Prague Hosts the Czech-American Innovation Conference

5 Mar. 2012 | CzechInvest | The Event is Part of the Czech-American Technology Days.

“The U.S. – Czech Innovation Conference: Exploring the Innovation Opportunity” is the title of the conference in which the Czech Republic has a unique chance to demonstrate its innovation potential and present itself as a country where it pays to invest. The event will take place on 5-6 March 2012 at Lichtenstein Palace in Prague under the auspices of Prime Minister Petr Nečas and will be attended by representatives of institutions, universities and firms from the Czech Republic and the United States.

“The Czech Republic has something to offer in the areas of science and research and development, and therefore we can now discuss, exchange experience and cooperate with the world’s innovation elite, such as the United States. However, we still have something to learn. The American-Czech Innovation Conference, which begins today in Prague, is an ideal opportunity for that,” say Petr Nečas, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic.

“The innovation conference is the icing on the cake in the effort to show the world the kind of ideas that originate in the Czech Republic. At the same time, it is an outstanding opportunity for our universities and companies to establish contacts and cooperation with their American counterparts,” emphasises Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Kuba.

“We expect that these connections will help us elevate the scientific cooperation that already exists between our countries. That will lead to new technology ideas, cutting-edge commercial applications and, ultimately, job creation in both countries,” says Norman Eisen, Ambassador of the United States in Prague.

“Support for international cooperation in science, research and innovation is a priority for Czech diplomacy. The outlines of the Czech-American Innovation Conference originated with the active participation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and we are pleased that a full range of other departments and institutions have gradually joined in. Diplomacy has thus fulfilled its traditional and most effective role: to be a facilitator of international cooperation. Czech-American cooperation in research and development has achieved noteworthy successes and we thus have something to build on,” says Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomáš Dub.

“The event has become part of the already traditional Czech Technology Days organized by CzechInvest in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and thanks to which we have managed to raise the Czech Republic’s profile in the world,” says Miroslav Křížek, CEO of CzechInvest.

“A unique feature of the conference is the large number of officials coming from the United States, many of whom have operational responsibility for cooperative research and significant resources available for such cooperation,” says Charles W. Wessner, director for technology, innovation and business at the American National Academies.

Among others, the United States will be represented at the conference by E. William Colglazier, advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for science and technology and Norman Eisen, the United States ambassador in Prague. The Czech Republic will be represented by, for example, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomáš Dub and Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Tlapa. The Czech academic sphere will be represented by, for example, Professor Vladimír Mařík, head of the Department of Cybernetics of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University, while Vítězslav Moťka, vice-president Meopta-optika, s.r.o. will be among those to speak on the behalf of the business sphere. More information about the conference programme is available at

http://www.us-czic.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=60&Itemid=68.

The organisers of the conference are the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, CzechInvest, the Embassy of the United States of America in Prague, the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the U.S. National Academies. The Czech Technical University in Prague and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic are also participating in the event.