Trans-border research
The Czech Republic and Austria hold a joint seminar
‘Nowadays, there are not that many opportunities for EU countries to expand technological progress,’ said Ambassador Dr Jan Koukal when he called for the trans-border utilisation of ‘neighbourly’ potential during his opening speech at the joint Czech-Austrian seminar.
A former Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Institute for Physics at the Czech Academy of Sciences, Dr Koukal had actively contributed to a new era of technological change following the political shift in Eastern Europe.
In their keynote speeches such renowned figures as Petr Očko Dipl.-Ing (Head of the Department for Research and Development at the Czech Ministry of Trade and Industry), Milan Pătek Dipl.-Ing (CzechInvest Agency), Tomáš Halva Dipl.-Ing (South Moravian Innovation Centre) provided a good overview of opportunities for investment, sponsorship, corporate partnerships and research cooperation between Austrian and Czech participants. Dr Gerhard Hawa, of ecoplus, presented the structure and management of this Lower Austrian business agency as well as its three Technopols in Tulln (agro-ecological biotechnologies), Krems (medical biotechnologies) and Wiener Neustadt (modern industrial technologies).
At the centre of this top-level event were technologies for surface processing (nanotechnologies) and Life Science. The Austrian as well as Czech companies and institutes introduced selected sectors, products and services. Professor Friedrich Franek (Vienna University of Technology) presented the AC2T Centre of Excellence in Tribology, which acts as a research and development provider – not least in medical technology – for numerous international companies within the context of the top-level research programme COMET.
Two specialist workshops led to detailed discussion based on best practice examples. The Centre for Clinical Research of the Palacký University in Olomouc and the Departments for Medicine and Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology at the Danube University Krems were represented in the field of Life Science, and the Czech Association of Surface Technologies as well as the Austrian Tribology Society, CEST GmbH and Technopol Wiener Neustadt represented the Surface Technologies sector.
15.02.2012
