Winners of the Entrepreneurial Project of the Year 2012 Awards Announced

7 Oct. 2013 | CzechInvest, Ministry of Industry and Trade | CzechInvest and The Ministry of Industry and Trade have announced the best Entrepreneurial Project of the Year 2012.

The Entrepreneurial Project of the Year 2012 – the winners

EURODISPLAY, BIOSTER, Cleverlance H2B, Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín, Luboš Mareček, ŠKODA AUTO, TOS VARNSDORF, NAM system, CLUTEX – Technical Textile Cluster, Railway Infrastructure Interoperability and Corinth Investment are the winners of the Entrepreneurial Project of the Year 2012 competition. The winners were announced during an awards ceremony held by CzechInvest and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic on 3 October at the New Town Hall in Prague. The event took place under the auspices of Minister of Industry and Trade Jiří Cienciala.

“Today no country that wants to be competitive and have a stable economic environment can succeed without innovations,” says Alexandra Rudyšarová, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade for the Area of EU Funds, Research, Development and Innovation. “I am pleased that we could reward the best projects whose implementation was completed last year. At the same time, I believe that they will inspire other potential investors.”

The Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation has been providing aid to Czech businesses since 2007. Aid in the total volume of CZK 79 billion has been approved for 9,200 projects within the programme.

logo OPPI “European aid helps not only particular Czech firms. We can encounter the results of supported projects in everyday live, for example in schools, wellness centres and doctors’ offices, or when getting dressed, travelling and working on a computer,” says Marian Piecha, CEO of CzechInvest, who further states that without financial support, the development of some companies and implementation of the their projects would take significantly more time. “Therefore, we will continue to support Czech enterprises in future through the new Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation for Competitiveness,” Piecha adds.

The title of Entrepreneurial Project of the Year 2012 was awarded in eleven categories. The winner of the Innovation category was the company EURODISPLAY s.r.o., while Cleverlance H2B a.s. took the prize for the best project in the area of ICT and business support services. The best ecological projects were judged to be the activities of Luboš Mareček in the Renewable Energy Sources category and ŠKODA AUTO a.s. in the Energy Savings category. BIOSTER, a.s. took the top honours for the best research and development capacity in the Potential category, and Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín came out on top in the Prosperity category for the best infrastructure for support of innovative business.

Others projects receiving awards were the new training centre of TOS VARNSDORF a.s. and the new headquarters of NAM system, a.s. in the Property category. CLUTEX – Klastr Technické textilie, o.s. took first place in the Cooperation – Clusters category. The Interoperabilita železniční infrastruktury o.s. association was recognised in the Cooperation – Technology Platforms category for its development of cooperation between firms. Participants in the CzechAccelerator 2011-2014 project also received awards, whereas the assessment committee judged a project of Corinth Investment s.r.o. to be the most successful.

The celebratory announcement of winners took place with the participation of representatives of the state administration and local government, as well as important persons from the Czech business sector. The awards ceremony was hosted by Monika Valentová. The partners of the Entrepreneurial Project of the Year 2012 competition are CzechTrade, the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Crafts of the Czech Republic, and the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic. The media partners of the competition are Český rozhlas Plus, Regionální televize, the weekly Ekonom and monthly Komora.cz, and the EurActiv.cz portal.