New park to attract IT specialists to Zlín

“Our university cultivates specialists in the area of computer technology. However, there are few employment opportunities for these specialists in Zlín,” says TBU registrarAlexander Černý. A science and technology park is to be prepared in order to change this unfavourable situation. According to the university’s plans, the park will house IT firms that will cooperate with specialists and doctoral students in the Faculty of Applied Informatics. “Cooperation should thus be advantageous for both parties,” Černý adds.

For construction of the science and technology park, the university is planning to use funding from the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation, which is administered by the Ministry of Industry and Trade via CzechInvest.

“Construction of the science and technology park is supported by the Prosperity Programme, in which interested parties could register by the end of April this year. The aid amount can reach up to CZK 300 million,” says Alexandra Rudyšarová, acting CEO of CzechInvest. “The Prosperity Programme builds on the programme of the same name in the last grant period in which 32 projects were awarded CZK 1.6 billion from European Union funding and the state budget. Thanks to these projects, 31,000 m² of floor space were created in science and technology parks.”

The new science and technology park is to be built in Zlín’s Jižní Svahy district in close proximity to the Faculty of Applied Informatics. The school wants construction to begin next year, with the grand opening planned for 2010.

This year the university has already opened a science and technology park focused primarily on firms engaged in development and innovation of plastics and food production. The complete conversion of the building, which Tomáš Baťa originally built as a dormitory for his students, cost a quarter of a billion crowns. Thanks to support from the Prosperity Programme, the university received CZK 142 million. For construction of the park, the school also received the Business Project of the Year 2007 award in the Science and Technology Park category.The Business Project of the Year competition is organised annually by CzechInvest in cooperation with the Association for Foreign Investment.

Contact to CzechInvest
Lucie Králová, Spokesperson and director of the Marketing and Communications Dept.
Tel.: 296 342 538, mobile: 602 167 024, e-mail: lucie.kralova@czechinvest.org

Contact to Tomáše Baťa universitz in Zlín
Andrea Kadlčíková, tel: +420 576 032 754, mobile: +420 724 218 331, e-mail: kancléř@utb.cz