News detail

A prestigious event in the framework of the Czech Presidency in the Council of the EU and under the auspices of the Czech Ministry for Regional Development “Czech Open Days” took place in Luxembourg on 6 – 7 May 2009. It was jointly organized by several Czech and Luxembourgish partners (Embassy of the Czech Republic in Luxembourg, CzechTrade, CzechInvest, Technology Centre ASCR, Luxembourgish Chamber of Commerce and European Consulting Luxembourg) The aim of the event was to introduce the Czech Republic as a reliable partner not only in the field of business, but also in research and innovation.

Prominent personalities from both states addressed the participants during the opening conference. Among them was the Ambassadress of the Czech Republic in Luxembourg Kateřina Lukešová, Luxembourgish Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs and Immigration Nicolas Schmit and the 1^st Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic Tomáš Hüner. They spoke about historical ties between the Czech Republic and Luxembourg, the current situation in bilateral trade exchange as well as about the fact that five years ago the Czech Republic joined the EU.

Two parallel workshops followed. The first one was targeted on the area of business and investment climate in the Czech Republic, while the other on Czech research, development and innovation. The Technology Centre ASCR took an active part in the second workshop with a presentation on the ongoing reform of the Czech R&D&I. The presentations from both workshops are to be found here.

The whole afternoon was then dedicated to business-to-business meeting during which the Czech and Luxembourgish companies, universities and other bodies had an opportunity to establish important contacts. A large number of participants on both sides (80 companies in total) confirmed the mutual interest in cooperation.

A banner exhibition of outstanding inventions and successful research projects of the regions of the Czech Republic accompanied the whole event. The participants also had the opportunity to know more about the Czech R&D by means of up-to-date publications and information leaflets of the Technology Centre ASCR and its projects CZELO, NICER and BISONet.

During the morning of the second day, a presentation in the European Investment Bank was organized for Czech participants.

The Luxembourgish Chamber of Commerce has an intention to develop further the cooperation with Czech partners and organize this event annually.

Photos from the event are to be found here:

foto1, foto2, foto3, foto4, foto5, foto6

Further information (only in Czech) are available in the electronic version of the Academic Bulletin at

http://abicko.avcr.cz/cs/sd/novinky/hlavni-stranka/news_0109.html.