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Gingerbread craft from northern croatia
Northern Croatia or North Croatia (Croatian: Sjeverna Hrvatska, [sjêʋeːrnaː xř̩ʋaːtskaː]) is a region in the northern part of Croatia, which encompasses Varaždin, Međimurje, Zagorje and Koprivnica-Križevci counties, including the cities of Varaždin, Čakovec, Krapina, Koprivnica and Križevci. The Kajkavian dialect is spoken there. It shares borders with Hungary and Slovenia.
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The term is not used in official capacity but is present as a regional designation. Until 2012, the region's borders coincided with the NUTS-2 region Northwest Croatia (Sjeverozapadna Hrvatska in Croatian). This NUTS-2 region has since been deprecated and the corresponding region has merged with Central and Eastern Croatia (Središnja i Istočna Hrvatska) forming the NUTS-2 region Continental Croatia.
Cuisine
The cuisine of Northern Croatia includes dishes of a few local or regional cuisines (Zagorje, Međimurje, Podravina) which have their specific cooking traditions, characteristic for the area and not necessarily well known in other parts of Croatia, as well as dishes that can be found all across the country. The Međimurska gibanica is one of the layer cakes popular in Northern Croatia, especially in the Međimurje region.
Modern infrastructure
The Northern Croatia region is at the borders with Austria, Hungary, and Slovenia. The North-South highway corridor provides access to the Adriatic, which is a geographic advantage to the other countries in Southern Europe. All of North Croatia is connected to the rest of Croatia by highways. 95% of the houses in the region have sufficient ADSL internet access, and some businesses have used fibre optics to do their business. The region has a very well maintained gas network.
Technology
The innovative sector of Northern Croatia has experienced growth in the past years. In 2005, Microsoft established a worker training center in Varaždin. Following this, many other companies have established universities in the fields of Information technology, Automation, and Electronics. The continued investment in universities in the region will meet the demands of the consumers that live there and will continue growth in the region. The availability of first-class human resources in a university in Varazdin has led to advances in software and game development.