Investor of the Year 2005

The following companies received awards in individual categories:

Within the Partnership for Support of Foreign Direct Investment in the Czech Republic, the Investor of the Year awards were announced by CzechInvest in cooperation with the Association for Foreign Investmentand under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry of Trade.

Companies that submitted their investment intent in 2005 were ranked in theInvestor of the Year evaluations. The evaluation data are taken from each company’s intent to apply for investment incentives, in which the company commits itself to an investment in a definite amount and to the creation of a minimum number of new direct jobs. Projects were evaluated by a commission comprised of representatives of the Office of the Government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and CzechInvest.

Greatest Economic Benefit – New Investment
Criterion: submission of the investor’s investment intent in 2005; type of investment: production
Calculation:number of newly created jobs x OECD coefficient* x level of social benefit **

Greatest Economic Benefit – Investment in Business Support Services
Criterion:submission of the investor’s investment intent in 2005; type of investment: business support services
Calculation:total investment x SC coefficient*** x newly created jobs for university graduates

Investment with the Greatest Innovation Potential
Criterion:submission of the investor’s investment intent in 2004; type of investment: technology centre
Calculation:number of university-graduate employees x total investment in training

Supplier of the Year
Criterion:Volume of contracts concluded with the assistance of CzechInvest in 2005.Due to the business sensitivity of the data, it is not possible to publicise the exact amount of the contracts. The three winning companies received contracts in the range of several hundred million Czech crowns.

* OECD coefficient – weight was established according to the type of activity (greater weight was given to sophisticated production programmes with large growth potential)
** Level of social benefit was determined based on the average rate of unemployment in 2005
*** SC coefficient – weight was established according to the type of activity (greater weight was given to software development than to call centres, for example)

SUNGWOO HITECH
SungWoo was established in 1977 and today is one of the largest suppliers of automobile components in Korea. The company specialises primarily in sheet-metal construction elements such as doors, roofs, and fenders. SungWoo has four factories in Korea and three foreign branches, including one in India and two in China. SungWoo is building its new plant in the Ostrava–Hrabova industrial zone. It came to Moravia as a supplier of the carmaker KIA in Zilina. The company’s original intent was to invest almost 2.5 billion Czech crowns and employ approximately 1,000 people over three years. However, in connection with Hyundai’s decision to locate a plant in the Czech Republic, the number of employees will further increase.

Sun Microsystems
The origins of Sun Microsystems’ development centre in Prague date back to 1999 when Sun acquired NetBeans, a development environment for the Java platform. From 1999 to 2005, dozens of developers worked at Sun’s development centre in the Czech Republic. The key turning point came in the first half of 2005, when Sun Microsystems, with support from CzechInvest, decided to expand its activities in the Czech Republic. More than 200 highly qualified specialists are currently working on the development of key software technologies at Sun’s Prague centre. NetBeans, the best development environment for the Java Platform, remains the main project of the Prague development centre. The number of employees will eventually reach up to 400.

TC INTER-INFORMATICS
Inter-Informatics s.r.o., which provides engineering services in the area of machining and comprehensive software-development solutions, founded the Inter-Informatics a.s. technology centre as its subsidiary three years ago. By doing so, the company’s management responded to increasing cooperation with the Airbus concern, a multinational producer of aviation technology. Currently, 130 specialists work at TC Inter-Informatics, though over five years that number will grow to up to 300 in connection with the project of expansion. The company’s main customers are producers of aircraft, automobiles and ships, for which the company ensures a complete range of services in conjunction with product development and production of prototypes.

Plastik HT
PLASTIK HT is a company with a tradition dating back more than 40 years. Today the company is focused on the production of technical plastic mouldings for the automotive and electronics industries. Production is ensured by approximately 650 employees using the most modern machine equipment. With respect to the growing interest of customers, the management of the joint-stock company PLASTIK HT recently decided to expand production. As a result of this decision, the company will build a new 5,000-m2-production hall in the local industrial zone. Plastik HT customers are located not only in the Czech Republic and Europe, but also in Mexico, Argentina and Australia.