High-Tech Mechanical Engineering

Why Invest in the Czech Republic

Mechanical Engineering has a tradition dating back 150 yearsin the Czech Republic, which ensures the continuity of sharing premium level technological know-how. The sector relies on a highly educated and skilled workforce, including good access to university graduates with technical degrees, as more than 5,000 mechanical engineers graduate every year. Another reason is the positive approach of the Czech government, including investment support covering up to 60% of eligible costs through a transparent system of investment incentives. The country offers highly developed infrastructure – both transport and telecommunications – as well as a strategic position in Central Europe with direct transport access to the EU market of nearly 500 million consumers.

Facts

• 170 000 highly skilled professionals are employed in the general engineering sector (CZ NACE 28), making it one of the most important employers in the area of Czech industrial production
• technical education includes industry-focused secondary schools where 12,131 students graduated from three- or four-year technical programmes in the 2008/09 academic year
• with a production base of more than 1,100 companies, the sector supplies complete plans, manufactures machines (from turbines, transportation and air-conditioning equipment and agricultural, food-processing and construction machinery to metal-working and forming machines), while also engineering goods for households
• a number of world leaders such as Siemens, Honeywell, Bombardier Transport and Robert Bosch have already established their operations in the Czech Republic
• well-known domestic leaders include Škoda Holding, Vítkovice Holding, Bonatrans Group, TOS Varnsdorf, Třinecké železárny – Moravia Steel, První brněnská strojírna, etc.

Manufacturing Labour Cost Year 2008 (annual labour cost per 1 employee, in EUR)

How Can We Help You

• 150 years of engineering experience in the Czech Republic – continuity of premium-level technological know-how
• highly educated and skilled workforce, good access to university graduates with technical degrees – over 5,000 mechanical engineers graduate every year
• high concentration of mechanical engineering companiesallowing easy identification of business partners and suppliers
• positive approach of the Czech Government, investment support for up to 60% of eligible costs through a transparent system of investment incentives
• highly developed infrastructure – both transport and telecommunications
• strategic position in Central Europe, direct transport access to the EU single market of nearly 500 million consumers
• first-class support from CzechInvest

R&D in the High-Tech Mechanical Engineering

A number of academic and corporate R&D centres are active in the Czech Republic. The success and reputation of the transport-engineering sector’s products are based on the use of world-class builds of its products upon usage of world class research centres and testing facilities. These R&D centres – Výzkumný Ústav Železniční (VUZ – Railway Research Institute), VÚKV (VÚKV-Research Institute of Rolling Stock), ŠKODA VÝZKUM (Škoda Research), ZKV (Testing Laboratory of Rolling Stock) as well as number of academic institutions, such as the Research Centre of Rail Vehicles, at universities in Plzeň and Pardubice, are used for the purpose of developing, designing and proving new equipment aimed at improving the speed, safety, comfort and efficiency of rail transport. This wide range of R&D centres helps Czech rolling-stock manufacturers to stay at the forefront of new railway technologies and maintain their position in this highly competitive environment.

The power-engineering sector relies on a number of power-engineering R&D centres in the Czech Republic. Corporate R&D centres include Honeywell Prague Laboratory focusing on unified energy solutions and Škoda Výzkum focused on research and testing of the power of engineering devices. Other existing R&D centres are of an academic nature and are part of the Academy of the Sciences or technical universities. The most prominent are the Nuclear Research Institute in Řež, a suburb of Prague, the Centre for Advanced Technologies and Power Engineering Systems in at the Czech Technical University in Prague, the New Technologies Research Centre in Plzeň, the Energy Institute at the Technical University in Brno and the Energy Research Centre in Ostrava. The Czech Republic also directly participates in international CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) project.

“We found here the brains we need."

• Kevin Gilligan, Honeywell

Manufacturing and Construction Graduates (% of tertiary - type A graduates in 2006)

Case Study

Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery

Siemens, one of the world leaders in the engineering sector, re-established its business operations in the Czech Republic in 1990 and invested in a number of projects, including the Siemens Industrial Turbomachinary plant in Brno in 2003. Top-quality <150 MWindustrial steam turbines for all types of applications are produced and serviced at the plant, which employs over 780 professionals. Over more than 100 years of continuous operation, the plant has delivered more than 4,300 industrial steam turbines to 66 countries.

Bonatrans Group a.s.

Bonatrans is one of the world’s leading and currently Europe’s biggest supplier of rail-vehicle wheels and wheel-sets. The company has achieved worldwide recognition due to its premium-quality wheels, wheel-sets and axles for locomotives and passenger, urban and freight rail vehicles and its specially designed noise absorbers. The company’ssuccess is due to the establishment of an in-house R&D team working on a number of projects including the development of rubber-sprung wheels, brake disks, noise absorbers, standard products for high-speed rail transport, and unique testing procedures.

Top Projects

If you are interested to find out more about opportunities to invest in high-tech engineering in the Czech Republic, do not hesitate to contact us at petr.pospisil@czechinvest.org. You can also contact CzechInvest's foreign offices. Our team will do its best to make you feel at home in the Czech Republic.