Investor of the year 2011 with the greatest innovation potential is Výzkumný ústav železniční

9 Nov. 2012 | CzechInvest, Ministry of Industry and Trade, AFI | The institute won its category thanks to a project focused on the development of the Velim research and development centre.

Výzkumný ústav železniční, a.s. (Railway Research Institute) has won the title of Investor of the Year 2011 in the Greatest Innovation Potential category. The expert jury recognised the institute for its project involving the second phase of development of the Velim Research and Development Centre, whose primary objective is to increase the capacity and R&D activity of manufacturers of rail vehicles and railway equipment. The institute plans to invest more than CZK 237 million in the project.

The second-place winner in this category is the company Vyrtych, a.s. of the South Bohemian city of Židněves. The project involving the construction of a Centre for Development and Testing Laboratories for lighting fixtures will enable a substantial increase of capacity and of the scope of performed tests, while also shortening and improving the process of developing new, innovative products. The centre will be one of the best equipped electrical-engineering test facilities in the Czech Republic.

Continental Automotive Systems Czech Republic, s.r.o. won third place. The company decided to expand its development, innovation and testing centre for the development of thermal and surface sensors in Frenštát pod Radfoštěm and to build here a new, modern facility for production of comfortable pneumatic seats for motor vehicles. Up to 200 skilled jobs will be created here over the course of the next two years.

The results of the Investor of the Year 2011 competition were announced by CzechInvest and the Association for Foreign Investment in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on Tuesday, 6 November 2012 at Veletržní palác in Prague. The decisive factors in determining the winners were the volume of the undertaken investment, its sectoral focus and anticipated number of newly created jobs in relation to the unemployment rate in the given region. Besides investors, awards were also presented to representatives of business properties that contributed to the economic development of the Czech Republic last year.

CzechInvest has been attracting investors to the Czech Republic for twenty years and therefore this year the traditional Investor and Business Property of the Year competition bore the name Investor and Business Property of the Past Twenty years and awards were presented to the most important investor and business property of the past two decades.

The main partners of the event were the ČEZ Group and ČSOB. CTP Invest was the partner. The supporting partners were the National Gallery in Prague, the agencies Quix and AC&C, Zátiší group and the Association for Recognition of Quality. The media partners were Czech Radio, Ekonom weekly, Prague Leaders Magazine and the magazines Project & Property and Development News.