Where European Aid helped in 2013

19 Nov. 2014 | CzechInvest | CzechInvest and The Ministry of Industry and Trade recognise The Best Business Projects of 2013

KDE EVROPSKÉ DOTACE V ROCE 2013 POMÁHALY

CEPS a.s., MAGNETON a.s., dataPartner s.r.o., MEXIM CONSULTING, spol. s r.o., DEZA, a.s., NUTREND D.S., a.s., STROJÍRNA OSLAVANY, spol. s r.o. and Ki-Wi Digital s.r.o. are the eight winners of the Business Project of the Year 2013 awards presented by CzechInvest and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic. The winning companies were recognised for their projects supported by EU structural funds and the state budget during an awards ceremony held in Martinic Palace at Prague Castle on 18 November. The event was held under the auspices of Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek.

“The winning projects are prime examples of the effective combination of state aid and the entrepreneurial desire to innovate and develop,” says Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek. “They represent a much larger group of successful aid applicants. In 2013, 1,377 projects in the total value of nearly CZK 7 billion were completed within the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation.”

Starting in 2007, businesses from all regions of the Czech Republic, with the exception of Prague, were able to apply for aid from the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation (OPEI) 2007-2013. CzechInvest, the programme administrator, received more than 16,000 applications during the period from 2007 to 2013. Of those, aid was approved for 9,855 projects in the total amount of CZK 84.4 billion.

The title of Business Property of the Year 2013 was awarded in eight categories corresponding to the OPEI sub-programmes that were open to aid recipients in 2013. “Each of the winning projects is beneficial for not only the given company and its employees, but also for the region,” Karel Kučera, CEO of CzechInvest. “This involves development in the areas of modernising production, innovating products and services, new jobs, revitalisation of dilapidated complexes and environment protection.”

CEPS a.s. won the Innovation category thanks to its project involving innovation of oil-pipeline inspection technology. First place in the Potential category was awarded to MAGNETON a.s. for the modernisation of its research and development capacities. The top prize in the ICT and Business Support Services category went to dataPartner s.r.o. for its software application for more energy-efficient welding. MEXIM CONSULTING, spol. s r.o. earned first place in the Renewable Sources of Energy category thanks to a small hydropower plant that the firm had put into operation on the Morava River. DEZA, a.s. was recognised as having the best project in the Energy Savings category. NUTREND D.S., a.s., a producer of nutritional supplements for athletes, took the top honours in the Training Centres category. STROJÍRNA OSLAVANY, spol. s r.o. was named the winner of the Properties category for the refurbishment of its production complex, which had originally been the Kukla mine. In the newest category, CzechAccelerator, the start-up company Ki-Wi Digital s.r.o. had the top project, which involved the development of an application for tablets and smartphones intended for senior citizens.

The Business Project of the Year 2013 awards ceremony, which was attended by representatives of the state administration and local authorities, as well as by important persons from the Czech business sphere, took place on Tuesday, 18 November 2014, in Martinic Palace at Prague Castle. The event was hosted by Monika Valentová. The partners of the competition are the Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of the Czech Republic and CzechTrade. The media partners are the monthly Komora.cz, Trade News magazine, the EurActiv.cz portal and Regionální televize.