The excellent integration of small business zones into the transport system enables dynamic operations at reduced operating costs. Small business zones boast modern traffic infrastructure toward Ljubljana to the east and toward Italy to the west, promoting speedy movement of goods and people. All small business zones arewithin a kilometre of the motorway access and railway station, providing links to all four corners of the world.

• Trunk road and railway to the industrial Po Valley to the west;
• Proximity to the Port of Koper (45-minute drive);
• Proximity to the airport in Trieste (30-minute drive) and Venice (one-hour drive);
• Motorway to the centre of Slovenia, i.e. Ljubljana, and then up north to Austria, Germany, France, and eastwards to Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Russia, or southwards to Croatia;
• Motorway to the Jože Pučnik Airport in Ljubljana (one-hour drive).

The small business zone will accommodate companies geared toward production, technology and development, as well as business and service activities. The sites will feature the basic utilities infrastructure including water, electricity, internet connection, public lighting and connecting roads. There are plans underway to construct further infrastructure facilities and objects such as parking lots, a transformer station and recycling facilities for collecting municipal waste.

From the time of filing a complete application – provided that there are solutions in place regarding the spatial conditions for integrating the facility into the setting – the construction permit can be issued in as little as two months. There are balso several building design companies which can carry out the permit obtaining process on your behalf.

The significance of an attractive and healthy living environment with good opportunities for education, training and employment is invaluable for establishing a good quality of life and an innovative and stimulating work environment. Add to that the outstanding quality of potable water, lots of sun and healthy fresh air, and you have the ideal conditions for living and working. Family-friendly environment improves the competitive edge of the companies as the attitude toward parenthood has been shown to decrease sick leaves, improve employee motivation and reduce employee turnover.

The Municipality of Ajdovščina has a good educational structure when it comes to the available workforce, with the highest percentage of its population having secondary-school education, followed by tertiary education. The share of people with higher education is on the rise. A high education level is recorded in the area of humanities, business and legal studies, engineering, production technology and construction. A high unemployment rate is to be found in the age group of 25 to 40 years, with the share of working age people growing over the past years. Along with implementing an active employment policy, the Municipality of Ajdovščina is committed to eliminating the labour market mismatch by adjusting the education and training programmes to the new needs of the economy. The economic crisis caused the collapse of many strong businesses in the municipality, which caused the unemployment figures to soar especially among people with an educational background in the humanities, administrative clerks and technicians in the fields of construction, mechanical engineering, food, electricity, textiles, woodworking and computer engineering. People with a higher level of education usually have a background in economy, civil engineering and administration. The age structure reveals that the largest unemployment group comprises mostly people aged between 25 and 35 years.

• subsidies on purchases of land intended for the construction of premises for their industrial or business activities of up to 100% of the purchase price;
• operation grants for up to 100% of the assessed public utilities charge for investments made in the construction of commercial and production facilities located within commercial zones (either existing or new ones);
• interest-rate subsidies for investments in: production and service capacities; new construction or renovation of production and service capacities; and investments in business activity equipment and/or the purchase of intangible rights (patents, licences, and technological know-how);
• a subsidy covering up to 75% of the employer’s share of social security contributions for as many as 10 new employees in the first 2 years of their employment, where the sole condition is that their employment contracts are for a minimum of 3 years;
• co-financing the protection of intellectual property rights, the costs of creating an initial prototype or the costs of documented innovation-oriented technical solutions, ideas or research assignments by up to 50%;
• co-financing consultation services for entrepreneurs in the process of putting together tender documentation for national and international tenders in order to receive grants by up to 50%;
• a subsidy of up to 100% of the market rental of commercial premises owned or managed by the Municipality of Ajdovščina to encourage specific commercial activities of the public interest but for which there is no economic interest; and
• lease co-financing for exhibition spaces at fairs in Slovenia or abroad by up to 50%.

The Municipality of Ajdovščina provides investors with a liaison officer to assist them with their acquisition of land and obtaining of building permits and other licences.