He was addressing "Marie Curie 2006", a workshop organised on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth at Zagreb's Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing.
Potocnik recalled that Tesla had had a lot of problems in financing his scientific projects and protecting his scientific discoveries.
Potocnik said those issues were still topical and that they would be settled as part of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), which would also focus on scientists' mobility. He said Tesla had been an excellent example of European mobility, but also of mobility crossing the borders of the Old Continent, which he said was an example that should be followed.
Potocnik said the potentials of Croatia and the region could best be exploited also by intensifying cooperation, of which the four-day workshop was an example.
"Marie Curie 2006" was organised by the Croatian and Serbian science ministries, the Croatian Academy of Technical Sciences, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research.
Croatian Science Minister Dragan Primorac said the attitude towards Tesla should be an example of what must not be allowed in the future. He agreed with Potocnik that FP7 would be very important for Croatia, Serbia and their neighbours.
Primorac recalled that Croatian scientists had participated very successfully in FP6, voicing confidence they would be as successful in FP7. He said this would significantly contribute to the strategic plan to make Croatia the leading country in the region in the areas of science and education by 2010.
The workshop pooled young scientists from Croatia, Serbia, and the European Union who have Marie Curie scholarships. It will continue in Belgrade tomorrow.