Eleven companies receive 2007 Investor of the Year Awards

Eleven Czech and foreign companies have been presented awards at Žofín Palace on Slovanský Island as part of the Investor of the Year competition. Winning firms include Foxconn, Linet, Aufeer Design, Motor Jikov and Swell. A special prize for extraordinary contribution to the development of foreign investment was received by Jiří Skála, general director of the company AVX, and Peter Roebben, COO for corporate banking at ČSOB. The celebratory announcement of the results of the eighth annual Investor of the Year competition was organised by CzechInvest in cooperation with the Association for Foreign Investment.

“This year CzechInvest is celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of the agency’s gaining its first major investment for the Czech Republic. It is symbolic that whereas in the agency’s early days foreign investments clearly predominated, today native Czech firms are coming up with the greatest number of new ideas and new projects,” Alexandra Rudyšarová, acting CEO of CzechInvest. “This development is reflected in the results of the Investor of the Year competition – seven Czech companies were among this year’s eleven winners, which is a wonderful calling card for the Czech economy.”

“Today the Czech Republic is a country that attracts investors particularly thanks to its talented people, who are capable of making maximum use of state-of-the-art technologies,” adds Martin Slabý, chairman of Association for Foreign Investment. “Among the award-winning companies, we will find, for example, three automotive designers, a trio of software developers, an electronics manufacturer, a producer of aircraft-engine components and a company producing high-tech hospital beds. These are examples of sectors that bring the highest added value, and on which the Czech Republic is concentrating.

The competition is divided into five categories: Most Significant Investor of the Year – Manufacturing Industry, Most Significant Investor of the Year – Business Support Services, Investment with the Greatest Innovation Potential, and two categories for Czech suppliers – Contract of the Year and Technological Benefit of the Year. These main categories are supplemented with the Special Prize for Extraordinary Contribution to the Development of Foreign Investment in the Czech Republic.

Companies eligible for Investor of the Year awards are those that decided to invest in the Czech Republic in 2007. Information for evaluating individual projects is derived from the investment plans that each company submitted to CzechInvest. Based on the stipulated criteria, the nominated projects are assessed by a committee composed of representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Finance and CzechInvest.

Most Significant Investor of the Year – Manufacturing Industry

1st place: FOXCONN CZ s.r.o. for its project to build a plant for manufacturing LCD monitors and notebooks in Kutná Hora

2nd place: MORA AEROSPACE, a.s. for the expansion of its aviation production facility in Hlubočky, in the Olomouc region

3rd place: Linet spol. s r.o. for the expansion of its hospital-bed factory in Želevčice u Slaného

The decisive criterion for inclusion in this category is the number of newly created jobs in relation to the current unemployment rate in the region in which the investment is to be implemented. Another criterion is the OECD coefficient that classifies investments according to the technologically demanding nature of production. 

Most Significant Investor of the Year – Business Support Services

1st place:Logos a.s. for the expansion of its Prague IT development centre

2nd place: Concur (Czech) s.r.o. for its software development centre in Prague

3rd place: SolarWinds Czech s.r.o. for its establishment of an IT centre in Brno

The ranking of the winners was determined according to the number of newly created jobs for university graduates and the amount of funding invested in their training, as well as the demanding nature of the project with respect to the type of enterprise.

Investment with the Greatest Innovation Potential

1st place: AUFEER DESIGN, s.r.o. for the expansion of its design centre for the transportation industry in Mladá Boleslav

2nd place: DENSO MANUFACTURING CZECH s.r.o. for the establishment of a centre for the development of automotive air-conditioning units in Liberec

3rd place: Naretec s.r.o. for the expansion of its design centre for the transportation industry in Plzen

The ranking of the winners was determined according to the costs expended on training employees and the amount invested in the technical equipment of the centre in relation to the number of newly created jobs.

Supplier of the Year – Contract of the Year

• MOTOR JIKOV Tlaková slévárna a.s.

The main criterion of this category is the value of contracts concluded with CzechInvest’s assistance.

Supplier of the Year – Technological Benefit of the Year

• SWELL, spol. s r.o.

In addition to the value of orders concluded with CzechInvest’s assistance, the key factor in this category is the technologically demanding nature of production and the entire contract, as well as its potential for innovation.

Special Prize for Extraordinary Contribution to the Development of Foreign Investment in the Czech Republic

• Peter Roebben, COO for corporate banking, ČSOB
• Jiří Skála, CEO, AVX Czech Republic s.r.o.

More about the winners

• Most Significant Investor of the Year – Manufacturing Industry

First place in this category for 2007 went to FOXCONN CZ s.r.o., which is preparing to produce LCD computer and television monitors in Kutná Hora. The company is investing over CZK 3 billion in the new plant and will create more than five thousand jobs.

Jim Chang, CEO, FOXCONN CZ s.r.o: “Foxconn wants to stay in the Czech Republic. Of course, with the strengthening crown and rising costs this will not be easy, but we will find a way. We have recently been helped by certain government decisions aimed at increasing labour productivity and efficiency.

• Most Significant Investor of the Year – Business Support Services

Logos a.s. was the winner in this category for 2007. The company is expanding its software development centre in Prague, where it is investing several tens of millions of crowns and will employ tens of programmers.

Pavel Endrle, director, Logos a.s.: “Our approach is built on personnel policy. The IT market is relatively parched; there is a lack of people everywhere, so we are endeavouring to create the ideal work environment and conditions for the best specialists. We try to invest the maximum amount in the development of our people.”

• Investment with the Greatest Innovation Potential

The Czech firm AUFEER DESIGN, s.r.o. in 2007 decided to establish a new technology centre for research and development in the automotive, aviation and transportation industries in which it is planning to employ more than fifty specialists.

Martin Zabadal, COO, AUFEER DESIGN, s.r.o.: “When we established the firm, we were aware that only two firms, both of them foreign, were present on the market for design work. Thus, the market called for the establishment of one more company, with a Czech owner and Czech personnel.”

• Supplier of the Year – Contract of the Year

The winner in this category was MOTOR JIKOV Tlaková slévárna, a.s. Within the programme through which CzechInvest helps Czech suppliers to obtain orders from multinational companies, Motor Jikov Tlaková slévárna managed to conclude a significant contract with Briggs & Stratton.

Zdeněk Prokopec, director for strategic development, Motor Jikov: “The contract meant for us an investment worth more 100 million crowns and adoption of further new technologies. Even though we came to the order relatively late, we managed to convince our partners that our employees have such extensive knowledge that in the end we were the nominated as the only partner for development of a complete product.”

• Supplier of the Year – Technological Benefit of the Year

Thanks to the conclusion of contracts with CzechInvest’s assistance, the Technological Benefit of the Year award went to the Czech company SWELL, spol. s r.o.

Lubomír Drašar, director, SWELL, spol. s r.o.: “We are focusing on development services which do not involve obtaining long-term orders, but which are important from the perspective of the focus of orders in relation to the development of the company and development methodologies. We are currently completing the second expansion of the technology centre, which we undertook on completely pragmatic grounds – sustainability of the firm and competitiveness – because we recognised that after joining the EU and coming into competition with foreign firms, we would be in a rather difficult situation without public assistance and perhaps have found ourselves condemned to stagnation, to put it mildly.”

• Special Prize for Extraordinary Contribution to the Development of Foreign Investment in the Czech Republic

Peter Roebben, ČSOB: “The business environment in the Czech Republic is very good and the country continues to be attractive for international investors. It is true, however, that in recent years we have heard more and more about the lack of skilled workers. I think that this is the biggest problem that we must resolve in order for our economy to develop further.”

Jiří Skála, AVX: “When we started, we covered four percent of the market. We have since increased production almost ten-fold, and that original four percent has grown to the current twenty percent of the world market. This is truly exceptional. My greatest success lies in selecting, grooming and preparing the best specialists that we have. Without good people and firms in and around Lanškroun, this wouldn’t be possible.”