INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Contents Welcome to the Czech Republic 1 Labour Availability, Skills and Education 2 Available Financial Support 3 Major Investments 4 Research and Development 6 Company Focus – Czech Republic 8 Up & Coming 11 Networks & Infrastructure 12 Last update: January 2016 www.czechinvest.org 1 Welcome to the Czech Republic Introduction The Czech Republic at a Glance Over the last decade, the area of nanotechnology and advanced materials has attracted more and more attention worldwide with a lot of new, promising applications in the fields of medicine, textiles, surface treatment and filtration, among others. The Czech Republic has established its own respectable position in the world of nanotechnology and advanced materials thanks to its industrial tradition, growing state-of-art research infrastructure with institutions cooperating on the most prestigious projects, university education offering high-quality doctoral studies and a number of companies developing final products and coming up with many innovative ideas. Latvia Industry specialisation Current specialisation in the field is the result of decades of research and development, whereas the outstanding findings of Professors Armin Delong and Oldrich Jirsak are arguably the most influential. The former introduced the first electron microscope into production in 1949, which later led to the fact that the city of Brno is considered to be the global centre of electron microscopy thanks to the Czech-based TESCAN ORSAY HOLDING and the American firm FEI Company, which has a branch in Brno. More recently, in 2003, Professor Jirsak developed a reliable method of spinning fibers measuring 200 nanometres in diameter. Based on Professor Jirsak’s patent, the Czech company Elmarco became the first supplier of industrial-scale nanofiber production equipment in 2007 and allowed other Czech Population (million) 10.5 enterprises to process nanofibers in order to produce, for example, membranes for water Labour force (million) 5.3 and air filtration and functional textiles. Unemployment rate (%, October 2015) 5.9 Apart from those mentioned above, there are still other remarkable fields in which Czech GDP per capita (€, PPP, 2014) 28,466 companies are highly competitive on the global scale: Inflation (%, October 2015) 0.4 -- production of monocrystalline materials Source: Czech Statistical Office 2015, Czech Ministry of Finance 2015, IMF 2015 -- electron lithography for holography applications -- wound healing and tissue regeneration -- research of nanostructured and cross-linked polymeric materials Industry Specialisation – Nanotechnology -- production of nanoparticles for special purposes Location Rank Total USA 1 8,5 Nanotechnology itself could not exist without a robust industrial base comprising the Czech Republic 2 7,38 chemical, textile and electronics sectors and strong capabilities in the area of developing new Germany 3 7,15 materials. The field of advanced materials is highly attractive to major foreign companies, UK 4 6,15 and it stands to mention at least the ongoing investments of Fibertex Nonwovens A/S and Japan 5 5,85 Pegas Nonwovens in nonwoven textiles, Toray in waterless printing technology and AGC in advanced glass, while for the Saint-Gobain group the Czech Republic is a key location Source: Financial Times: fDi Benchmark 2015 with many branches and investments of more than EUR 65 million in expansions in 2015 alone from Sekurit, ADFORS and ISOVER only. Nanofiber materials have great potential. Highlights Market analysts forecast 30-40% annual The rapid development of nanotechnology and advanced materials has been enhanced by growth. That is probably the main reason available support. In the Czech Republic, there are a number of possibilities of research “ why our current customers are ordering funding offered by different state bodies as well as access to EU programmes (HORIZON more production lines to meet their 2020, COSME, etc.) and other international projects (e.g. Eurostars EUREKA). customers´ demand. Therefore, the combination of the aforementioned industrial tradition and capacities with the Czech Republic’s regulatory and patent environment, which is in accordance with EU Ladislav Mares standards, and governmental and supranational support has resulted in an increasing ”founder of Elmarco number of research institutions and private companies working in nanotechnology and advanced materials and excellent research and human-resources potential of Czech small and medium-size enterprises. 2 Labour Availability, Skills and Education One of the main attractions of the Czech economy is its skilled and well-educated Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials at Universities workforce available at very favourable costs compared to other countries. A key benefit Academic Year for the nanotechnology and advanced materials sectors is the country’s traditionally strong 559 technical education, with universities able to meet the requests of new, developing areas 2006/2007 4,677 of the economy. In addition, long-term specialisation in chemistry, electronics and related 1,146 5,022 2007/2008 areas has fostered the skills needed in research and development conducted by any 1,314 high-tech enterprise. 5,239 2008/2009 1,312 Thanks to growing support from the Czech government as well as from the European 5,257 2009/2010 Union, several new, outstanding research facilities have been established. Having the most 1,235 5,408 2010/2011 advanced equipment and the infrastructure of well-established universities, these facilities 1,230 are able to participate in top-level basic and applied research projects worldwide with 6,180 2011/2012 strong emphasis on meeting the needs of industry. At the same time, they provide 1,416 6,292 2012/2013 high-quality education for doctoral students from all over the world. New centres in 1,432 the cities of Brno (CEITEC), Olomouc (Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and 6,560 2013/2014 Materials) and Liberec (Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technology and Innovation) 2,179 serve as very good examples. 9,926 2014/2015 Graduates specialising in nanotechnology & advanced materials As of 2015, there are more than 9,900 university students enrolled in studies programmes Students specialising in nanotechnology & advanced materials related to nanotechnology and advanced materials in the Czech Republic; this number Source: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, 2015 follows the upward trend of the last ten years. Approximately 1,800 other students are Note: Until academic year 2013/2014, statistics include only study programmes in Nanotechnology and related fields, but from 2014/2015 on statistics include both enrolled in doctoral programmes. Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Specialisation in Chemicals Number of Students and Graduates at Universities in Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials (2014/15) Czech Republic 31.99 Czech Technical University in Prague Palacky University, Olomouc University of Pardubice USA 20.64 Students: 2,297 Students: 305 Students: 671 16.45 Japan Graduates: 653 Graduates: 90 Graduates: 149 Germany 15.98 UK 15.21 Charles University, Prague Technical University of Liberec VSB – Technical University of Ostrava 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Students: 639 Students: 594 Students: 614 Graduates: 111 Graduates: 109 Graduates: 155 Source: Financial Times: fDi Benchmark 2015 Note: Number of companies in chemicals per 100,000 population Annual Labour Costs – Laboratory Specialist Location Rank Total (EUR) Czech Republic 1 27,821 UK 2 52,654 Japan 3 55,674 USA 4 63,174 Germany 5 73,261 Source: Financial Times: fDi Benchmark 2015 Annual Labour Costs – Head of R&D TOTAL NUMBERS 2014/2015 Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague Tomas Bata University in Zlin Location Rank Total (EUR) Students: 9,926 Students: 996 Students: 472 Graduates: 2,179 Graduates: 159 Graduates: 88 Czech Republic 1 96,782 USA 2 128,717 University of West Bohemia, Pilsen Masaryk University, Brno Brno University of Technology UK 3 137,814 Students: 189 Students: 98 Students: 2,855 Graduates: 38 Graduates: 7 Graduates: 605 Germany 4 155,704 Japan 5 170,152 Source: Financial Times: fDi Benchmark 2015 Source: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, 2015 3 Available Financial Support Among the possibilities to obtain a certain level of financial support, the most attractive in R&D are listed in the table below, which provides a brief overview of available programmes. Funding is provided by Czech government through its agencies (Grant Agency, Technology Agency) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as well as by the European Union. The EU has created huge budget of nearly EUR 80 billion (Horizon 2020) to support its competitiveness in the most advanced technologies, whereas nanotechnology and advanced materials attract a large part of this amount, which is accessible also for non-member countries. Apart from these programmes, there are a number of other support schemes available. Facilitating access to financing for SMEs is the main aim of the EU’s COSME programme. Implemented on the national level, EU structural funds are another important resource for enhancing innovation, efficiency, commercialisation and internationalisation in business. From outside of the EU, the EUREKA organisation offers the Eurostars programme, which provides funding for transnational innovation projects as an incentive for small and medium-sized enterprises conducting research. Amount of Programme Activities supported Beneficiary Basic conditions