Jirotkova: We will focus on start-ups and hi-tech companies

By the end of next year, CzechInvest has the ambition to support about 200 start-ups, ready for over 140 million crowns.

The support site of the CzechInvest state agency will focus more on start-ups, companies focused on research and development activities and small and medium-sized enterprises. By the end of next year, CzechInvest has the ambition to support about 200 start-ups, ready for over 140 million crowns. The number of investors who receive an investment incentive could fall by a quarter against the present as a result of the amendment to the Investment Incentive Act. News agency director Silvana Jirotkova said in an interview with CTK.

"The fundamental change we expect from the amendment to the Investment Incentives Act should be that they should be available for companies that are focused on research and development activities, are technologically more advanced and meet the parameters of the new strategy of CzechInvest, which is a departure from the traditional attraction of all investments into the Czech Republic, "said Jirotková.

The interest of start-ups in the service of the state agency is growing. "In the future, we would like to step up our role as the umbrella national institution responsible for start-up issues," the director said.

Now, CzechInvest has several start-up programs. So far, over 200 companies have gone through them. "The CzechInvest has helped 51 start-ups in the CzechStarter, CzechDemo and CzechAccelerator projects since 2016. Ten companies are now incubating in the ESA BIC Prague space incubator," added Jirotkova.

The merger of, CzechInvest and another state agency CzechTrade, was recently spoken by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš . "Both of these agencies have been cooperating for a long time, and cooperation has been deepening in recent years," the CzechInvest chief said. In the area of small and medium-sized companies, it wants to share a database of clients with CzechTrade, EGAP and other state-owned enterprises to support export, and also plans to set measurable performance indicators towards the client and synergistically cooperate with them so as to enhance the competitiveness of the Czech Republic.

In countries where one does not have agencies with their agencies, both institutions want to share their branches to work for both companies. Both institutions are established and have their value and their weight and it would be a shame to come.

Jirotková won the tender announced by the Ministry of Industry and Trade at the beginning of the year. In January, Minister of Industry and Trade Tomáš Hüner dismissed Karel Kučera as CEO of CzechInvest. According to him, his decisions destabilized the operation of the agency.

The amendment to the Investment Incentives Act, which is now in the commenting process, foresees incentives to encourage investment in technology centers and strategic services centers. In other cases, the beneficiary will have to pay a wage of at least 80 percent of its employees at the average wage in the county. At the same time, the proportion of its employees with higher education should be at least ten percent. Incentives should be easier for small and medium businesses. The new rules could start to apply from the middle of next year.

Last year the promise of investment incentives from the state was won by 74 investors, the incentives reached CZK 10.7 billion. CzechInvest is a government agency for business and investment support, which is also responsible for attracting foreign investors to the Czech Republic, as well as helping smaller Czech companies to find foreign partners. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.