As Novac/Bernard Ivezic writes, the Croatian Microblink, a domestic software company that has developed the fastest mobile document scanner in the entire world and received (individually) the third largest startup investment in all of Croatia, has announced that it has artificial intelligence technology that is 50 percent faster than that used by both Apple and Google.
”The basis of the company’s success is an advanced AI platform that is fully developed in the Republic of Croatia, and whose components in various tests which have been undertaken show that they’re the best in the world. One of the components of this AI platform is the execution of neural networks on a mobile device, and the Croatian Microblink performs this process 50 percent faster than similar platforms of the largest global companies such as Apple and Google,” Microblink announced.
Jurica Cerovec, the global executive director of Microblink for technology, says that they have been developing artificial intelligence technology since way back in 2012, and the one that makes them better than Apple and Google since back in 2015.
”We’ve been developing the AI platform for mobile devices since the very beginning, and in 2012 alone we had a machine learning team that was focused on how to make the best use of cameras on smartphones, in addition to mere photography,” explained Cerovec, adding that deep neural networks began to be used directly on mobile devices in 2015.
”It was at a time when others were using this technology on large servers. In many ways, we were among the first in the world, which enabled us to enjoy the current position in that we’re really one step ahead of global competition,” said Cerovec.
The company, co-founded by Damir Sabol, has also announced that it is entering a new phase of development.
The Croatian Microblink plans to further accelerate the development of its advanced computer vision platform, which is based on artificial intelligence. It is also moving to commercialise its existing and new products for a range of industries, with the goal of doubling revenue in the coming years.
Igor Strejcek, Microblink’s director for Croatia and the company’s global vice president of operations, pointed out that their software is used by more than a million people every day. He stated that today they’re in a position to have globally competitive products, a state-of-the-art platform that allows them to develop new products and scale the business.
”We have a development team for AI which is among the best in the world and is an excellent position for the exchange of knowledge among teams working in both Croatia and New York. That gives us the right to be very ambitious in our plans,” assured Strejcek.
Microblink manufactures software for the rapid digitisation of various types of personal documents and the automation of data entry in a range of industries, particularly in the financial and telecommunications industries. Strejcek noted that in order to realise their ambitious new plans, they must double the number of experts they have on board.
This Croatian company currently has 111 full-time employees, and more than 50 new people joined them last year alone. Strejcek said he will continue to strengthen the artificial intelligence team, which is currently among the strongest in all of Europe with 70 people, and will look for new employees in other parts of the company as well.
Most of the employment is related to the office here in Zagreb, which will remain the main development centre for AI technology, and in expanding in the global market, they also rely on their office across the Atlantic over in New York.
”We can see room for growth in the development and implementation of our AI platform into new products for industries that are rapidly digitising. For example, in the development of document authentication products and the simplification of the remote authentication process, thus completely eliminating the need for physical contact between users and service providers. Microblink’s technology will enable the protection of privacy in such a way that the data remains at all times only on the user’s mobile phone,” concluded Strejcek.
For more on Croatian companies, check out Made in Croatia.
