The Czech Republic has the potential to change the world of technology. The Tech Happy Hours Festival of the Future presented global trends and support for domestic innovators

24.10. 2025

International technology event Tech Happy Hours, which as part of the initiative Czech Startup Week held on 22 October 2025 at the Prague Planetarium, welcomed more than 400 guests. It presented the opportunities of exponential technologies and the successes of the Czech startup ecosystem to participants from among domestic and foreign startup founders, venture capitalists or representatives of leading corporations and universities. In addition to prominent personalities from the Czech Republic, there were also stars from Taiwan, Great Britain, Portugal, Canada, Slovakia, Ukraine and Luxembourg.

“Czech Startup Week is proof that the Czech startup scene knows how to unite, speak with one voice and has the ambition to lead Europe towards greater competitiveness and technological progress. Personally, I am especially happy that more and more people from the government, research and corporate scene are also appearing among startups and investors. This is how true innovation is created,” says Ivo Denemark, Director of the Startups and Investment Division of CzechInvest.

The Technology Incubation event, which was held in cooperation with the ESA BIC Czech Republic space incubator , the Startup Kitchen startup platform and the Czech Founders community , this year devoted significant space to the important topic of business environment and startup development. She also presented the results of the largest domestic project to date for the development of innovative young companies of the CzechInvest agency, which successfully fulfilled its goal of supporting 250 new technological products and services. Technological incubation from 24. On November 2025 , it will open an extension that will allow the incubation package worth up to CZK 5 million to other founders from all over the Czech Republic.

In a panel discussion dedicated to opportunities and initiatives to help young entrepreneurs , Kateřina Rundová, Director of Startup Incubation at CzechInvest , Martin Švolba, Director of Development and Innovation Research at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic , Martin Jiránek, Chairman of the Czech Startup Association , Vojtěch Roček, General Partner at Presto Tech Horizons , and Tomáš Cironis, Captain of the Startup Kitchen startup platform , debated .

The Technology Incubation #Demoday competition showcase was also part of the Technology Incubation programme, in which eighteen ambitious startups across progressive areas such as artificial intelligence, sustainable innovation, mobility, creative industries and advanced materials competed for the favour of investors and the title of the overall winner. This is the case of the startup Scicake, whose innovative Fonafix system provides effective diagnosis and therapy of speech disorders using artificial intelligence. “At a time of explosive growth in AI, founding a deep-tech company may seem like a simple and logical choice; after all, everyone wants AI today. But even the best idea is not enough, it needs to be validated and successfully brought to market. And it is this crucial path to market success that Technology Incubation has enabled us to take, and without its support we would not have made it. The opportunity to present our breakthrough visions and successes to date in front of experienced investors and innovation leaders during the demo day is an invaluable way to validate the enormous potential of our solution. Today’s win by the Scicake team is a well-deserved reward for more than a year of intense effort and clear evidence that we are on our way to revolutionizing the industry, ” comments Ján Mucha, co-founder and CEO of Scicake.

Other winners were startups HTG Medical, Galochrom and Shealed. The selected finalists not only received important feedback and valuable prizes for their further growth, but also advanced to the Engaged Top Startup Selection of the Engaged Investments partner conference.

An equally important area in the field of startup cooperation was the so-called. 28. A scheme that could allow start-ups and fast-growing companies to do business across the EU under a single set of rules. The need to simplify legal procedures, reduce administrative complexity and improve access to various European markets was discussed by Markéta Přenosilová, European expert on startups from CzechInvest , Inês Magriço, CFO of Europe Startup Nations Alliance (ESNA), Vít Horký , entrepreneur and investor from Czech Founders, Jan Jendrejas , specialist on legislation at the Ministry of Justice, and Jaroslav Ton, CEO of Malcolm Finance.

Tech Happy Hours subsequently focused on sectors such as space tech and defence. In the expert panel of the Defence Hub of CzechInvest agency , CTO and co-founder of the startup Atomiver Veronika Šedajová, business director of the Slovak startup RV Magnetics Vladimir Marhefka, founder of the non-profit initiative Invest in Bravery Lola Onipko spoke together , Presto Tech Horizons investor Oleksandr Bulatnikov or Goldilock startup CEO Tony Hasek.

The panel, which was organised by the Space Hub Technology Incubation and was also part of the Czech Space Week event , featured space architect Tomáš Rousek from the London-based XTend Design studio , space activities populariser for ESERO Jan Spratek, head of communications at CTU and CERN spin-off ADVACAM Martin Tyburec and Slovak cosmonautics hopeful Matěj Poliaček from the Forbes 30 under 30 SK selection. Also interviewed was artist and founder of the Moonshot Platform initiative Yemi A. D. The end of the evening belonged to new and existing startups from the European Space Agency incubator ESA BIC Czech Republic at the gala networking event ESA BIC Launchpad.

Součástí hlavního programu byly i příklady dobré praxe ze startupového světa od zástupců taiwanské delegace z Taiwania Capital, ASUSTeK Computer, AvioCast, Tensor Tech, Might Electronics, GlintMED Accelerator a Innovation to Industry.