Czech Focus 2/2005 - AFI

1INVESTOR’SCALENDAR INVESTOR’S CALENDARSeptember - November 2005September6. - 7.9. IQPC Shared Services Conference, Prague,Czech Republic13. - 15.9. Doing Business in the Heart of Europe,Investment Seminar, Toronto and Montreal,Canada14. - 15.9. PABORD: Pharma & Bio, Trade Fair,London, UK20. - 21.9. Investment and Business Forum, Ostrava,Czech Republic28. - 29.9. Call Centre EXPO 2005, Trade Fair,OctoberBirmingham, UK3. - 7.10. MSV (International Engineering Fair), Brno,Czech Republic10. - 12.10. Expo Real 2005, Trade Fair, Munich, Germany13. - 18.10. Equip Auto 2005, Trade Fair, Paris, France18. - 20.10. Biotechnics 2005, Trade Fair, Hannover,Germany24. - 26.10. BioNetwork, Conference, California, USA24. - 27.10. Invex, ICT Trade Fair, Brno, Czech Republic24. - 28.10. Systems, IT Seminar, Munich, Germany28.10. Los Angeles Seminar, Los Angeles,NovemberCalifornia, USA1. - 3.11. Offshore Customer Management: InternationalConference, Prague, Czech Republic7. - 9.11. BioEurope, Conference, Dresden, Germany15. - 18.11. Productronica, Trade Fair, Munich, Germany16. - 19.11. Medica 2005, Trade Fair, Düsseldorf, GermanyDear Readers,Two of Honeywell’s four main businesses are represented inthe Czech Republic: Aerospace and Automation and ControlSolutions. Both of these businesses are driven by technologicalinnovation and we see here local potential for growth opportunitiesin line with major societal trends like innovation, productivity,safety, security, comfort, and energy efficiency.Honeywell came to the Czech Republic as a diversified technologyinvestor and our experience doing business here hasshown us that Czech people excel in the disciplines of science,technology and engineering. One of the principal reasons wedecided to invest here was the high quality of technical educationand the culture of innovation.Honeywell is a major supporter of Czech technical educationand we have worked hard to develop long-term relationshipswith universities – primarily the Brno University of Technology(VUT) and the Czech Technical University in Prague (CVUT).In 2004, we donated $207,000 to Czech technical education, afour-fold increase on our 2003 contribution. Our support is notonly limited to donations or sponsorship. Honeywell representativescollaborate with both schools in non-financial areas, too, bygiving lectures, assigning and supervising theses, and co-operatingon research projects. Many students have worked in variousHoneywell businesses in the Czech Republic as interns, andsome of them later joined the company as full-time employees.In order to foster the Czech culture of innovation, we wouldlike to see more focus on intelligent risk-taking, and feweradministrative or operational barriers. When Honeywell firstopened its Prague Laboratory in 1993 – our first R&D facilityoutside the United States – we had to learn how to be innovativein a different environment and in a different way. Wetook risks and they paid off. Honeywell’s Prague Laboratoryis responsible today for developing and implementing globalenergy efficiency solutions for the company.As a member of the government’s Research and DevelopmentCouncil I believe that intelligent risk-taking, supplemented bylife-long learning and education, is a necessary element whensetting out the Czech national innovation policy and long-termresearch areas that are needed tomove our country closer to a knowledgeeconomy. Those are also thepillars in the Czech government’sStrategy for Economic Growth.Jaroslav DolezalNational Executive of Honeywellfor Czech RepublicContact: Editorial Board of Czech FocusAssociation for Foreign Investment, czechfocus@afi.czStepanska 11, 120 00 Prague 2, Czech RepublicPublished by the Association for ForeignInvestment - AFI under the auspices of CzechInvest,the Investment and Business Development Agencyof the Ministry of Industry & Trade.