Technology Centre Hradec Králové (TCHK) ceremoniously opened a science and technology park with the aim of providing quality facilities for the development of business activities in the region. The city of Hradec Králové received aid for construction from the Operational Programme Industry and Enterprise. Total costs of the project to establish the science and technology park reached nearly CZK 87 million, whereas aid from the European Prosperity Programme amounted to just under CZK 63 million.

From July, talented entrepreneurs will be able to use the facilities of a modern services centre, which was established on the site of a dilapidated dining facility at a former military airfield in Hradec Králové. “Conversion of a former mess hall that once served military units at the airfield in Hradec Králové is another example of successful regeneration of a brownfield site,” says Alexandra Rudyšarová, acting CEO of CzechInvest.

The newly opened Technology Centre, which is a part of the national network of science and technology parks, offers interested parties the possibility to use spaces featuring modern equipment. In addition to technical facilities, entrepreneurs can benefit from the presence of providers of supplementary services, accountants and tax advisors, lawyers, patent representatives, marketing consultants, subsidy advisors, etc.

Representatives of the technology centre believe that the park’s operation will favourably influence the inflow of investments with high added value and the creation of high-skilled jobs in the region. “Like every science and technology park, we are aiming at involvement in a specific sector with concrete links to educational and science and research institutions as well as companies in the region. TCHK is particularly focused on the area of information and communication technologies, the ceaseless development of which has and will continue to have an impact on almost every human activity. Currently, we are cooperating most intensively with the Faculty of Informatics and Management at the University of Hradec Králové, which has been an important partner since the very beginning, and a range of regional firms with which we are striving to formally establish the Hradec IT Cluster,” adds Martin Dittrich, COO of TCHK.

Most of the costs of implementing the project to establish the science and technology park in Hradec Králové were covered by a grant from EU structural funds (75% from the EU budget and 15% from the Czech Republic’s national budget). The amount of CZK 63 million was obtained from the already concluded Prosperity Programme, which was part of the Operational Programme Industry and Enterprise during the 2004-2006 programming period. Among other things, the Prosperity Programme had the aim of supporting the establishment, development and activities of science and technology parks, business incubators and technology-transfer centres. Such institutions have the potential to create conditions for the establishment and development of small and medium-sized innovative firms focused on realising new technologies and increasing the competitiveness of products and services.

The aforementioned Prosperity Programme has a successor of the same name in the 2007-2013 programming period. Supported activities now also include establishment and further development of science and technology parks, business incubators, technology-transfer centres and, newly, creation of business-angels networks, which encourage the establishment and development of innovative firms. Parties interested in receiving aid from the Prosperity Programme can now send preliminary registration applications to CzechInvest; electronic registration applications will be accepted from 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009.