Czech high-tech engineering on display in Great Britain

Each year, over 600 leading firms from Britain, the United States and Japan which are involved in precision engineering, optoelectronics and laser technology participate in this event.

“Czech companies cover a wide range of high-tech engineering sub-sectors, such as optics, regulation and measuring technology, machining of precision parts and automation. Their activities include product design, prototyping and production itself," says Tomas Hruda, CEO of CzechInvest, the government agency responsible for attracting investors.

The talent of Czech technicians is apparent to foreign investors. In the Czech Republic’s second largest city, Brno, the American company Honeywell has a plant for the production of control devices for industry and automation. Olympus, a global manufacturer of cameras and scientific instruments, opened a high-tech repair centre for its photographic instruments in Prerov in the Olomouc region. This service centre serves central, eastern and northern Europe. Roper Industries, a producer of laboratory equipment and instruments, operates a technology centre in Ostrava (Moravia-Silesia region).The Czech Republic’s high-tech tradition, professional technical schools and skilled workforce make this sector attractive in the eyes of foreign investors. The Czech Republic consistently has one of the highest proportions of technical-school graduates in the world.

Czech companies can ensure the production of complex machines and technical units as well as quality sub-deliveries for foreign firms. Their portfolio includes the manufacture of turbines, transportation and air-conditioning equipment, food-processing and construction machinery, and metal-working and forming machines. ZPA CZ and Metra Sumperk are good example of Czech firms that manufacture first-class measuring instruments. Skoda Machine Tool and TOS Varnsdorf excel in the production of boring machines, while Smeral Brno produces proven metal-forming machines.

In the Czech Republic, trends in engineering are toward R&D centres. In the precision engineering sector alone, CzechInvest has mediated nearly 40 R&D projects since 2002. The country’s engineers also hold several groundbreaking patents for innovations such as light emitting diodes and liquid crystal displays. The Research Centre of Manufacturing Technology is currently developing a fully optimized machine tool and intelligent systems for production machines. “Our task is to link university research to the needs of industrial companies. Participation in events at the international level is an important aspect of this,” adds Hruda.