Visegrad Four countries want to jointly intensify support for start-ups

The signing of the memorandum was the final phase of a longer-term initiative aimed at supporting the establishment and development of start-ups in the Visegrad Four (V4) countries. On the occasion of the signing, Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek welcomed the highest representatives of the V4 countries and the European commissioner for the digital single market, Andrus Ansip.

“Each of the V4 countries has its own national plans and tools for supporting start-up companies. In the Czech Republic, for example, there is CzechInvest and the National Innovation Fund, which is currently being prepared and will enable investment of money from European funds in newly established firms. In the coming years, we want to use more than CZK 1.3 billion from the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation for Competitiveness to support innovative business. Cooperation at the V4 level should enhance our standing on the global market, where we would be small players when acting separately. I believe that the joint approach which we defined in the memorandum  will help our start-ups to better assert themselves in the world and thus improve our competitiveness, which will increasingly depend on innovative ideas and technologies,” said Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek during the signing.

In September this year, the V4 countries came together for the "We4Startups in Silicon Valley" event in San Francisco, where 12 start-ups from the region jointly presented themselves to investors. The event was held with support from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic and CzechInvest. Continuation of this project and joint presentation of start-ups from the V4 countries at other international events are being planned for the future.