More than 2,500 students from 26 countries gathered at the Bugatti Rimac test track in Mičevac, and Formula Student Alpe Adria president Tibor Kezelj urges Croatian companies: come, without a booth and without notice.
The dates are August 18-23, 2026. Croatia is hosting the largest Formula Student competition in Europe by number of teams. More than 2,500 young engineers and future specialists from 26 countries gathered at the Bugatti Rimac test track in Mičevac, and Formula Student Alpe Adria president Tibor Kezelj emphasizes that this is not just a sporting event but a kind of incubator of knowledge and talent.
"This means that for those six days, Croatia has one of the densest concentrations of young engineering talent in Europe, all in one place, in Mičevac," Kezelj said for Poslovni dnevnik. He stressed that most participants enter the industry, development departments, production, and startups within two to three years.
Kezelj explains that a student goes through the entire product life cycle in one year: concept, design, simulation, procurement, production, testing, and then defense before professionals. "In a company, that path usually takes much longer, and you are just one link in it. Here, you are on the whole path," he said.
Team sizes range from 40 to over 100 members, with a financial plan, partners, suppliers who don't deliver on time, and a fixed deadline. At the competition, judges don't care about effort but about concrete decisions: why that particular material was chosen, how much the part costs, how it would be made in a series of a thousand units, and what measurements prove it. "That's a conversation most engineers only have for the first time after several years of experience," he added.
Kezelj claims that this kind of competition is one of the best places to recruit future talent. "In a job interview, you see how someone talks about themselves. Here, you see how they work," he pointed out. Students are seen on Saturday evening when a team has a breakdown and must fix it to get the car on track by Sunday, as well as in static events where they defend their business plan and cost report.
An individual who managed to stay in a Formula Student team for two or three seasons while studying has already demonstrated diligence and the ability to complete tasks they started. This is the aspect that is hardest to assess in a typical candidate selection process.
The judges evaluating students are experts from Formula 1, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Porsche, Hyundai, Toyota, Siemens, Rimac, Končar, and many other companies. A student doesn't just exchange greetings with them but has a 40-minute conversation about their work. "Such contact doesn't exist otherwise," Kezelj stressed.
Although interest is growing, Kezelj says the situation with Croatian companies is "better than five years ago, but still insufficient." "Honestly, what I regret most is that we are increasingly found by companies from abroad, and fewer and fewer from Croatia," he said. Foreign companies reach out on their own, come, observe, and return the following year, while domestic interest grows more slowly than it could.
He highlighted Rimac Technology and Bugatti Rimac as positive examples, as they find employees precisely at such events. "They don't do this by chance, and they haven't just started yesterday. They know where the people they're looking for are, and they come to get them," he said.
Kezelj lists three things that Formula Student provides that traditional university education can hardly offer: making decisions with incomplete information and a deadline looming, cost as a constraint (the solution must be feasible within budget), and working with people because someone else depends on you delivering your part on time. "That's not learned in a lecture," he said.
He also added hands-on work: "Many young people here see for the first time what tolerance means in reality, when a part doesn't fit into place even though everything fits perfectly in the model."
Kezelj believes Formula Student doesn't replace university but completes it. The challenge is that it's still mostly done after classes, without pay, in spaces that students secured themselves. Where the university recognizes it through ECTS credits, mentors, and workshop space, the results show within two seasons. "It's no coincidence that the strongest teams in Europe come from universities that have systematically solved this," he said.
The same applies to companies: if someone provides a team with equipment, materials, or expert support, after two years they get an engineer who doesn't need half a year of training.
Asked whether Croatia can retain highly educated young people, Kezelj was clear: "We can't, and that's the point that often gets skipped. Salary is important, but salary alone doesn't retain a good engineer." A good engineer leaves because they want to work on something that is challenging and meaningful. "If you offer them twenty years of the same job, they'll leave for a smaller salary difference than you think," he warned.
The good news is that Croatia today has world-class projects. "Rimac Technology and Bugatti Rimac have changed the perception of what's possible here," Kezelj said. The message to employers is simple: "If you want to keep people, give them a problem that is hard enough to make staying interesting."
Kezelj invites Croatian companies to make use of this week. "Come. Without a booth, without sponsorship, without notice if necessary. Take half a day, preferably Friday or Saturday, walk through the paddock and experience the atmosphere," he said. Organizers are on site ready to explain what's happening, who's who, and why it matters. "No one will be left alone with a brochure in hand," he added.
What will visitors see? "The future of technology," Kezelj says. They'll see where student engineering in Europe stands today, which materials, software, and powertrains are entering use, and how the generation that will lead industrial development in a few years thinks. "For many companies, it's the first moment they realize how fast things are changing," he said.
When those 2,500 young people leave Croatia on August 23, Kezelj wants them to have had a good time, met the best colleagues in their field, learned something new, and left as more experienced people than when they arrived. "Two and a half thousand people who speak well of Croatia for years, to people in their profession, is worth more than any advertisement," he concluded.
