During the introductory part of the conference, Prime Minster Marjan Šarec welcomed all in attendance, and later in the day the participants discussed the development and political dilemmas and challenges, and presented their achievements and future plans for industrial policy. The unifying theme of the conference was the vision of a green, creative, smart and cooperative industry of the future.

The prime minister initially noted that at today’s conference we are not only looking for the challenges of the future, but above all the solutions for them. “I am not going to repeat words like sustainable development, internet services and others that we hear every day; I want to focus on the human dimension. Are we people who are capable of doing this? Are we people who are capable in our positions, either in business or government, of making decisions on this?” asked the prime minister.

He noted that “everything that we see at the exhibition here requires energy. Energy is a field in which a lot of questions will have to be answered”, and stated that in the history of independent Slovenia we have made several investment errors, among which he mentioned the TEŠ 6 project. He emphasised that we have to allow ourselves to think about how we will supply energy in the future and at the same time meet the ambitious targets of green policies, as we have a lot of reservations regarding both wind and hydro power plants, and also regarding solar energy. “I wonder where we will find the energy so that the amazing things that we saw outside today will be able to function. It will be difficult without electricity, and Slovenia is undoubtedly at a crossroads, in both the industrial and energy fields, like the rest of the world,” he said, and added that we have to find solutions to these challenges as soon as possible.

“Throughout history, the question has been whether you are going to be the hunter or the hunted. And you of course are clearly hunters. You are hunters for innovation and creativity, and I believe that you are capable of moving this country forward, so that over time we will forget about the consequences of past decisions and focus on the future, when everyone will not just be looking at their wallet, but asking what they can do for their country,” concluded the prime minister.

In the courtyard and on the terrace of the conference centre the prime minister also viewed an exhibition of creative, green, smart and interactive products. The exhibitions on display included humanoid and collaborative robots, 3D printing, a search and rescue vehicle, mobile VR stations, a smart window, EcoCraft, AR technologies, drones and a flight simulator.