredible enthusiasm of young people and their ambitious goals despite the frequent obstacles they face. Their motivational letters soon became our motivation to make these contests a tradition.

In addition, we remained determined to support the groups in need. That’s why we continued with donations to associations that help the homeless and poor families, such as the Fajter and Dom nade associations in Croatia, and the Pomoć Srpskoj Deci and Lice ulice associations in Serbia.

And so came events of 2020 – the year no one could have predicted. Zagreb was hit by the strongest earthquake in the last 140 years and the remediation of buildings damaged by the earthquake was further complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. Members of HGSS Zagreb were a part of the process of stabilizing damaged chimneys and rooftops that threatened to collapse. Clearly they were underequipped so we’ve decided to support them financially and help the purchase the necessary equipment. On top of that we chipped in for the Novak Djokovic Foundation in their efforts to procure the necessary medical equipment in Belgrade.

It is clear that general quality of education in Croatia is still subpar. For some of our youth the problem lies in access to education. But more often than not, the problem lies with outdated or inadequate school infrastructure, especially in the area of IT equipment. This is why we continuously support schools like the one in Virovitica, where we’ve donated projectors and response cards and thus turned student education into a more interactive one. Projectors have enabled pupils to better see classic Powerpoint slides, but also to venture into video projects and different multimedia content. The response card clickers turned out to be an ideal system for quickly testing student’s knowledge and measure class attendance. Due to their interactivity and ease of use, the school turned pop quizzes into a fun and quick way to motivate students.

A few students in the Stenjevec elementary school have achieved impressive results year after year in various robotics competitions and consequently took part in the MakeX Robotics competition in Zagreb, where they competed among the cream of the Croatian Makers League. The students won first place in this national competition and earned the opportunity to represent Croatia in Shenzhen, China, at the MakeX Global Final 2018, the world’s best advanced robotics competition! HSM sponsored one of the student’s participation in the competition and we were positively overwhelmed with all the new knowledge and experiences the team brought back with them!

We simply loved the goals of an organization that encourages development of digital competencies of teachers and students and aims to contribute to the development of an inclusive, innovative and secure society. Of course they were on our radar. Part of HSM’s strategic activities has always been to encourage interactive education and digital competencies in educational institutions. By supporting the work of this association, HSM contributes to a common goal – development of an advanced and innovative society.

There are three basic dimensions of sustainable development: society, environment and the economy. Our goal has always been to provide support to vulnerable groups at one end, and contribute to global goals of sustainable development at the other. Sindikat biciklista is a volunteer association committed to improving the conditions for the use of bicycles as an efficient, sustainable and healthy mean of transport. They advocate and work to transform cities into clean, safe and comfortable green cities. They also bring together experts in fields of transport, urbanism, energy efficiency and ecology. These are goals and values that HSM can fully stands behind! So we’ve supported them financially and are very proud about it. Quality of urban life for the win.