CzechInvest services

CzechInvest is a powerful instrument of support for business, as it manages aid programmes intended to support business, originally mostly with domestic resources, though more recently with funding from European Union programmes. However, the agency’s strength lies in its enormous volume of information and experience as well as a detailed understanding of individual regions and their needs, which the agency has gained from its offices in each of the Czech Republic’s thirteen regional capitals. These regional offices provide information on the agency’s services and possibilities of business support from EU structural funds, assist firms that are interested in implementing their own investments in the given region and cooperate with local administrative authorities, schools and other regional institutions in finding opportunities for development of the regions’ business environment.

Sourcing

Thanks to the long tradition and great diversity of the Czech industry, the country offers vast sourcing opportunities for your business. If you are looking for a supplier or business partner in the Czech Republic, CzechInvest is prepared to provide you the following services:

• recommendation of suitable suppliers and business partners
• facilitation of establishing contacts with Czech companies and meetings with business partners
• preparation of visits to selected Czech companies
• organisation of business-trip itineraries
• business-trip accompaniment by a CzechInvest project manager
• meetings with potential suppliers in the form of supplier forums

CzechInvest has created a specialized sector databases covering the automotive, aerospace, engineering, electronics&electrical engineering, ICT, subcontracting plastics, subcontracting metal, materials&packaging healthcare and energy industries. The databases are freely available on CzechInvest website www.czechinvest.org.

More information about sourcing in the Czech Republic is available on the agency’s website at www.czechinvest.org.

R&D Cooperation

CzechInvest is actively seeking international partners for Czech research organizations and innovative companies through it’s Technology missions conducted in countries with high potential for collaboration. These sectorally focused missions are aimed at finding and supporting long-term partnerships with foreign institutions that are beneficial for all parties involved. CzechInvest’s R&D Support Department has a unique position in Czech R&D landscape offering consultancy, liaising with other relevant bodies, organizing various events, supporting high-tech investments into the country and facilitating bilateral or multilateral cooperation. It is your one-stop-shop for your R&D related endeavours.

More information about R&D cooperation in the Czech Republic is available on the agency’s website at www.czechinvest.org.

Czech Clusters

Active support of cluster initiatives has existed in the Czech Republic for several years already. The aim of this support is to use cooperative groupings as tools for the creation of innovations and improvement of the Czech economy’s competitiveness.

More information about clusters in the Czech Republic is available on the agency’s website at www.czechinvest.org.

CzechLink – M&A Platform

To support current market trends, CzechInvest launched the CzechLink project to facilitate the qualified investor search and enable the pre-audit project stage. Czech companies actively searching for investors have been provided with assistance in order to prepare information in an internationally understood configuration. The final information is summarized in the company prospect in the structure below:

• Company Story (milestones, highlights)
• Ownership Structure and Legal Form (current owners and legal framework)
• Commercial Profile (customers and customer evaluation)
• Quality Management (received certificates and their validity)
• Technology Profile (equipment and premises)
• Purchasing Profile (suppliers)
• Personal Profile (headcount structure and trends)
• Competition (main local competitors)
• Financial Profile (cost and revenue structure, asset and liabilities structure)
• Financial Ratios (liquidity, rentability, capital structure)

More information about CzechLink project is available on the agency’s website at www.czechinvest.org.

CzechInvest knows that a sufficient volume of well-equipped business properties is one of the conditions for a successful investment process. The agency has long been committed to the development of business properties. The market of business properties in the Czech Republic consistently offers significant potential in the area of prepared production facilities (generally rental properties), so that a foreign firm can launch production in the shortest possible period of time. This, of course, requires developers to either build production halls on a speculative basis or to at least prepare projects to the stage of construction approval. Business properties include market of industrial properties, industrial zones and brownfields.

The market of industrial properties intended for production displays certain specific characteristics as opposed to properties intended for warehousing and logistics. Recently the demand for production halls intended for rent is growing rapidly and thus exceeds the demand for fully prepared construction plots within industrial zones.

Among the business properties with which CzechInvest is concerned, industrial zones are of key importance. Industrial zones bring quantitative economic benefit in the form of newly created jobs and the effects derived from the amount of investment capital expended by investors entering the zones. CzechInvest has been actively engaged in the area of industrial zones since 1998, when it began implementation of the Industrial Zone Development Programme. In 2006, the new Business Properties and Infrastructure Support Programme  was approved, thanks to which support for construction and development of business properties (primarily strategic industrial zones) and regeneration of brownfields is continuing.

There are currently 103 fully prepared industrial zones in which over 600 enterprises have invested. The success of this programme is also evident in the fact that most supported zones are fully occupied by investors. According to periodic statistics on the occupancy of zones supported from the state budget, on average 70% of areas are occupied.

Brownfield sites offer considerable potential for further development, and their regeneration has a positive social and economic impact on the given area, even though their preparation is time-consuming and financially demanding. In order for there to be a simplified process of brownfield regeneration, CzechInvest offers both public and private entities the opportunity to cooperate on the implementation of the National Brownfield Regeneration Strategy, the goal of which is to regenerate the maximum number of brownfields in the Czech Republic and to ensure the creation of an effective environment for these projects.

CzechInvest strives to satisfy the growing demand for business properties and thus cooperates with public and private developers in order to improve the supply of properties. The agency offers the possibility to utilise consulting and mediated financial support for construction, renovation and regeneration of industrial zones, brownfield sites and production halls.

CzechInvest administers an extensive database of business properties, which is the most comprehensive of its kind in the Czech Republic. Via the database municipalities and business entities can offer suitable spaces for business. Are you interested in offering your property through the database of business properties? Find out more on www.czechinvest.org.

AfterCare

Investor aftercare comprises a whole range of activities. The most frequent forms of support to investors’ business activities are listed below; however, we seek to tailor our support to the specific needs of each investor. All our services are, of course, provided free of charge.

What can you expect with CzechInvest AfterCare:

• Support to expansion, re-investment and the development of research capacities
• Assistance in seeking suitable industrial zones and business properties
• Advising how to draw investment incentives and project co-financing from EU structural funds
• Seeking suppliers in the relevant region
• Providing support in the human resources area
• Promoting cooperation between investors and secondary schools, vocational colleges and universities
• Providing for negotiations with local authorities, state administration bodies and public institutions
• Ensuring that investors‘ proposals to amend legislation are submitted to the Czech Government; cultivating the Czech business environment
• Organising specialised workshops, working breakfasts with top officials, round tables and social events.

More information about CzechInvest AfterCare programme is available on the agency’s website at www.czechinvest.org or at CzechInvest’s office in your country.