About Us

Who is behind the Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and why we do what we do.

About the Institute

The Institute for Artificial Intelligence was founded in September 2024 in Zagreb. It grew out of a concrete need: the Croatian market had plenty of talk about AI, but few places where you could actually go and learn to use it. Not talk about it. Use it. That distinction still defines everything we do.

The focus from day one: putting AI tools to practical use. Our participants don’t sit and listen about AI. They use it, right away, on their own work.

One-on-one workshops +

In person in Zagreb or online over Zoom. For people who want to learn to use AI in their own work, whatever their industry or background. 10 hours, 5 sessions, hands-on from the first minute.

Superhuman for developer teams +

A program for teams who already work with code but want AI as a daily tool. Claude Code, automating repetitive tasks, building AI into the development workflow. On your projects, with your code, on production work from day one.

EU AI Act consulting +

AI system inventory, risk classification, staff training under Article 4, and preparation of internal documentation. A guide for Croatian companies available on the web.

Beyond our own programs, we work with IEDC Bled School of Management on executive education content about artificial intelligence. The area we cover: Croatia and the European Union.

Founder

Patricija Topić

PhD AI Researcher

Doctoral candidate in the joint doctoral program Business Economics in the Digital Environment (Sveučilište u Dubrovniku and Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Faculty of Economics). Her research examines how well business needs line up with the real patterns of how people use AI assistants in knowledge and information work. Specifically: through which motivational mechanisms AI assistants act as work resources, and why the same tool sparks engagement in some employees and resistance in others.

Education

Doctoral program: Business Economics in the Digital Environment +

Sveučilište u Dubrovniku, joint program with Sveučilište u Zagrebu (EFZG). Research on how AI assistants function as work resources for employees engaged in knowledge and information work, integrating self-determination theory (SDT) and the job demands–resources model (JD-R).

Master’s: Strategic Communication (summa cum laude) +

Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb. top student of her class, with 5 consecutive Dean’s Awards (2015–2020) and a four-year scholarship for academic excellence. Her master’s thesis also led to a publication with Springer (a book chapter).

Specialist program: Corporate Finance +

RRiF Visoka škola za financijski menadžment (RRiF College of Financial Management). Thesis on the taxation of cryptocurrencies in the Republic of Croatia. A blend of financial expertise and technology that she now puts to work with companies on AI implementation and EU AI Act compliance.

Secondary music school (piano) +

Completed secondary music school as a piano major. Seven years playing in the Krsto Odak tamburica orchestra. People who combine analytical and creative thinking approach problems differently, and it shows in how she structures her workshops: an engineer’s precision, a musician’s intuition.

Certifications

IBM Generative AI Fundamentals

IBM AI Developer Specialization

IBM Data Analytics Professional

Media

Dobro jutro, Hrvatska (HRT) Nova TV HRT Studio 4

When Croatian media need expert commentary on artificial intelligence, they call us.

Talks and conferences

IEDC Bled School of Management Sveučilište u Bambergu (University of Bamberg, DE) Canon Inspiration Days 2025 MICEB 2025, Budva CROSS-REIS Forum Slush’d Conference Zagreb Women in Adria Verlab Institute Edward Bernays University College EFZG Financial Literacy Week

Profiles and publications

LinkedIn ORCID Google Scholar ResearchGate

The approach

No slides. No theory that makes your head hurt. From the very first session you work on your own tasks, with your own tools, in your own context.

Most people have tried AI. Far fewer use it every day. The difference isn’t talent or background. It comes down to whether someone sat down next to you and said: “Here, this is how.”

That’s what we do. We sit down next to people and show them how.

The difference between us and the average AI course: we don’t sell an “AI mindset” and we don’t talk about the future of work. We work on the present. Your Excel, your CRM, your IDE, your clients. When you walk out of a workshop with a prompt that automates your weekly report or a workflow that halves your code review time, that’s not a motivational speech. It’s a tool you can use come Monday.

Contact

Email: info@institutzaui.hr
Phone: +385 99 4824 007
Address: Ulica grada Vukovara 269D, 10000 Zagreb
Web: institutzaui.hr

Let’s talk