“The Czech economy needs new impulses for growth and one of them is the growing startup ecosystem, which has an increasing impact on GDP and employment. Thanks to the Technology Incubation programme led by our agency, the state is sending a clear signal that it supports the development of innovative companies and their market uptake. However, in order to fully exploit this potential, we also need to improve the business environment and create the legislative conditions in which startups can emerge and grow, thus contributing to the modernisation of the Czech economy,” says Jan Michal, Director General of the CzechInvest agency.
By participating in incubation, young Czech companies will receive a wide portfolio of financial and non-financial assistance tools that will enable them to accelerate their development and market entry. “Each startup is now assigned an incubation manager who will accompany it throughout the entire period of mutual cooperation. Afterwards, it will be possible to start drawing on the so-called incubation package, which, in addition to direct support in the form of a grant, also offers the provision of specific tailored needs such as workshops, consultations with experts or connection to key players in the startup ecosystem in the area. They will also join a community of more than 454 founders who have already successfully completed incubation or are currently going through the process,” explains Tereza Kubicová, deputy for technological development of the CzechInvest agency.
This time, it was also possible to apply for one of the technological areas, which consist of artificial intelligence, mobility, creative industries, ecology and circular economy, preservation and protection of life or increasing its comfort (including medicine, biotechnology and security solutions) and advanced materials. The AI Hub (12), Tech4Life Hub (8) and Creative Hub (8) will receive the most newcomers. Companies working in the SPACE area are incubated in line with the ESA BIC Czech Republic space programme and its separate challenges.
In the preparatory phase of the fifth challenge, the so-called pre-incubation, 228 projects expressed interest and more than 150 of them subsequently submitted an application. Based on innovation, scalability, feasibility and compliance with formalities, independent experts from different sectors across public, private and academic spheres subsequently recommended to support 27 projects in STANDARD mode and another 13 in PLUS mode . In the first case, the startups will receive direct support of up to CZK 1.1 million, while in the second case the support reaches up to CZK 4.5 million. Indirect support for both schemes amounts to half a million.
The 157 startups from the sixth challenge, which closed this April, are now gradually undergoing evaluation. This is dominated by applications from the creative industries, artificial intelligence and then health and safety. “We are successfully approaching our goal of supporting 250 startups, now reaching peak capacity in July and incubating 162 companies in parallel. In this final challenge, we will therefore only offer incubation to just under 30 innovators. We are therefore already in active discussions with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to build on the successful operation of the incubator to bring further development and growth opportunities to entrepreneurs across the Czech Republic.” adds Kubicová.
Technology Incubation is the largest initiative to support startups in the Czech Republic with a total allocation of approximately CZK 680 million. The programme is funded from the state budget through the Ministry of Industry and Trade under The Country for the Future programme .
Social Media Manager of the Technology Incubation Project
tereza.skarkova@czechinvest.gov.czSimilar news
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