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Year 2024 in a nutshell

13.01. 2025
line-arrow Year 2024 in a nutshell

We have a new partner. The added value for startups is a close cross-sector network across the public, private and academic spheres. Recent collaborations include sharing contacts and expertise with CEPS.

In the past year, we have implemented two successful challenges. In 2025, we plan to launch only one more. The programme is now past its symbolic halfway point and all incubated projects must be closed by 31 December 2027.

The Technology Incubation Programme is being heard about. This is also in conversations with the CEO Jan Michal, for whom the development of the innovation environment and support for start-up Czech companies is one of the TOP 3 priorities of the CzechInvest agency.

The seventh year of the largest domestic festival of space activities Czech Space Week, co-organised by Space Hub Technological Incubation, was opened by President Petr Pavel. He also met with a number of our incubated and alumni startups from the fields of automotive, AI or ecotech in August at the castle in Lány.

As part of the first edition of the international festival of the future Tech Happy Hours, we organized a pitch competition for our startups, during which 16 inspiring startups presented themselves at the final stand. The winner was KARDI AI from Olomouc.

Startups have the opportunity to consult with 27 leading Czech business and technology experts. 17 experts help in the field of business, and 10 consultants now offer technical mentoring based on nominations from companies themselves.

This year , 31 startups from the hubs of creative industries (12), AI (11), ecotech (4) and mobility (4) successfully completed incubation. These included companies dedicated to virtual reality, security, sustainable eco-innovation or streamlining development and automation.

We co-organised and supported 53 events to promote entrepreneurship and innovation across the Czech Republic. Among the most interesting ones were the Creative Business Cup competition, the Czech Space Week festival, Colours of Ostrava, the international Tech Happy Hours conference, a meet up dedicated to smart cities Urbis or the AI Startup Pitch Contest within the AI Days.

Technological incubation plays an important role in supporting basic research in the transfer of academic results. We have about 57 spin-offs, whose teams are composed of scientists and researchers from leading Czech scientific organisations.

A series of lectures and seminars are an integral part of the comprehensive incubation support. A total of 143 startups participated in this year’s 14 educational events focused on financial management, business development, marketing or the perfect investor pitch.

With 180 projects now involved in incubation, Technology Incubation has already passed its symbolic half. The most represented sectors are artificial intelligence, creative industries and eco-innovation.

We received a total of 278 applications for the fourth and fifth call for Technology Incubation projects. While the startups from the fourth call are already starting incubation, the applicants of the fifth call are now undergoing evaluation and will receive a decision on the award of support in May 2025.

We regularly communicate about Technology Incubation to the Czech media. In total, we have secured 453 outputs across our own channels and acquired media space. Read, for example, interviews with the directors of our Science and Research hubs.

Over 459 projects took advantage of the opportunity to consulttheir innovative ideas in the so-called pre-incubation, which is available throughout the year (i.e. independently of project calls). The pre-incubation is also open now, here. In total, 1,437 startups have applied for pre-incubation since the start of the programme.

At four inspiring meetings full of lectures, networking and informal entertainment, we welcomed a total of 557 guests from incubated startups, industry experts, Technology Incubation partners and representatives of the CzechInvest agency. The Christmas meet-up was the most numerous, with 184 participants.

Our LinkedIn community has gained 2,154 followers since its inception. Here we regularly inform about project news, inspiring initiatives of Technology Incubation partners or successes of our incubated startups.

Incubation managers have dedicated more than 18,936 hours (measured from January to November 2024) of consulting and one-on-one assistance to their assigned startups. If a single person were to take on this role, they would spend a full 789 days, or more than 2 years.

In 2024, the total amount of support for startups reached CZK 91 941 866. The direct aid amounted to CZK 75,226,859, while the non-financial incubation component consisted of orders worth CZK 16,715,007.

Examples of the success of Technology Incubation and our startups

This project was implemented with financial support from the state budget through the Ministry of Industry and Trade in the programme The Country for the Future.

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