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Technology
 Tech parks fueling the economy
 Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín, Central Moravia, is planning to open a new technology and science park in 2010 that will target the IT and security sectors. The project is meant to offer better work or science opportunities for doctoral students at the Faculty of Applied Informatics.
“Our university is creating experts in IT sciences. But there are almost no opportunities for these people in Zlín. Cooperation will be advantageous for both sides,” university bursar Alexander Černý said in a press release. New center will be built near the university’s Faculty of Applied Informatics.
The project will be an addition to the existing Technology and Innovation Center at the university. This existing center is targeted to plastic material innovations and was opened this year.
It is situated in the former boardinghouse that Tomáš Baťa had built for his students. The reconstruction of this building will cost around Kč 250 million (€10.4 million). A number of projects are based there including a business innovation center, a science and technology park and a business incubator. For building this park, the university won a business project 2007 award from CzechInvest, the state agency supporting business and investments, and the Association for Foreign Investments.
Science parks as economics motors
Science parks are good instruments for business support. “It is a common phenomenon in Eastern Europe that is helping companies and also [increasing] employment in regions,” said Petr Ludwig from LifeWeb Group, an Internet and mobile phone application company in the South-Moravia Innovation Center’s business incubator. And his words are not empty. According to UNESCO, the cultural and scientific arm of the United Nations, there are 214 science parks in Eastern Europe. But the countries with the most are in Western Europe; the U.K. and France, each has more than 60, mostly near famous universities.
The U.K. is very receptive to science parks. According to UNESCO, there are 63 science parks; while the U.K. Science Parks Association (UKSPA) says there are 70. Their role in the country’s economy is indispensable. “Science parks are a key part of the infrastructure supporting technology-based firms in the U.K.,” Paul Wright, the chief executive of the UKSPA, said in an interview for London daily The Times. UKSPA says these parks have helped launch hundreds of high-tech and knowledge-based companies in sectors such as biotechnology, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and industrial technology.
For example, a science park in Cambridge that hosts 111 companies posts several job advertisements weekly. It was founded in 1970. It stands in the same fields Americans used for preparing their vehicles for D-Day in World War II, according to the park’s Web site.
Another of the U.K.’s biggest parks is in Manchester. The Manchester Science Park is owned by Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Manchester, the city of Manchester and several commercial investors. It lies on 15 acres near the university campus and 90 companies are based there. These two parks, along with more than 60 others across Britain, are often mentioned in the press as key factors in the country’s technological development.
The Czech Republic and science parks
In Eastern Europe, where UNESCO lists the Czech Republic, the situation less optimistic, according to the list, which mentions only the science park in Brno, South Moravia. But this information is incorrect.
“The Czech Republic is doing well compared with foreign countries. Science park and business incubator development is being fueled by European Union funds. We can see that the potential is very large considering the Czech Republic’s size. In addition, this potential will be widening over the coming years for sure,” said Alexandra Rudyšarová (pictured), interim director of CzechInvest.
The Society of Science Parks’ (Společnost Vědecko-Technických parků, SVTP) Web site lists 18 accredited parks, 11 nonaccredited parks and 10 under development in the Czech Republic. Prague hosts six of them—The Technology and Innovation Center at the Czech Technical University (ČVUT), the Science-Tech park at the Experimental and Test Flight Facility, the Technological Center of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Technological Park Řež, VTP Innovation Technological Center-VÚK, and the Central Bohemian Innovation Center
The situation in the regions is very good. South Bohemia has six science parks and innovation centers. Two are in the Hradec Králové region, three in the Olomouc region, two each in the Plzeň and Ústí nad Labem regions and one each in the Vysočina and Liberec regions. Four parks are in the Zlín region. Overall, Prague is tied with the Moravian-Silesian region, which has six parks.
“The main goal of science parks is to support new, small companies that normally cannot afford to use such quality infrastructure for their businesses as exist in science parks in terms of top-quality office spaces, or top specialized technologies or laboratories. The Czech Republic traditionally has a reputation as a very innovative country and can be proud of its many successes in the past few years ranging from the Liberec-based technology company Elmarco’s device for spinning the nanofiber, or Optaglio’s top-quality holograms, to the Zlín-based company Rokospol’s paint containing nanoelements that decompose noxious substances. We must not forget to mention software developers that are making the Czech Republic famous in the world—companies like AVG Technologies [CZ] and Kerio [Technologies] are among the most desired companies in the world. And these types of growing companies are creating the demand for space in these science parks,” CzechInvest’s Rudyšarová said.
“I perceive science park projects very positively,” said Pavel Čeněk from telecommunications company OptimSys, which is part of a similar park project. “The development of the necessary infrastructure for technical and technological companies is very important to bring these companies to the Czech Republic. These companies will afterwards create a significant number of job opportunities for highly qualified experts and will stimulate the country’s economy and regions’ development.”
The construction of science parks and similar facilities is supported on various levels. The construction could be supported by the regions themselves, for which these parks create job opportunities and prestige. The development could be also supported by the Prosperita program, which is being managed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO) through CzechInvest.
“The Prosperita program supports the development of four types of projects—science parks, business incubators, technology transfer centers and the development of business angel networks. It connects to the very successful program of European Union from the 2004–06 program period of the same name. Grants from this past program will support the development and operation of more than 31,700 square meters of science parks and 30,000 sqm of business incubators. On this area 530 innovative firms will be based, and 2,200 new job opportunities for highly qualified workers should be created,” Rudyšarová said. From the 69 applications to Prosperita program in 2004–06, 32 of them got support. The whole grant was nearly Kč 1.6 billion and almost all of it was used.
“The same or even greater interest may be seen in the program period for 2007–13.The grant for this period is set at Kč 12 billion. The support for every project could be high as Kč 300 million. The first applications were received April 7 of this year and the first call-up will end July 31, 2009,” Rudyšarová said.”
The interest in investment is still high and the potential will surely grow. “The 2004 to ’06 period showed us that the highest interest is in the regions with traditionally strong university backgrounds. This is thanks to the fact that these facilities provide great opportunities for universities in offering new job opportunities for graduates, or for practice opportunities during studies,” said Rudyšarová. According to her, this is also the main goal of the new Tomáš Baťa University science park project in Zlín—to offer talented people interesting job opportunities in this region and to limit the brain drain to bigger centers like Olomouc, Brno, Ostrava and Prague.
Hatching new business
Not only are interesting job opportunities and technological progress provided by science parks. Other interesting projects they undertake are “business incubators.”
The University of Economics, Prague (VŠE) runs its own business incubator. The incubator’s Web site said, “The main goal of a business incubator is to provide practical help to those who have an interesting business idea concerning the production of services, and to those who are searching for help to start their business. Businessmen who go to the [VŠE] incubator are provided with complete consulting services, help with fundraising, contacts for potential customers, suppliers and partners, help with human resources and with other services.”
In these projects, the applicant will present his business idea to the incubator’s manager and if the manager thinks the idea is promising, the new company will be taken under the incubator’s wings and provided with services and discounted rent.
And the system has had benefits for participating companies. “The technological incubator VUT, [and mainly] the South-Moravia Innovation Center (SMIC), which is running it, has helped us a lot with our first big and significant customer—a U.S. [VoIP] company called BroadSoft,” OptimSys’ Čenek said. “This company had disclosed its interest in our innovative technology, and its representatives decided to come to negotiate with us. It was before the business incubator was running and we had no workspace or necessary background. SMIC provided us with these necessary spaces a thanks to that, we achieved to end these meeting with a positive result. We managed to sign a contract and gain the first big job order. We were also provided with a consultant, who helped us with the good strategy for the negotiations.” The incubator also helps businesses meet potential partners and develop contacts.
LifeWeb’s Ludwig also said the incubator was critical to his company’s success. “The incubator is very helpful for us. The main advantage for us is the possibility of hiring the office spaces and the consulting services [for legal and business issues]. We are also helped by the prestige carried along with this incubator. For example, the incubator helped us with the establishment of a Portugal branch. In our case, the short distance to a number of universities is also advantageous for us.”
But praise for incubators is not universal. Some people have reservations about the concept. Petr Vašíček from legal information company Smlouvy-Online was wary of the incubators. His firm also participates in the SMIC incubator. “I support the incubator idea, I see their role as supportive. But I think that competition is rising in this field, and I must present my worries about incubators—I worry that they can become unprofitable institutions. The question is also whether the incubator, thanks to the advantageous services it provides, can become prone to corruption. For example, the rent discount could be so advantageous for somebody that he will be able to pay to be accepted by the incubator even in the case that his company does not meet the requirements.”
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