In cooperation with Basque Trade and Investment and the HEGAN Basque Aerospace Cluster, CzechInvest held an online B2B event on Tuesday, 19 October 2021, with the aim of developing activities in the aerospace industry between the Czech Republic and the Basque Country. Following the March institutional format, this was the second such event between the two territories this year.
The extensive morning programme was opened with introductory remarks by representatives of both organising agencies. Maite Subinas, head of service internationalisation, appeared on behalf of Basque Trade and Investment and spoke about the Basque Country’s twenty years of cooperation with the Czech Republic and strong business ties supplemented with regular trade missions and online events.
Jakub Hájek, head of the Startups and Innovative Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Division, delivered the opening remarks on behalf of CzechInvest, pointing out several significant projects between Czech and Basque entities in the area of research and development. He also thanked the Czech branch of Basque Trade and Investment for its cooperation to date in the area of innovative sectors, which are of crucial importance for both agencies in their current activities.
Following the introductory remarks, the event attendees were familiarised with the main pillars of the sector in both territories, as the historical development and key players in the sector were presented along with the current role of research and development and examples of successful international projects. The Czech Republic was presented by Michal Janečka, specialist for Aerospace and Defence at CzechInvest. His Basque counterpart was Martín Fernández Loizaga, deputy director of the HEGAN cluster.
Vojtěch Fořt of the Market Development Department of the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) presented the agency’s recent transformation alongside newly arising opportunities in the form of planned calls. EUSPA, previously known by the initials GSA (European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency), is now responsible for the administration of all space programmes and activities of the European Union.
The one-hour block of presentations was concluded by Javier Viñals, project manager at the Basque company SENER Aerospacial, who, in addition to presenting the innovation leader in the fields of aerospace and defence, spoke about successful projects carried out in cooperation with Czech entities, particularly BD Sensors, Frentech Aerospace and G.L. Electronic.
The rest of the all-day programme was dedicated to business meetings, with a total of 62 meetings taking place on the Eventtia online platform. Participants included representatives of the startup scene and small, medium-sized and large enterprises, as well as representatives of universities, research and development facilities and state institutions.
With respect to the results achieved to date, the scope of cooperation between the Czech Republic and the Basque Country and the potential for further development, a mission of Czech aerospace companies to the Basque Country has already been planned for December, offering another opportunity for Czech entities to apply their qualities and know-how in this technologically demanding sector.
The programme of the Aerospace Czech-Basque Networking event is available in the attachment.