New CzechInvest to create thousands of jobs annually

22 Sep. 2011 | CzechInvest, Ministry of Industry and Trade | The agency is focusing on support for innnovation, sophisticated investments and development of the knowledge economy.

Press conference – New CzechInvest – photo 1

CzechInvest promises the creation of thousands of new jobs and contribution to the Czech Republic’s GDP on the order of a billion crowns through its set of new products and services for business. The New CzechInvest strategy was unveiled today by Petr Očko, direct of the EU Funds, Research and Development Section of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Miroslav Křížek, CEO of CzechInvest, and Jaromír Veber, dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Economics.

“The common focus of all new aspects is to improve the competitiveness of our economy. With this objective, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has prepared fundamental conceptual documents, particularly the International Competitiveness Strategy, which CzechInvest is putting into practice in the form of new measures and services to support business,” Martin Kocourek, Minister of Industry and Trade.

“CzechInvest is playing a key role in launching the strategy of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, particularly in the area of strengthening small and medium-sized enterprises, investment development and support for innovation. The Czech economy is undergoing continuous development and thus it is necessary to adapt the agency’s services to the current trends,” says Petr Očko, director of the EU Funds, Research and Development Section of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

“The new concept was one of the main objectives which we brought to the agency. Special economic zones, foreign incubators for domestic businesses, an information centre for business, global coverage with business accelerators for Czech firms, support for investments and acquisitions of domestic companies abroad, regional innovation centres, PPP projects and emphasis on attracting technologically demanding investments – CzechInvest will be newly involved in these activities, among others,” emphasises Miroslav Křížek, CEO of CzechInvest

“Among other things, CzechInvest’s new product portfolio is a useful tool for supporting the inflow of investments as well as business, innovation and the development of weaker regions. According to our calculations, the agency should contribute at least 0.1% to GDP growth annually thanks to its services,” Jaromír Veber, dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Economics in Prague.

CzechInvest will newly seek both inward and outward investments

Following the example of other countries where this concept has proven effective, one of CzechInvest’s new tasks will consists in the establishment of Special Economic Zones. “These zones function based on the differences of individual regions, for example in priority sectors, quality of infrastructure and the unemployment rate. It will be possible to improve the situation in these less-developed regions so that they are more interesting for investors. The establishment of zones should thus contribute to reducing the differences between regions,” explains Miroslav Křížek.

CzechInvest will also newly seek out suitable acquisition and investment opportunities for Czech companies abroad. Of course, the agency’s focus on attracting foreign investments to the Czech Republic will remain a key aspect of its work. At the same time, the agency is focusing intently on technologically demanding projects creating high value added.

The future lies in connecting the research sphere with practical application

A completely new endeavour will be the establishment of incubation centres for Czech firms in growing markets abroad. These will provide domestic businesses with the facilities and services necessary for expansion in the given region so that during a roughly half-year stay they can establish a foreign legal entity, find a local partner and penetrate a new market. A pilot project involving such a centre is being prepared in Chile.

CzechInvest is concurrently expanding its network of foreign technology accelerators intended especially for highly innovative Czech firms. Following the successful pilot phase in Silicon Valley, the network of CzechAccelerators will be expanded to the East Coast of the United States, Switzerland, Singapore and Israel. In addition to this, CzechInvest is negotiating the conclusion of new agreements on bilateral support for international innovation projects. Such a programme between the Czech Republic and Israel is currently in operation under the name Gesher/Most.

“CzechInvest wants to be an intermediary between the research and business spheres, thus combining the potential of both in the area of innovation,” adds Miroslav Křížek. “The agency will ensure, in particular, key supporting services for development of the innovation ecosystem, mainly expert consulting, mentoring and coaching, for example in connection with a prepared growth-capital seed fund.”

CzechInvest as an information centre for business

CzechInvest has also taken on the ambition to become an information centre for business which will provide thoroughly elaborated information for companies as well as for the government. “Currently, there is no state analytic-prognostic organisation which can seek out and analyse economic data, monitor trends and formulate regular prognoses and forecasts based on the information thus obtained. We want to fill that gap,” says Miroslav Křížek.

In addition to this, CzechInvest also intends to become more involved in regional development. The agency is already cooperating on various projects with municipalities and is preparing to further expand its activities in this area. For example, the New CzechInvest strategy mentions consulting in the course of establishing regional innovation centres and implementation of PPP projects.