CENTRAL BOHEMIAN GOVERNOR MEETS REPRESENTATIVES OF MAJOR EUROPEAN REGIONS TO DISCUSS DIGITIZATION AND ENERGY
CAPREX: Capital Regions Exchange is a joint initiative of the Brandenburg region in Germany, and Central Bohemia. It was established in October 2018 with the aim to compare economic policies and innovation strategies in selected European regions including Brandenburg, Central Bohemia, Helsinky-Uusimaa, and Lower Austria. The first CAPREX meeting took place last October in Potsdam, Germany. This year’s annual meeting will be hosted by Central Bohemia.
“I consider our joint initiative as significant at the pan-European level. I welcome the initiative as a natural and desirable activity stemming from shared needs of those who are interested in finding a common solution and possess the necessary resources to implement such solutions,” said central Bohemian Governor Jaroslava Pokorná Jermanová at the opening of the session. “I believe that exchange of experience with other regions will help us identify gaps in our knowledge of our shared challenges. Mutual inspiration is the only way to find better strategies and ensure faster decision-making. That is why I believe CAPREX has a great potential to become a valuable platform for sharing of knowledge, providing useful information to all member regions, and creating opportunities for collaboration in various fields.”
This year’s CAPREX meeting took place on 11 September 2019 at BIOCEV, a cutting-edge research center in Vestec near Prague. For the first time, the initiative was joined by the Kiev region which had signed a memorandum of cooperation with Central Bohemia the day before.
In its presentation, Central Bohemia identified digitization and the power industry as key factors for the region’s development and its various activities. One of the examples of collaboration is a project to extend internet connectivity to remote locations across the region. Central Bohemian Kněžice, the first energy self-sufficient Czech village, was mentioned as an example of best-practice.
After the working part of the session, the participants visited BIOCEV laboratories. Professor Jiří Neužil, the inventor of new cancer drug MitoTam, showed them around the Molecule Targeted Cancer Therapy Department. In another inspiring meeting, they met with Radislav Sedláček whose team made several key discoveries for treatment of genetic disorders.
“The Central Bohemia-Prague political and economic platform has a great potential to support regional collaboration and economic growth. However, more intensive dialogue is needed to foster innovations and development in areas such as digitization and power generation. Our region has unique opportunities in this respect which it must not waste. We need to grasp those opportunities and drive forward,” explains Governor Pokorná Jermanová. “One of them is a high density of research organizations in Prague and Central Bohemia. Combined, they account for 50% of the country’s total R&D capacity. The regional has a huge potential to develop all six key active technologies. These include micro- and nanoelectronics, nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, advanced materials, photonics, and advanced manufacturing technologies,” concluded the Governor.
