Croatia’s push to position itself as a digitally advanced state was on full display this week as the country’s National Council for Digital Transformation opened its latest session in an unconventional way: with remarks delivered by two humanoid robots developed domestically.
The meeting was opened by Tonka, Croatia’s first humanoid robot, joined by Rinno, the first humanoid robot prototype fully developed in the country. The symbolic start, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said, reflected how quickly Croatia’s younger generation has embraced digital transformation, artificial intelligence and advanced robotics.
The session focused on the implementation of the Strategy of Digital Croatia 2032, alongside discussions on the European Union’s new digital policy package, with particular emphasis on artificial intelligence as a tool for citizens and businesses.
Participants included government ministers, representatives of counties, cities and municipalities, academics, business associations, regulators and digital institutions, underscoring the government’s effort to frame digital transformation as a cross-sector national project.
Tonka, developed as a research and applied robotics platform, addressed the council with a message that drew clear lines between human decision-making and machine execution. “People create the rules, robots follow them,” she said, emphasizing the need for clear governance as digital systems become more deeply embedded in daily life. Her developer, Dejan Iličić of Vandri Robotics, said Tonka is already being used commercially, having worked recently as a tourist guide and soon expected to serve as a hotel concierge.
Rinno, introduced by its creator Mario Ljubičić from Imotski, offered a brief greeting of its own, highlighting the growing geographic spread of advanced technological development beyond Croatia’s major cities.
In his remarks, Prime Minister Plenković placed education at the center of Croatia’s digital ambitions, arguing that long-term resilience depends on an education system capable of producing specialists ready to enter science-driven and technology-intensive industries. He said the examples of humanoid robots developed in Pakrac and Imotski showed that the digital economy’s benefits could be distributed across the country rather than concentrated in a single region.
Plenković said Croatia has invested heavily in digital infrastructure, pointing to more than €2.1 billion allocated for digital transformation projects under the national recovery plan, supplemented by additional funding from EU cohesion policy and the bloc’s “Digital Decade” roadmap.
As a result, he said, Croatia now ranks above the European Union average in fiber-optic coverage and 5G deployment, with optical internet available to 75 percent of households and 5G coverage reaching more than 94 percent of homes nationwide. Government data also show that more than 2.2 million citizens actively use the e-Citizens digital services platform, completing procedures that once took hours in less than ten minutes online.
The prime minister argued that digital public services, data centers and artificial intelligence systems now form part of Croatia’s critical national infrastructure, requiring not only investment but careful governance, cybersecurity protections and public trust.
Looking ahead, Plenković acknowledged the challenges still facing the country: safeguarding data, ensuring regional balance, protecting children online and keeping pace in an increasingly competitive global technology race. But he said Croatia’s progress demonstrates that digital transformation is no longer an abstract goal.
“We are today almost a fully digitally accessible state,” he said, describing the shift as a decisive factor in Croatia’s long-term competitiveness and economic development.
The session concluded with a presentation by Justice and Digital Transformation Minister Damir Habijan, who outlined the next phase of Croatia’s digital strategy, including the expanded use of artificial intelligence in public administration, health care, education and the economy.
@plenkovic_andrej Na sastanku Vijeća za digitalnu transformaciju istaknuli smo napredak digitalizacije u ???????? i ohrabrujuće rezultate provedbe Strategije za digitalnu transformaciju. Drago nam je vidjeti inovacije poput humanoidnih robota Tonke i Rinna, koje pokazuju potencijal mladih hrvatskih poduzetnika u ICT sektoru! #andrejplenkovic #VladaRH ♬ izvorni zvuk – Andrej Plenković