I have the impression that we want to dabble in everything and that we encourage everything and, like the European Union globally, we are losing the innovation potential and are lagging behind in technological development, thus reducing our economic competitiveness, said Vrdoljak.
He announced that as part of an industrial policy strategy, the state would define the areas it viewed as promising and adapt the education system and development policies in that direction.
He said the strategy should be ready by the end of the year, before the EU's 2014-20 budget period.
The minister said everyone only talked about investments, as if everything began and ended with them, but that there were only a handful of big industrial investments in Croatia.
He said EU accession was good for the Croatian economy for many reasons, one being the fact that the political mood within the European Commission was such that Croatia's economy was seen as part of Europe's economy.
Exporters said that research and development should not be forgotten during the definition of areas to be encouraged.
They warned the minister that many of their jobs got stuck at lower levels of government.