The CzechInvest Startup Challenge, which took place yesterday at the Royal Theatre in Prague, has its winner. The startup Dronetag overcame competition from ten other innovative companies that participated in CzechInvest’s international programmes over the past six years. Prior to the competition, a conference focused on key issues in the startup and innovation environment of the Czech Republic was held for the first time this year.
“Czech startups constantly surprise us with their tremendous potential, which this competition has clearly shown us. This is not the only reason that we are preparing Technology Incubation, the largest project in the history of CzechInvest, to further support them. The current situation in the world shows us the great importance of technology and innovation and that we must continue to support and focus on these areas,” says Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Petr Očko, who is also the acting CEO of CzechInvest.
A total of ten Czech startups stood before the jury composed of Deputy Minister Petr Očko; Beata Vörösová, head of the Startups Department at CzechInvest; Tomáš Cironis, head of Disraptors; and Senta Čermáková, head of innovation at Deloitte. The contestants were chosen from among 217 startups that participated in CzechInvest’s acceleration programmes between 2016 and 2022.
The startups Whalebone, ThreatMark, Sharry, BeiT, BornDigital, Dronetag, Motionlab, Spacemanic, ROI Hunter and VOS.health competed to come up with the most creative pitch. The winner was Dronetag, a startup that develops solutions for the safe and efficient operation of drones. It also won a place at the Disraptors Summit. Second place was awarded to ThreatMark, while third place went to the startup Sharry. The audience prize was awarded to the VOS.health project. The announcement of the winners was preceded by a joint audio-visual show presented by the startups Sensio and Tangle.
Before the competition itself, the agency held a conference titled Challenges of the Startup and Innovation Environment in the Czech Republic at the Royal Theatre. Speakers included, for example, Vít Horký, a successful entrepreneur and the founder of Czech Founders, and Ondřej Bartoš, a principal partner at Credo Ventures. The conference was held under the auspices of Helena Langšádlová, Minister of Science, Research and Innovation.
“The Czech Republic faces a number of challenges that must be addressed in the coming years in order for the country to keep pace with the technologically advanced world, and we therefore need to deal with these issues together, which was one of the main objectives of the conference,” says Beáta Vörösová, head of the Startups Department at CzechInvest, summarising the konference.
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