Study tour to incubators and science and technology parks in the Benelux
22.10.2024 / 10:36 | Aktualizováno: 23.10.2024 / 16:21
The field of innovation and technology development is crucial for all European countries to remain globally competitive in the current turbulent times. As a recent survey of innovation infrastructures in Czechia showed, there is a lack of dedicated incubators, parks and spaces in general for start-ups creating products in green technologies such as green energy, clean technologies, organic agriculture and food etc. There is a lack of adequate space, be it workshop space, large testing facilities for agricultural technologies and energy equipment, where the normally available office space is not sufficient.
Meanwhile, business and innovation incubators and science and technology parks focused on the greentech, cleantech and climate sectors are quite common abroad. One of the areas with the highest concentration of such incubators and parks, as well as other infrastructures to support innovative entrepreneurship in biotechnology, are the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), where a number of these specialised infrastructures can be found. For this reason, the Czech Investment agency, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the Czech Embassies in the countries concerned, and with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic decided to initiate a week-long inspirational study trip to all three Benelux countries.
The aim of the trip was to show representatives of Czech regional and municipal authorities, ministries, regional development agencies and innovation centres, universities and research institutes, as well as private investors how incubators and parks specialised in green/cleantech operate in the region and thus stimulate the establishment of similar innovation infrastructures in the Czech Republic. The trip was attended by representatives of the following institutions: Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic, State Environmental Fund, Czech Investment Agency, Innovation Centre of the Ústí nad Labem Region, Prague Innovation Institute, South Moravian Innovation Centre, Moravian-Silesian Innovation Centre, Capital City of Prague, Central Bohemian Innovation Centre, Vysočina Region, Technology and Innovation Centre Zlín, South Bohemian Science and Technology Park and Regional Development Agency of the Pilsen Region.
The study mission stayed in Belgium from 16 to 17 October 2024. It visited the Green Energy Park Zellik, the innovation and business incubator GreenBizz Brussels, the Flemish Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (VLAIO), the research facility and innovation incubator TRANSFarm Bierbeek established by the Catholic University of Leuven and EnergyVille Genk, a research facility and innovation incubator focused on energy transformation. The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Brussels also organised a networking meeting with representatives of Belgian innovation infrastructures and Czech institutions in Brussels.