European Aid Helps Duratec Build Its Own Development Centre

8 Jul. 2013 | CzechInvest, Duratec | Thanks to its positive experience with drawing aid from European funds, the bicycle-frame manufacturer is now further expanding its centre.

Duratec, a firm located in the Plzeň region, began operation of a centre for development of new production processes and technologies in 2010, for which the company had received assistance in the form of aid covering 50% of eligible costs from the Potential Programme, which is part of the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation. Positive experience with drawing aid, with which specialists from CzechInvest assisted the company, motivated Duratec to expand further. Also supported via the Potential Programme, a new facility will begin operation within the development centre at the end of this year.

“The Potential Programme is one of the most popular business-support programmes, as more than CZK 2.5 billion has already been drawn from it. This amount has been distributed to 234 projects,” says Petr Očko, acting CEO of CzechInvest and director of the EU Funds Section at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. “Duratec received aid in excess of CZK 5 million from this programme in 2010 and has now been approved to receive nearly CZK 2.8 million more.”

“However, the effect of the project implemented thanks to aid from EU Structural Funds was not only financial,” emphasises Petr Stančík, financial and project manager at Duratec. “Having our own development centre has helped us to innovate faster and more effectively, introduce new and more interesting products to the market every year and thus compete even with multinational corporations.”

OPEI “The issue of drawing aid has its particularities, but if you have a good project you can advance significantly thanks to financial support from European funds,” Petr Stančík continues. “Specialists from CzechInvest, particularly the agency’s Plzeň regional office, consulted with us regarding any uncertainties we encountered in preparing the application and thus helped us to manage the whole administrative process without any problems.”

Duratec annually manufactures roughly 1,500 bicycle frames. Nearly half of its production is exported abroad, including to the United States and Australia in addition to European countries. The company has sales operations in Slovakia, the Benelux countries, Great Britain and Germany, and is newly negotiating the establishment of branches in Russia and Belarus.