Will the Czech Republic win The European Prize for contribution to business?

25 Jan. 2010 | CzechInvest | A CzechInvest project will represent the Czech Republic in Europe.

Ten established partnerships and a range of other planned international projects in the areas of research, development, new technologies and innovation comprise the results of the Czech Technology Days events organised by CzechInvest. The Czech Republic is now sending them to compete for the European Prize for Contribution to Business, where they will face competition from throughout Europe.

“Czech Technology Days have been organised regularly since 2005. Through these events over the past five years, representatives of CzechInvest, the relevant ministries, the Office of the Government and educational and research institutions, as well as businesspeople and researchers have met with their counterparts from more than ten countries,” says Alexandra Rudyšarová, CEO CzechInvest. “The main points in the programme of each Technology Days event include seeking out opportunities for cooperation in technologically demanding projects and visits to outstanding research facilities.”

For example, a Technology Days event led to the start of cooperation between the Czech company RS Dynamics and the Israeli Technion Institute in Haifa, which are jointly working on a prototype device for detecting radioactive materials, explosives and narcotics. “The foundations of cooperation were laid by a European project, within the Eureka programme, with the designation E! 3109 Eulasnet Explosives Analyzer, for which our company received the prestigious LYNX Award for the best European research project in 2008. Cooperation with the Technion Institute, which is building on the results of the award-winning project, has enabled us to increase the number of detected substances and expand the usability of integrated technologies jointly developed by RS Dynamics and the Technion Institute,” explains Georgie Bláha, president of RS Dynamics.

“Few of the world’s economies can boast such well-established cooperation with foreign partners as the Czech Republic. When we look back on the Technology Days in years past, we don’t want to see only dust and faded photographs. Our goal is concrete projects that we helped to set up by bringing together Czech firms and researchers with their counterparts from around the world,” Rudyšarová.

In 2010, Czechs will have more opportunities to gain foreign partners for their projects. “For this year we are planning Technology Days events with nine countries, which I believe will lead to a range of other international projects. We will be aided in this endeavour by our partners, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Office of the Government, the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and representatives of Czech embassies, foreign chambers of commerce, research institutes and universities. I greatly appreciate their valuable support and I look forward to continued successful cooperation with them,” says Rudyšarová.

More about Czech Technology Days

As a project of international cooperation in the area of science and technology, Czech Technology Days involve events focused on building new contacts and establishing cooperation between research institutions, policymakers and representatives of the private sector. Past Technology Days events focused on cooperation with, for example, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg, Denmark, Great Britain, Mexico, Argentina and Israel, among others. More information on Czech Technology Days is available at www.czechtechnologydays.org.

Czech Technology Days 2010

Partner	Location	Date	Sectoral focus
Finland	Prague	19-20 April 2010	power generation, thermal insulation of buildings
France	Paris, Bordeaux	April 2010	support for the ELI laser project in the Czech Republic
India	Delhi, Mumbai	11-13 May 2010	robotics, artificial intelligence, cognitive sciences, civilian nuclear energy, biotechnology, nanotechnology, water resources and research, energy, environment, medicine
Japan	Tokyo	25-27 May 2010	energy, environment and technology, space research, new materials, nanotechnology, robotics, cybernetics
Sweden	Stockholm	15-17 June 2010	pharmaceutics, medicine chemistry, biotechnology, advanced materials, nanotechnology, IT, robotics, artificial intelligence
Norway	Prague	H2 2010	to be determined
Israel	Tel Aviv	H2 2010	support for the Agreement on Industrial Research – priority sectors: information and communication technologies, sustainable and clean technologies; bio-agro: agricultural and food-production technologies, biotechnology and medical technology, mechanical engineering (new materials, nanotechnology, cybernetics and robotics)
Switzerland	Prague	Autumn 2010	biotechnology, new materials, power generation, new sources of energy
Great Britain	Prague	Autumn 2010	life sciences

program will be continuously updated

More about The European Prize for contribution to business

Now in its fourth year, the European Prize for Contribution to Business recognises entities that aid the development of the business environment and support entrepreneurship throughout Europe. The competition, which is organised by the European Commission, has two levels: national and European. Successful projects at the national level are selected by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, which sends two Czech representatives to the European round each year. The Europe-wide announcement of the competition’s results will take place in Spain in May 2010.