2008 Investor of the Year awards announced

The pharmaceutical company IVAX, electronics giant IBM and the Czech biotechnology firm CPN are the top winners of the 2008 Investor of the Year awards, which were presented on Tuesday at the Troja Chateau in Prague. The engineering firms Strojcar and IMOPRA were named the best Czech suppliers. ČEZ took the prize for greatest contribution to the development of investments and Weston Stacey, long-time executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic, received the Special Prize for Extraordinary Contribution to the Development of the Business Environment in the Czech Republic presented by the Association for Foreign Investment (AFI). The partner of the event was ČSOB. The awards were presented by Prime Minister Jan Fischer and the Ministers of Industry and Trade, Finance, and Labour and Social Affairs.  

“The Czech Republic has built an outstanding investment environment. On average, the annual inflow of foreign investments to the Czech Republic amounts to more than four hundred euros per person, making us the most successful country in Central and Eastern Europe. Besides that, the share of reinvested profits is constantly growing, accounting for 68% of the total investment inflow last year. And that means that investors are glad to be here, as they continue to invest in further expansions, purchase new technologies and to hire more people,” says Prime Minister Jan Fischer. “I would like to thank all of the winners and to congratulate them on making the right decision to entrust their investments to the Czech Republic.”

The Investor of the Year awards ceremony was held under the auspices of Minister of Industry and Trade Vladimír Tošovský. “At a time when the global economy is not in the best shape, it is necessary to give maximum recognition to positive examples of firms which know that investing in the Czech Republic helps them to succeed in the face of global competition,” says Vladimír Tošovský. “We offer skilled specialists, top-quality science and an environment that encourages innovation. A cursory glance at the names of the winners shows that they invested here in order to make maximum use of these three advantages to their own benefit as well as to the benefit of the Czech Republic.”

“The year 2008 brought a fundamental change in the composition of new investments. For the first time ever, the Czech Republic gained more projects involving research and development or services than manufacturing. This is a huge success as well as confirmation of the quality of the Czech Republic. Of course, it also means that it was much more difficult to select the winners,” says Alexandra Rudyšarová, acting CEO of CzechInvest.

“The large number of new projects in the area of research and development is not only evidence of the Czech Republic’s attractiveness as an investment destination, but it also confirms the positive impact of incentives intended for this type of investments. Investors include not only domestic and newly incoming firms, but also companies that came to our country earlier and then gradually expanded their operations here,” adds Jan Bobek, chairman of the Association for Foreign Investment.

Investor of the Year awards are presented in seven categories:

• Most Significant Investor of the Year – Manufacturing Industry
• Most Significant Investor of the Year – Business Support Services
• Most Significant Investor of the Year – Investment with the Greatest Innovation Potential
• Supplier of the Year awards: Contract of the Year, Technological Benefit of the Year
• Award for the Greatest Contribution to the Development of Investments in the Czech Republic
• AFI Special Prize for Extraordinary Contribution to the Development of the Business Environment in the Czech Republic

Most Significant Investor of the Year – Manufacturing Industry

1st place: IVAX Pharmaceuticals s.r.o., a member of the Teva group (Opava)

2nd place: Panasonic Automotive Systems Czech, s.r.o. (Pardubice)

3rd place: VÍTKOVICE HAMMERING a.s. (Vítkovice, Ostrava)

Most Significant Investor of the Year – Business Support Services

1st place: IBM Česká republika, spol. s r.o. (Prague)

2nd place: Monster Worldwide CZ s.r.o. (Brno)

3rd place: Covidien AG, organisational unit (Prague)

Most Significant Investor of the Year – Investment with the Greatest Innovation Potential

1st place: CPN spol. s r.o. (Dolní Dobrouč, Ústí nad Orlicí)

2nd place: WITTE Nejdek, spol. s r.o. (Nejdek)

3rd place: COMTES FHT a.s. (Dobřany, Plzeň)

Supplier of the Year – Contract of the Year

IMOPRA s.r.o. (Nivnice, Uherský Brod)

Supplier of the Year – Technological Benefit of the Year

STROJCAR s.r.o. (Opava)

Award for the Greatest Contribution to the Development of Investments in the Czech Republic

ČEZ, a.s. (Prague)

AFI Special Prize for Extraordinary Contribution to the Development of the Business Environment in the Czech Republic

Weston Stacey, executive director, American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic

Companies eligible for Investor of the Year awards were those that decided to invest in the Czech Republic in 2008. Information for evaluating individual projects was derived from the investment plans that each company submitted to CzechInvest. The nominated projects were assessed by an interdepartmental committee composed of representatives of CzechInvest and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

For more information please contact the CzechInvest Press Centre

Lucie Kocourková, spokesperson, phone: +420 296 342 538, lucie.kocourkova@czechinvest.org   

Contact to the AFI

Martin Michalov, PR & Marketing Manager, phone: +420 224 911 750, martin.michalov@afi.cz