The Kromine Innovation Centre (KIC) is a private research university located in the “New East” district of Kromine, District IX. Specialized exclusively in computer science, artificial intelligence, robotics, and digital engineering, it is widely considered the most elite technological institution in the Divine Republic of Kresimiria.
Founded in 1998 during the early tech boom, KIC rose to national prominence following the 2013 election of its primary benefactor, Ari Stov, as Chair of the Assembly. The university maintains an inextricable link with the tech giant YakaSys, functioning as a dedicated feeder school for the company and a research hub for the KresiX operating system.
Its hyper-modern, glass-and-steel campus stands in stark contrast to the ancient stone cloisters of the other major Decelska university, Karlovac University, physically manifesting the cultural divide within District IX.
History
Foundation (1998–2012)
KIC was established in 1998 by a consortium of software entrepreneurs led by Goran Vlasic (current CEO of YakaSys). Originally a small vocational coding academy, it was designed to bypass the rigid, theory-heavy curriculum of Sinj University and produce “battle-ready” programmers for the emerging digital economy.
The Stov Endowment (2013)
In 2013, shortly after assuming leadership of Blue Dawn, Ari Stov announced the “Sovereign Code Initiative.” He donated a personal endowment of â‚500 million to the institution, which was matched by state grants from the Council for Development.
This funding allowed KIC to expand into a full-fledged research university. It recruited top talent from abroad (before the 2015 isolationist measures took full effect) and built state-of-the-art laboratories. The expansion was explicitly aimed at developing the infrastructure required for the Digital Vigilance Act.
Campus and Culture
Located in the Tech Park on the east bank of the Decel River, the KIC campus is often described as a “city within a city.”
- The Nexus: The main building, a geodesic dome that houses the university’s supercomputer cluster.
- The Firewall Lab: A high-security research facility where students test and refine the censorship algorithms used by KresCom.
- Culture: The student body is small, highly competitive, and famously insular. Unlike the political activism seen at the University of Pulma, KIC culture is defined by “Technocratic Pragmatism.” Students are often guaranteed lucrative employment at YakaSys upon graduation, fostering a culture of loyalty to the Stov establishment.
Academics and Research
KIC does not offer degrees in humanities or arts. Its curriculum is singular in its focus.
Key Institutes
- The Stov Institute for Computational Logic: The premier AI research center in the Republic. It is credited with developing the Guardian Daemon, the background surveillance process embedded in all Kresimirian devices.
- School of Digital Security: Focuses on cryptography and cyber-warfare. It works closely with the CIA’s State Security Directorate to track AFIM digital communications.
- Robotics & Automation: Partners with GradnjaMC to develop automated construction drones.
The university’s most politically significant alumna is Senator Illes Mehic. A graduate of the computer science program, she used the education funded by Ari Stov’s endowment to become his fiercest critic, using her insider knowledge of the KIC-YakaSys nexus to attack the state’s digital infrastructure policies.
Controversies
The “Private Pipeline”
Critics, particularly from the Civic Renewal Front (CRF), accuse KIC of being a “corporate training camp funded by tax krejts.” Since the university receives federal research grants but its intellectual property is often licensed exclusively to YakaSys, opponents argue it is a vehicle for transferring public wealth to private hands.
Ethical Concerns
The university has been the target of protests by privacy advocates (such as the underground Digital Front) for its role in building the state’s surveillance apparatus. Leaked documents in 2019 suggested that KIC doctoral candidates used real citizen data—provided without consent by KresCom—to train facial recognition algorithms. The university administration, led by President Dr. Zineta Dzeko, dismissed the allegations as “anti-progress.”