The conference was prepared by the Czech Startup Association and the Subcommittee for Startups, Science, Research and Innovation. This subcommittee has been intensively focusing on the issue of startups and innovative companies since December under a new name.
Today’s topics also included the presentation of tax incentives for investors modeled after the British EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme), a draft startup law modeled after Spain or Portugal, and other key reasons for developing a new innovative economy in the Czech Republic.
Jiří Strýček, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Startups, Science, Research and Innovation, says: “The goal of today’s conference was to show what the Czech Republic needs to make the most of its potential in the field of startups. This was achieved, representatives of startups and investors presented specific proposals for changes that need to be implemented quickly. I am glad that politicians across the political spectrum have signed up to these measures today and expressed their support for their implementation.”
Martin Jiránek, Chairman of the Czech Startup Association, adds:
“The Czech Republic must start supporting startups and investors as quickly as possible so that we don’t miss the train. Today’s conference in the Chamber of Deputies was extremely important because we were able to tell the representatives of the parliamentary political parties directly what and why is important for the future of the Czech Republic. It is great that all the politicians at the conference signed up to these changes and promised to work on their implementation. This is the first step towards making the changes really happen.”
Martin Jiránek, Chairman of the Czech Startup Association, Radek Špicar, Vice President of the Confederation of Industry and Transport, Aleš Rod, NERV member and CETA director, as well as investors Vojta Roček from Presto Ventures, Ondřej Tomek from Impulse Capital and Petr Šíma from DEPO Ventures, presented their priorities for the startup sector.
The voice of the startups was represented by founders Ondřej Krátký (Liftago, grid.online) and William Jalloul (Flowpay). Ivo Denemark, Director of the Startup and Venture Investment Division, spoke for CzechInvest.
A view beyond the political sphere was added by Karel Havlíček (Vice-Chairman of ANO), Vojtěch Munzar (ODS), Štěpán Hofman (STAN, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade), Ivan Bartoš (Pirates) and Michal Kučera (Vice-Chairman of TOP 09).
The conference was attended by dozens of representatives of startups, VC funds, angel investors, business incubators and innovation centers, professional associations, law firms and also academia.
