mag. Karin Žvokelj
Mag. Karin Žvokelj graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Maribor and holds a Master's degree in International Economics from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana. She also completed part of her Master's studies at the University of Trento in Italy.
After obtaining her Master’s degree, she continued her informal education both in Slovenia and abroad, mainly in the field of project and programme management and evaluation, finance and accounting, leadership, teamwork and supervision. She has also obtained a number of accreditations and certificates, including the Standard Skills Certificate for Supervisors, accreditation with the Association of Supervisors of Slovenia, a certificate for mediation, ECQA certificate for EU project management and ECQA certificate for training to obtain the above certificate, as well as a certificate for project management according to the PRINCE2 Foundation method.
She has also acquired knowledge in the supervision of the financial performance of companies within the Association of Supervisors of Slovenia, knowledge in the field of project and programme evaluation within IDEAS, INTRAC and EIPA, and knowledge in internal auditing according to the ISO 9001 standard (Bureau Veritas).
In 2021, she became Acting Director of the Intellectual Property Office, prior to which she was Deputy Director of the Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship, Internationalisation, Foreign Investment and Technology (SPIRIT), where she was particularly active in the development of the innovation ecosystem in the country. From 2016 to 2019, she worked at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology in the Minister's Cabinet and as Head of the Development Resources Department.
Prior to that, she worked as an entrepreneur in the field of consultancy and project management in their different development phases for both the economic and the public sector, in business audits and in the field of policy, programme and project evaluation. She is also familiar with the Italian and Croatian business environment due to her work in the Italian and Croatian markets.
She was appointed Director of the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office on 21 March 2022 for a term of office of five years.