Investor of the Year and Business Property of the Year 2009: Winners

Companies which in 2009 decided to locate their investment projects in the Czech Republic or which successfully operated properties intended for business here received the prestigious titles of Investor of the Year 2009 and Business Property of the Year 2009 this evening. The awards were presented to the winners by Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Kocourek, representatives of CzechInvest and the Association for Foreign Investment (AFI), and other important guests at 7:00 p.m. at the Cloister of St. Agnes of Bohemia in Prague. CzechInvest and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in cooperation with the AFI, organised this tenth edition of the traditional Investor of the Year and Business Property of the Year competitions.

The jubilee anniversary of the awards ceremony was held under the auspices of Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Kocourek. “Today the Czech Republic is a country for high added value, for demanding technologies, for research and development. Today’s awards ceremony only serves to underscore our position. The Czech government is working hard on strengthening our competitiveness in order to create attractive conditions for business and to thus help to consolidate our position as a country that is highly attractive for new investors,” says Martin Kocourek, Minister of Industry and Trade.

In the various categories of the Investor of the Year 2009 competition, the top prizes were awarded to Honeywell for the expansion of its research and development centre in Brno; JOB AIR Painting for the construction of an aircraft paint centre in the Moravia-Silesia region; Atento Česká republika for opening a contact centre in Brno; and Agrostroj Pelhřimov for concluding a contract on production of large professional-grade mowers with the Japanese company Chikusui Canycom.

“Despite the unfavourable conditions of the global economy, in 2009 CzechInvest mediated a total of 186 investment projects, most frequently in the areas of services and research and development. Many of these projects would never have arisen in the Czech Republic if there were not a sufficient number of high-quality prepared business properties. For the companies which have won the title of Investor of the Year 2009 or Business Property of the Year 2009 today, I wish for them that the Czech Republic will remain an attractive location for the further development of their projects,” says Miroslav Křížek, CEO of CzechInvest.

As of this evening, the title of Business Property of the Year 2009 belongs to the Incubators and Science and Technology Park of the South Moravian Innovation Centre, which comprise comprehensive infrastructure for supporting innovative business; CTPark Ostrava for leasing more than 33,000 m² of spaces to new tenants; and the FRANTIŠEK Industrial Zone, which was established through the revitalisation of a former brown-coal mine. Daniel Adamčík of the Ostrava-Mošnov Industrial Zone was named Business-Property Manager of the Year 2009.

“Foreign investments, at this time particularly those with strong innovation potential, are an important source of the inflow of capital and know-how for the Czech Republic. Though the projects implemented here in 2009 did not result in the creation of thousands of jobs as in the past, they do offer the promise of long-term sustainable growth of the domestic economy, because they excel in terms of their technological sophistication. It is thus equally important to support particularly the development of science and technology parks and business incubators, which provide the necessary infrastructure and facilities for promising start-up projects,” adds Kamil Blažek, Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Association for Foreign Investment.

Investor of the Year and Business Property of the Year are competitions organised each year by CzechInvest and the Ministry of Industry of Trade in cooperation with the Association for Foreign Investment. The general partner of this year’s Investor of the Year and Business Property of the Year competitions is the ČEZ Group; the partners are ČSOB, the National Gallery, QUIX and Zátiší Catering. The media partners of the event are Euro, Z1, E15 and Strategie.

The competing investment projects are evaluated by a committee composed of representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the AFI, CzechInvest and previous winners.

INVESTOR OF THE YEAR 2009

• Investor of the Year 2009 – Greatest Innovation Potential
• Investor of the Year 2009 – Manufacturing Industry
• Investor of the Year 2009 – IT and Business Support Services
• Investor of the Year 2009 – Supplier of the Year

Investor of the Year 2009 – Greatest Innovation Potential

1st place: Honeywell, spol. s r.o.

2nd place: Meopta – optika, s.r.o.

3rd place: DYNTEC spol. s r.o.

Investor of the Year 2009 – Manufacturing Industry

1st place: JOB AIR Painting a.s.

2nd place: ŠKODA AUTO a.s. 

3rd place: CCI Czech Republic s.r.o.

Investor of the Year 2009 – IT and Business Support Services

1st place: Atento Česká republika a.s.

2nd place: Asseco Solutions, a.s.

3rd place: Tieto Czech s.r.o.

Investor of the Year 2009 – Supplier of the Year

AGROSTROJ Pelhřimov, a.s.

Business property of the year 2009

• Business Property of the Year 2009 – High-tech Property of the Year
• Business Property of the Year 2009 – Zone of the Year
• Business Property of the Year 2009 – Brownfield of the Year
• Business Property of the Year 2009 – Business-Property Manager of the Year

 Business Property of the Year 2009 – High-tech Property of the Year

1st place: Incubators and Science and Technology Park of the South Moravian Innovation Centre

2nd place: 6th RIVER – Plzeň Science and Technology Park

3rd place: Business Incubator, Technical University of Ostrava

Business Property of the Year 2009 – Zone of the Year

1st place: CTPark Ostrava

2nd place: Jaktáře Industrial Zone

3rd place: Liberec North Commercial and Industrial Zone

Business Property of the Year 2009 – Brownfield of the Year

1st place: FRANTIŠEK Industrial Zone

2nd place: Hotel Budweis

3rd place: DinoPark Ostrava

Business Property of the Year 2009 – Business-Property Manager of the Year

Ing. Daniel Adamčík, Ostrava-Mošnov Industrial Zone

For more information please contact the CzechInvest Press Centre

Štěpánka Filipová, spokesperson, phone: +420 296 342 538, stepanka.filipova@czechinvest.org

Contact to the AFI:

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