City: Brno
Country: CZ
Signup Date: 3/8/2007
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[15 Aug 2007 | Wednesday]
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http://www.czechdineout.com/lang/search.php?t=hospudkyHelp me please with this section:
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restaurace |
| Sandonoriko |
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| Juliánovské nám. 2 | ..>..>
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[11 Aug 2007 | Saturday]
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[01 Aug 2007 | Wednesday]
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Category: Music
FESTIVAL
Hip Hop Kemp 2007 Festivalpark, leti..t.., Hradec Králové, Pá 24.8.2007 - Ne 26.8.2007 .. Pá 24.8.2007 - Ne 26.8.2007 -->
VSTUPENKY
MUSIC
Hip Hop Kemp 2007 Festivalpark, leti..t.., Hradec Králové, Pá 24.8.2007 - Ne 26.8.2007 .. Pá 24.8.2007 - Ne 26.8.2007 -->
VSTUPENKY
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[17 Jul 2007 | Tuesday]
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Category: Food and Restaurants
CZECH BEER FAQ
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"A Beer-Drinker's Odyssey Begins on the River Vltava"
The world was astounded in 1913 when it was discovered that as many as 19 types of beer were brewed in Mesopotamia 5,000 years ago. It is fitting that the archaeologist who first deciphered the Sumerian tablets containing this information was a Czech, Bedrich Hrozny. Beer was also brewed in the earliest Czech civilizations (there is evidence that hops were already being cultivated here in 859 and were being exported in 903 - the first written documentation referring to brewing dates from 1088), and even British beer authority Michael Jackson agrees that the Czechs are the number one beer-brewing nation in the world today.
The Czech Beer Firsts are many and varied!
First in per capita beer consumption
First Beer Museum in the world
First beer brewing textbook
First Pilsener
First Budweiser
First president to have written an absurdist play based on his experiences working in a Czech beer brewery in AD 1974
The history of beer in the Czech Lands stretches back a thousand years, mirroring the ups and downs of Czech history through the ages. For more information, read Part One of the Radio Prague Czech Beer FAQ - History of Czech Beer! Beer is considered a part of the national heritage of the Czech Republic. For more information than you ever wanted to know about Czech beer and the drinking thereof, read Part Two of the Radio Prague Czech Beer FAQ - Czech Beer Culture! Check out our brand new (okay, not so brand new) list of Czech breweries, complete with interesting facts and even some cool beer labels! For a more detailed history on the Czech Lands, take a look at the Radio Prague History in a Nutshell Pages! | ..>..>
 Due to the number of breweries in the Czech Republic, we had to split this list up by region, Prague being in Central Bohemia, Plzen in West Bohemia, and Ceske Budejovice in South Bohemia. Where groups of breweries are owned by one company, we've included the breweries of that group in the region where the headquarters is based, and if the individual breweries are actually located in another region, they'll also be listed there.
Central Bohemia
West Bohemia
South Bohemia
East Bohemia
North Bohemia
North Moravia
South Moravia
Other addresses that may be of interest:
Cesky svaz pivovaru a sladoven (Czech Federation of Breweries and Malt-Houses)
Lipova 15
120 00 Praha 2
Phone: +420 (2) 290072 fax: +420 (2) 24914542
http://www.cspas.cz/
..Pivni kuryr - noviny (Beer Courier - news)
redakce
Korunni 106
100 00 Praha 10
Phone/fax: +420-2-6731 2972Phone: +420-2-6731 2680 extension 33
http://www.pivni-kuryr.cz
-->Pivovarske muzeum (Brewery Museum)
Veleslavinova 6
301 00 Plzen
tel.: +420 37723 55 74, 37722 49 55
http://www.beerworld.cz
Beer Importers
Prvni Danska Pivni, a.s. - imports Tuborg and Carlsberg
Chlumecka 765
Praha 9
Phone:+420 281 91 72 16-7, 281 91 69 00, 281 91 81 09
Budvar now using same yeast to make beer for over a century
Enjoying a glass of chilled beer one would hardly think of the complex biochemical process that is beer production. The prime ingredients are malt, hops, water and also yeast which helps turn sugar into alcohol and also influences the flavour of the beer. There are many kinds of brewers' yeasts suitable for different types of fermentation. But few breweries can boast having used the same kind of yeast for over a century.
The Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar has cultivated the same stream since 1895 and, as master brewer Josef Tolar told me, it is so sturdy it easily put up with modern technologies introduced a few years ago.
"It is very unusual because just in the last several years a lot of breweries have changed production from traditional small fermenters to cylindro-conical tanks which are a type of modern big fermenters, staying tanks, vertical-oriented tanks. This fact brings about very different conditions concerning the pressure and volume of the vessel and the way of sedimentation of yeast. All such things influence the function of yeast.
"A lot of breweries by changing the technology needed to change the type of yeast. Not in our brewery. We have had good luck because our yeast has managed the changed conditions and we obtained the same product when we came from small quadratic open fermenters to cylindro-conical tanks in 1993-1995 without any problems."
Do you know where this yeast came from?
"It is not easy to say because we know from the technological notes in the brewery that the first technical equipment for cultivation of yeast - so called propagation - was installed in the 1930s. That means it was some 80 years ago. What was before, which kind of vessels, which conditions for cultivation were used, is not given in the old notes but what is very important - the type of yeast has not been changed at least since 1930 when we first used this new style of cultivation. We can suppose that the same stream, the same kind of yeast has been used here in the brewery since the very beginning in 1895."
Potato beer
Legend has it that Irish Franciscan monks brought the potato to the Czech Lands in the 17th century. Since then the Czechs have developed a few local specialities based on the humble spud; the best known of these are probably potato dumplings and the greasy but tasty potato pancake known as bramborak. But now the inventive Czechs have come up with a new use for the potato, as an ingredient in...beer. Yes, the Pivovarsky klub micro brewery in Prague's Karlin district has just brought out its first ever potato pivo. It certainly doesn't sound the most appetising, though its makers claim that a casual drinker might not tell the difference from any Czech lager. They don't say if "there's both eating and drinking in it".
Budvar sells 58% more Czechvar beer in US in H1
By CTK / Published 17 July 2007
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Ceske Budejovice, July 16 (CTK) - Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar saw sales of its beer Czechvar soar 58 percent in the US in January-June this year, Budvar's PR agency said Monday.
Czechvar is distributed in the USA by Budvar's rival Anheuser-Busch.
Budvar management would not disclose the amount of Czechvar sold on the US market but the company believes beer sales in the USA will set a record this year.
According to available information, up to 8,000 hl were sold in the USA a year, and the figure might grow up to 12,000 hl this year.
Beer sales in the USA in the second half of the year will be discussed with Budvar's partner in August, Budvar head Jiri Bocek has told CTK.
Growth in beer sales is projected at some 50 percent in the USA this year, said Bocek.
Budvar and Anheuser-Busch signed a contract for Czechvar sales in January this year.
The two brewers have wrangled over the Budweiser trademark for more than 100 years. Disputes have been settled gradually, some of them won by the US company and others by the Czech brewer.
In 2000 to 2006, Budvar was leading 86 disputes with Anheuser, winning 69 and losing 12 of them. Five cases had neither a winner nor a loser.
Budejovicky Budvar is the third biggest brewery in the Czech Republic and ranks among the leading beer exporters in the country.
Last year, it raised exports by 7 percent to a record 556,000 hl of beer. It sells beer in nearly 60 countries on five continents.
Budejovicky Budvar output rose by 5 percent to 1.151 million hl of beer last year. Gross profit increased by 15 percent on the year to Kc267.2m.
Jan-June beer supplies to the domestic market amounted to 319,737 hl, up 11 percent year-on-year.
Budejovicky Budvar's major export territories and exports in 2006
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| 1 Germany |
190,000 hectolitres |
| 2 Great Britain |
106,000 |
| 3 Slovakia |
60,000 |
| 4 Austria |
45,000 |
| Italy |
10,000 |
| USA |
8,000 | ..>
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[17 Jul 2007 | Tuesday]
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Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
Evan Rail: For the best Czech beer you have to hit the regions
The American writer Evan Rail spent much of 2006 visiting breweries and pubs the length and breadth of the country, doing research for his excellent new book "Good beer guide Prague and the Czech Republic". In fact, it is unlikely that any other non-Czech has anywhere near his encyclopaedic knowledge of the Czech Republic's beer industry and traditions. When we met recently at a Prague centre terrace bar, I began by asking Evan Rail what the most unusual pivo he'd encountered on his travels was.
"There were several highly unusual beers that I found. Perhaps my favourite was in Hukvaldy, which is a tiny little town. There's a pub there, it's actually not even a brewery, called U zastavky - At the Stop.
"If you go inside and ask then what they serve they'll tell you, Radegast. But if you say, I thought you had your own beer, they'll oblige and pour you a glass of their own beer, which is this glorious golden liquid that you simply have to try.
"It's beautifully bittersweet and has lovely flat low carbonation, lovely taste in the mouth - you want to have another as soon as you taste it. I never would have expected to taste such a dynamic beer, such an interesting beer, in such a small town in the middle of nowhere. But there it was."
Sometimes I see beers like "fitness beer", I've heard about menopause beer for women - is there anything in those beers or are they just a gimmick?
"I'm not so sure if they're a gimmick. Fitness beer might be a gimmick in terms of marketing. But beers with low alcohol and low residual sugar have traditionally brewed here for hundreds of years - they're basically the equivalent of table beers, beers that people traditionally brewed at home just to have something to drink with a meal.
"Remember beer started out in many respects as a way of having something safe to drink. Water was contaminated in the Middle Ages but beer was almost always safe. So there was a tradition of home brewing or local beers which people drank with meals. Soldiers often drank beer for the same reason."
One thing you mention in your book "Good beer guide Prague and the Czech Republic" is that most pubs in this country only serve one brand of beer. Why is that?
"I wish I knew the answer. Basically, a lot of it comes back to collectivisation in the communist era. In the post-communist era there is a process of tied pubs, where larger brewers entered into exclusivity agreements with publicans, as a way of saying, stock our beer and only our beer and we'll give you a discount, we'll give you beer mats, we'll give you tablecloths.
"So by and large these larger brewers killed off the small beers and the variety of beers you used to find in a pub. But even before 1989, as far as I understand, most pubs only stocked one beer."
Czechs are proud of their beers - how good is Czech beer in general, do you think?
"I would have to say Czech beer is phenomenal. I was not a partisan before I moved here; I did not know that much about Czech beer. I knew a little bit about beer in a global context.
"But having lived here for a long time and having researched all these beers, and having recently done a lot of research in Germany, I can tell you that Czech beer standards are the best in the world. There's simply nothing to compare, in terms of lagers."
But there's also a feeling I get from people that Czech beers ain't what they used to be, that quality has decreased somewhat in the last 20 years, or since the revolution.
"I would say that was true probably ten years ago. But in the last ten years we've had a growth in variety, we've had approximately 50 new microbreweries open in the past ten years. Ten more are opening this year. We went from 60 breweries to now over 100, close to 110, in just ten years.
"And now they're brewing a variety of beers. Whereas before you would only see Pilsner-style lager and dark lager, there are far more wheat beers being brewed today, brewers are experimenting with ales and top fermenting styles, which are from other regions."
People tell me they don't use Czech hops like they used to. A lot of the hops here are imported from China or somewhere, and a lot of the best Czech hops are exported - is that true?
"Czech hops certainly are exported. I was in Germany a while ago researching a story about beer; I mentioned the Czech hops and they just rolled their eyes and made a little gesture with their hands to indicate how expensive they are. They're the most expensive in the world.
"Hops from Zatec - known as Saaz in the German term - are exported around the world and predominantly to countries that respect the tradition.
"Here in the Czech Republic most of the best breweries do use Czech hops still, and you can definitely taste the difference. But some of the larger industrial brewers, some of the brewers that are making the cheap beers that are just sold in supermarkets, are using imports from other countries."
One thing that slightly surprised me about your book was that you weren't too complementary about some of the better known brewers like Staropramen, the Gambrinus, which is made by Pilsner Urquell. Are those beers really so poor?
"No, they're actually wonderful beers. But given the comparisons that you have here, these beers being produced in small towns and small brewers around the country - they don't quite compare to those.
"But when you compare them to lagers being produced in England, in the United States, in Germany, factory produced lagers around the world, those beers are far superior."
A lot of Czechs are really proud of their beer, but how many people really know or care about quality? You've been involved a bit with a group called the Union of Friends of Beer - how much do they reflect the views of the average man in the Czech pub?
"That I can't say. I know that they're doing great work, the Sdruzeni pratel piva do really great work and are working to have more variety, to support local brewers, to maintain traditions, Czech hops, decoction mash, if that means anything.
"How much do they represent the views of the average man on the street, or the average man in the pub? I think in large part they do. Czechs know what a good beer tastes like.
"Now most consumers here are not terribly well educated when it comes to beer, but there's no disguising the taste. So if you try to foist upon them some kind of fancy, mass produced lager from a foreign country, that shall not be named, they generally know that it doesn't taste good.
"They generally try it once and say, yeah, it's more expensive than my good Czech beer and it doesn't have that sweet taste of malt and that bitter taste of hops that I like. I'm going to stick with what I like."
What about regional beers? When I first came here there seemed to be many of them. Perhaps I was travelling around the country more in those days, but I seem to see fewer names of breweries these days - are there less of them?
"No, there are more of them, the problem is that there are fewer of them in Prague. Doing research for the book I was surprised to find that in central Prague - not just Prague 1 and Prague 2, but Prague 3, 4, 5, 6 - it's almost impossible to find more than say 20 kinds of beer, 20 different brands on draught.
"And in Prague 1 you'd be hard pressed to find more than four. This is in a country with 100 brewers. So that tells you something about the monopolistic nature of the market in Prague."
Is that 100 brewers bottling beer?
"No, that's actually 100 brewers total, and most of them are brew pubs. But many of them like Dalesice in Vysocana also put their beer in kegs and distribute it to various pubs in their regions."
Given that the big breweries are dominating more and more, are you optimistic for the future of Czech beer?
"I'm definitely optimistic for the future of Czech beer. I was so surprised at the quality of the beer being brewed, especially in the regions.
"There was one beer I found in Pribor, which is Sigmund Freud's home town, and they call it Freudovo pivo. You can only find it in that town, it's a 13-degree dark beer, and it's rich and chocolaty and malty - it's more like a desert than or a Sacher-torte than it is a beer itself.
"Well, I was reading recently that another brewer in nearby Vojkovice, also in the Moravia-Silesia region, started his own brewery because he was so inspired by that beer.
"Both of those beers just came on the market within the past few years. That's one brewer being inspired by another, really creating craft beers, high quality with great ingredients and a wonderful taste."
The Czechs, we often hear, are ranked number one in the world in terms of consumption per person. But is it possible that that figure is pushed up by the number of tourists who come here and often drink vast amounts?
"Definitely. It's definitely helped and I encourage every tourist to do his or her part. Please drink as many beers as you can and try as widely as you can to drink beers from different places."
Finally Evan, you've travelled the length and breadth of the Czech Republic and tried hundreds of beers. The million-dollar, or million-crown, question: what's the best Czech beer?
"There are so many it's almost impossible to answer. But I can tell you what was my favourite beer experience. That was drinking a beer called Forman from Velichov. Velichovsky Forman is only served in one small pub, as far as I know, in this tiny little run-down town.
"If you go inside they'll tell you they have Gambrinus. But in fact they have this beer as well, and it is so lovely and so bright. Finding it is like discovering a secret, it's like being let in on something that nobody else knows about. For me that was my best beer experience in a year of drinking beer in the Czech Republic."
From
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[17 Jul 2007 | Tuesday]
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Category: Art and Photography
If you are looking for a place to relax on a warm summer's day then there is no better place than the Palace Gardens located on the southern slopes of Prague Castle. With their terraces, fountains, stone passageways and secluded alcoves these Baroque gardens take you to days gone by - and give you a fabulous view of the city.
Many visitors who first look down at them from the ramparts of Prague Castle think that the exquisitely kept gardens below are private property but the five gardens which form a connecting belt of greenery are all linked up and are open to visitors for a small fee from early morning till late night. The Ledebour Garden, the Great and Small Palfy Gardens, the Kolowrat Garden and the Small Furstenberg Garden represent a unique historic complex that enchants visitors from around the world. It was in the Ledebour Garden that I met up with the head of the Palace Gardens, Martina Zelenkova, to find out more about their history and what they will offer visitors in the summer months.
"The southern slope of the hill below the castle originally served defense purposes - a complex system of ramparts was built around 1241. But then after the battle of the White Mountain in 1620 the fortification system was demolished and gradually the grounds started attracting vagabonds and criminals. In order to get rid of them, the area was parceled up and the land was sold to rich burgers. They started cultivating the grounds -planting vineyards and Italian style gardens that served for leisure and amusement. It stayed that way until 1648 when the Swedes captured Prague. In later years the gardens were rebuilt in the Baroque style -with terraces, stone statues, pavilions, stairways and fountains. They were linked up into a single belt of greenery that has been maintained to the present day."
Although today the Gardens are the pride of Prague Castle, this was not always so. Martina Zelenkova says it took much planning and hard work to restore them to their former glory.
"At the beginning of the twentieth century the gardens badly needed renovating and the authorities launched a renovation process of sorts, but it was inconsistent and gradually the once exquisite gardens went to seed and became overgrown. In the 1950s they were in such a state of disrepair that they had to be closed to the public. The fall of communism marked a new chapter in their history - the state Institute for Preservation of Historical Monuments set about restoring them to their former glory. This was made possible thanks to government funds, European Funds and the Prague Heritage Fund set up Britain's Prince Charles and the former Czech president Vaclav Havel. Gradually all the gardens were cultivated and one by one they were re-opened to the public."
Today the gardens look fantastic. Roses are in bloom, figs are ripening on the southern slopes and wisterias scent the air. Each of the gardens offers a slightly different view of Prague and each has its own special character. The firm which maintains them organizes a series of summer events for visitors. Martina Zelenkova explains what's in the pipeline for this summer.
"We wanted to bring these gardens to life and the perfect way to do that was with music. Last year we introduced a series of classical music concerts. They were a huge success and we are planning a cycle of baroque music concerts for this summer, with music by Czech composers and world composers who sought and found inspiration in Prague. These baroque concerts will be held on Friday and Saturday evenings through June and July. We also offer concerts with selected Czech musicians. Last summer we introduced Czech singers Daniel Barta and Marie Rottrova and also violin virtuoso Jaroslav Sveceny. This year we have a special surprise which is still under wraps - and we will also present singers Marta Kubisova and Vera Spinarova."
Although Martina Zelenkova would not say what the special surprise for the summer is, she did admit that theatre performances are also in the pipeline, for which the organizers still need to find additional sponsors.
Last year the gardens attracted 86 thousand visitors - a record number since they opened. And they have gradually become a popular venue for garden parties, charity events, weddings, fashion-shows and even news conferences. In the Great Palfy Garden you will find a sundial with the Latin inscription "Claret in orbe dies, ac taetras, hora pete umbras" or "Clear be the day around the world and may it dispel the ugly shadows."
 The weather is sometimes unpredictable in Prague but the beauty of these gardens is sure to dispel any ugly shadows. And finally, just one more point - if you look up from the Lesser Town or down from Prague Castle at these beautiful gardens - you will find that there are actually six of them not five. The sixth - the Great Furstenberg Garden - does not belong to the State Fund for Preservation of Historical Monuments, as do the other five, but to the city of Prague. It is now under major reconstruction and is expected to open to the public next summer, completing the green belt on the southern slope of Prague Castle. Martina Zelenkova says that the idea is for all the gardens to be linked up and for visitors not to be bothered about ownership rights:
"People tend to get it mixed up - they think that all the gardens belong to the same owner and are supervised by the same authority. The Great Furstenberg Garden is not ours but we are happy that people see the gardens as a complex. We are cooperating closely with the City Hall and have agreed on what we call an 'open gate policy' on the southern slope. The gardens are a precious historical legacy and we want visitors to be able to wonder around freely through them all and savor their magic."
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/91239
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[17 Jul 2007 | Tuesday]
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Category: Art and Photography
Cestmir Suska's 'Rusty Flowers'
Over the last ten years, Czech sculptor Cestmir Suska has become something of a hit in the US. His larger-than-life and painstakingly geometrical sculptures have been showered with awards, amongst them a prestigious Pollock-Krasner scholarship. The artist himself has twice been invited to live and work in the States, first in Utica, upstate New York, and then Vermont. Both invitations he happily accepted.
On a recent visit to his studio, Suska told me something of his first trip to the states, where he worked in a disused factory - one that had produced the military vehicles used in the D-Day landings:
"During my stay there, I decided to find a real studio for me, because up until then I had worked at home in a little studio. My works were getting bigger and bigger, so they filled up the courtyard and my garden as well. My wife and children were not too happy about this, and so I started to work on the field in front of the house. The time was right to find a new studio, and I was inspired by that factory in Utica. I came back with the intention of finding a real studio for me and I found this beautiful building, and it is so huge that I invited other artists to share the spare space with me."
One such 'other artist' is Tomas Bambusek, who I met seeking Suska's advice on a cardboard structure he was assembling at the time. He explained to me a little bit more about the studio and its set up:
"So this is the Bubec sculpture studio. It is named after a sweet little pond which is very close to here, the Bubec pond in Reporyje. The people that work here form a sort of association that is in charge of maintaining the studio and all of the activities that go on here. It decides upon the direction that the studio takes."
Under Suska's guidance, the studio is a lively place, with debates, school trips and exhibitions going on. Inside, stands a ghost forest of hollowed out tree trunks, from Suska's period of working with wood. Outside lie abandoned tanks and canisters, some intricately engraved with meticulous floral patterns, others gently rusting and waiting for the 'Suska treatment'. I asked Suska about the different materials he uses, and how this has progressed:
"I worked with wood in the '80s and I started to use wood in very much my own way. I used wooden trunks and my way of working was: first I dig out all of the wood from the inside, so I was left with something like a wooden tube. And then I started to carve geometric openings into the trunk, and in the end my sculptures were very nearly transparent, it was possible to look right through them. So, I started to think about transparency in my work, and I started to work with glass. In 2005, I visited the US for the second time, I received a scholarship to work in a Vermont studio centre, and it was really a very important stay for me. On my first day I discovered in a scrap yard a metal hemisphere and I thought to myself 'I have to use this, it has been waiting for me'. But I had no experience of handling metal, I wasn't able to weld or work with metal in any way. So I left the scrap yard, but in the night I had a very vivid dream. I knew I had to go there and buy that hemisphere. So in the morning I went back to the scrapyard and bought the hemisphere and thus was born my 'metal period'."
One big fan of both his glass and metal work is Jan Vitvar, Art correspondent for Respekt magazine:
"What I find exciting about him is that he works with materials that are decades old, and in these materials you can already see decay. The trees he uses are worm-eaten and all dried out and split. Now that he works with iron, it is usually rusty iron that he finds on scrapheaps. The trees he uses have been chopped down, but not by him. He saves them and somehow gives them a new life. He likes to try and make the most of things in their past-it kind of state. In the case of these iron sculptures, well, they are really remarkable feats, actually. The cisterns, the metal that he uses is really tough, and he has to spend hours welding lacey patterns into it."
His cisterns, a motley crew of gas and beer tanks, are currently on display in Liberec, stopping people in their tracks out in the town square. A series of his glass works are currently on display in Prague at the Czech Museum of Fine Art. But it has predominantly been in America that he has been recognised and his works exhibited. But for all of this transatlantic influence, is there still something typically 'Czech' about his work? Jan Vitvar believes so:
"I think there is, because just this idea to engrave lace-like patterns into cisterns - to join things up that shouldn't be together is a principle specific to Czech art in particular. I don't think this sort of thing would be done by an American artist. Equally I think that this element of light humour in his work, in his cisterns, is quite a Czech thing. I don't think that, say, an American sculptor would include this gentle humour in his or her work."
But for all of this discussion of his work and technique, Suska insists that it is all really very simple:
"I just go to some scrapyard and it is possible to find the most beautiful shapes, they are waiting there to be destroyed and I revive them. I bring them to my studio and I transform them into beautiful sculptures. It's like in a fairytale, when a frog is changed into a prince."
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[01 Jun 2007 | Friday]
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The city of Brno has won the competition for European City of the Future for both 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 which is organized by the prestigious FDI magazine, a Financial Times publication, in the category of Visegrad group cities. It even beat out Prague, Budapest, Warsaw and Bratislava in this category.
What was said in 2004/2005: "Brno's fast economic growth and high GDP-per-capita helped to push it ahead of other cities in the region. The judges also gave top marks for its economic potential and recent FDI deals involving UK-headquartered engineering firm IMI International, US technology group Honeywell and US advanced engineering company Danaher Motion, which between them created 900 jobs. Brno also scored well for its international promotion strategy and incentives."
What was said in 2005/2006: "Brno, the Czech Republic's second largest city and economic centre of the Moravian region, has seen rapid and sustained economic growth in recent years, averaging more than 9% a year for the past decade. Brno pulled ahead on economic development strategy, scoring top marks for investment promotion, clear incentives and public investment projects. It also ranked top for IT and telecommunications." Click here to read the full article.
Swiss company Aguna chose to build their new plant in Brno. The company intends to invest almost 250 million crowns during the first two years. They will be able to employ at least 80 people in production and development of precision instruments. A large part of the employees will be college-educated specialists.
"The quality level of the work force was the deciding factor for Aguna."
"Their representatives are convinced that they will find engineers in Brno who are just as capable and qualified as in Switzerland," said Tomá-- Bohrn, Project Manager at CzechInvest, and added: "This precision engineering project demonstrates the huge potential of Brno as well as the South Moravian region to attract technically advanced engineering R&D investments."
Daikin Industries Ltd. is a world leader in the production of modern air-conditioning equipment. After the double-billion investment in Plzen, the Daikin company has decided to build a new factory for the production of compressors into air-conditioners in Brno. In the first stage, the company intends to invest 1.2 billion crowns and to create more than 500 skilled jobs.
"Our decision to invest at first in Plzen and now also in Brno is strategic and very important for the future. The Czech Republic should become the important base for our production for the fast-growing markets of the European Union," says Jiro Tomita, General Manager of Daikin Europe, and continues: "The factory in Brno will deliver compressors to our subsidiaries in Plzen and in Oostende, Belgium. It is the compressors that are the most important part and 'heart', which secures the functioning of air-conditioning units."
Symbol Technologies launched operation of their new centre in Brno for shared customer support and financial services for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Symbol Technologies has already invested more than seventy million Czech crowns into technological equipment and within three years plans to set aside another almost half a million crowns for wages, training and operation. The centre will initially employ 200 people and this number is expected to increase by another 550 employees.
"We chose Brno for several reasons, namely the good offer of qualified labour, a good site and the good position of Brno in proximity to Symbol's existing centres and customers in Europe," said Steve Priestley, Vice President and General Manager of Symbol for EMEA. "By concentrating repair, customer call support and administration of finances, contracts and orders into one European centre we will be able to improve the overall standard of our services and keep it at a high level for the long-term."
Austrian-German producer of health care and hygienic products Lohmann & Rauscher announced publically the end of December, 2004 that they will build their new plant in South Moravia. The company is investing more than 41.5 million euros into expansion and modernization of its production facility here and will create over 160 new job opportunities.
"While the company in Germany concentrates on a selected part of health care products like plaster casts and bandages, we are gradually transferring production of medical dressings, operating masks and other surgical products to the Czech plants. Production at the enlarged plant in Slavkov near Brno should be launched within two years and the main customers will be the European subsidiaries of Lohmann & Rauscher," said Rudolf Vonys, procurator of Lohmann & Rauscher s.r.o, and added: "Our final customers are health care facilities all over Europe, for example German, French and Austrian hospitals and Dutch, Swedish and Italian pharmacies."
Japanese Company Ohmori Technos Corporation has decided to build a new factory in the area of Brno. At the outset, the company will invest about 15 million euros. Estimations suggest that at least 150 new positions will be provided in the Brno area. Production in the new plant is scheduled to start by the end of 2006.
"Today, the Czech Republic is known as the center of industry in Europe. In fact, a broad range of Japanese companies have successfully established their plants in the country. Assessing these situations, we have decided to carry out this investment," commented Fumio Ohmori, president of Ohmori Technos Corporation.
The world's largest airline, Lufthansa from Germany, has officially committed, as of the end of February 2005, to opening a new shared services centre in the Moravian side of Czech Republic. The new centre, which will be located in Brno, will assist customers of Central and Eastern Europe. It is expected to employ up to 100 people. This tenth call centre for Lufthansa, named Global Telesales Brno s.r.o., will start operations on June 1st 2005.
"Central and Eastern Europe is a strategic market for us where we plan in the coming years to double the volume of our activities," commented Stephan Semsch, Lufthansa's Director for Central and Eastern Europe, and added: "We thoroughly assessed 30 possible localities in total and ultimately chose Brno for its strategically favourable position within the region and its proximity to the important airline hubs of Munich and Frankfurt. Other great advantages of the Czech Republic are its membership in the EU, quality telecommunications and technical infrastructure and the motivated, qualified and cost-effective work force."
Daido Metal, producer of bearings for the automobile industry, signed an agreement on future agreement on the purchase of land with the city of Brno today to build a new production plant. The investment of Daido Metal will amount to nearly 13 million euro and the plant will employ up to 100 persons in the first stage. The production should be launched at the beginning of next year.
"The Czech Republic has a very strong position in Europe in the automobile sector and even many of our clients have their production plants here. The production of our Czech plant will cover the demand generated both in the Central European countries and on the entire continent," says Issei Yoshida, Managing Director of Daido Metal Europe.
"Our Czech branch, Daido Metal Czech, will be the first company within the entire group to operate fully independently, without a strategic partner from the same field. The only partners in the Czech Republic will be the locals, in particular in the area of technical engineering and development, We also intend to cooperate with the city of Brno," says Tetsuro Nishiyama, Managing Director of Daido Metal Czech s.r.o.
Acer, the major manufacturer in the notebook sector will opened a new service center, with a related call-center for customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The Acer shared services centre opened on July 1st in Brno, within the industrial complex Cernovická Terrace and is expected to provide at least 60 new jobs.
"We have been experiencing great market growth in the last two years in the countries of Europe, Middle East and Africa. The new centre will replace the current solution, where customer service is being provided via external service providers," stated Stefan Engel, Region Manager North + Central Europe and added: "Our goal is to provide even better support to all countries involved in their native language and double the staff within one year."
GigaByte Technology, a producer of computer components, is building a high-tech repair centre in Brno - Cernovicka Terasa where customers from all over Europe will send their laptops, graphics cards and motherboards. 25 million CZK is being invested with a projected 50 employees being required.
GigaByte Technology chose the Czech Republic over the other Central European countries, including Hungary, which was the Czech Republic's main competitor. Brno won mainly owing to its quality infrastructure and sufficient, qualified work force.
The service centre will be built in Brno despite the fact that the company will not be receiving government investment incentives. Its executives thereby confirmed that Czech Republic has a lot to offer foreign investors.
Progeon Ltd, a leader in third party outsourcing in India, has completed its first phase of its project in Brno. The company currently employees 80 people in its downtown Brno office and provides process management services in sixteen European languages. Future growth plans will eventually offer career opportunities for hundreds of people from Brno and the surrounding area.
"The Czech Republic is an attractive destination for companies like ours that hope to reach a wide European market," said Akshaya Bhargava, managing director and CEO, Progeon Ltd. "Brno has excellent infrastructure and facilities, a supportive government, and people with multiple language skills.
The best quality and most beneficial industrial zones in the Czech Republic were handed awards by the Czech ministers. The fifth annual "Industrial Zone of the Year" awards were presented according to the recommendations of the Ministry of Industry & Trade and CzechInvest in cooperation with the Association for Foreign Investment (AFI) and partners in the "Partnership to Support Foreign Direct Investment in the Czech Republic".
The award for Industrial Zone with the Most Economic Benefits was given to the "Cernovicka terasa" Industrial Zone in Brno, while the Zone with the Most Social Benefit in 2004 was the Ostrava Hrabova Industrial Zone - 1st Stage. The Industrial Zone with the Best Town Planning Solution is being prepared by a private developer in Ostrava -– CTPark Ostrava, and the "Brownfield of the Year" was won by the Skoda Plzen Industrial Zone.
ADC (NASDAQ:ADCT)( www.adc.com), on January 19, 2006, announced it's opening of a new manufacturing facility in Brno, Czech Republic. The facility is to supply ADC's products, including copper and fiber networking, to ADC's Europe/Middle East/Africa customers. To date the facility employs 45 people but by the end of 2006 over 200 people could work here.
"This new location gives ADC several advantages going forward," said Mary Quay, vice president of global operations for ADC. "First, the Brno site moves us to a more central location to better serve our widespread carrier and enterprise customers based in the EMEA region. Secondly, the Czech Republic offers a highly skilled, low-cost labor force, which means we can grow efficiently as the EMEA market continues to expand. Finally, we are able to consolidate our labour intensive operations, formerly conducted in several locations, to the Czech Republic, lowering our overall costs of doing business."
K. Hartwall ( www.k-hartwall.fi), of Finland, is in the final stages of purchasing land near Brno for its new production plant. At the initial opening the plant is expected to employ 50 people but at full capacity, 250. K. Hartwall supplies products to leading retail chains, dairy producers and logistics companies. Their clients include the logistics company DHL, food retailers Tesco and J Sainsbury, among others. The investment in the factory of up to 6,000 square meters is worth some E 2-4 million (CZK 56-113 million), Hartwall said.
"We chose the Czech Republic because we want to be close to our suppliers as well as to customers in the CEE retail market," Hartwall said. (Read more at Czech Business Weekly)
Siemens ( www.siemens.cz) launched a new 390 million CZK facility in Drasov, 15 km from Brno on May 17 2006. It will employ 150 staff to start with another 20 to 30 expected to be added by year's end. Siemens has 11 production plants in Czech Republic and employs about 14 000 people. (Read more at Prague Daily Monitor)
Andrew Corporation (NASDAQ:ANDW) ( www.andrew.com) opened a new state-of-the-art factory in Slatina Brno for the manufacture of base station antennas. Customers to be supplied from this new facility include wireless operators in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The factory currently employs 50 people but has been designed with the capacity to triple production levels as the demand increases. This Slatina plant is Andrew's second Brno area plant as their also operate a cable and microwave antenna manufacturing facility in the Modrice area of Brno.
On why Brno is being chosen, Andrea Cassini, Andrew Corporation's President of EMEA Sales and Marketing told an interviewer: "Brno offers us low labour costs but high efficiency. We are looking forward to making Brno a major focus for production. There has been little market share in the region to date."
Further comments from John DeSana, Group President of Andrew's Antenna and Cable Products Group contributed to this: "Our expanded manufacturing presence in Europe enables Andrew to offer high quality products, local engineering assistance, and experienced support to our many customers in the region…We have now further invested in this important market, where base station antenna customers can more easily visit our production facility." (Read more at Developing Telecoms)
December 2006: The AMI Semiconductor's design center in Brno celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. AMIS's excellent experience in Brno has convinced the management of the company to expand their work force. The current 50 employees of its state-of-the-art IC center are expected to expand to 60 by 2009.
December 2006: Dutch firm Synthon plans to invest more than 250 million CZK in the conversion of its Brno area (Blansko) chemical plant to the production of pharmaceuticals by 2009. 25 to 30 high-skilled jobs in the pharmaceutical industry are then expected to be produced.
January 2007: Internationally renown open source company, Red Hat ( www.redhat.com) from the US, has established a development center in Brno. It will be located in the area of the Masaryk University's Faculty of Informatics and will initially employ 207 specialists. "Red Hat is pleased to choose Brno as a center of technological advancement for Red Hat solutions. We have chosen Brno because of the rich talent base," said Paul Cormier, Executive Vice President of Engineering at Red Hat. "We are excited about the great potential for innovation and collaboration as this team integrates with our global engineering organization."
Read full story at CzechInvest.
January 2007: Accenture (NYSE: ACN) ( www.accenture.com) has expanded it's operations in Czech Republic to include another delivery center for European outsourcing clients. The new center if Brno is the sixth operating in Central and Eastern Europe. Accenture has another delivery center in Prague which it opened in 2001. "We selected Brno for its proximity to our existing Prague and Bratislava delivery centers, as well as the region's highly qualified workforce of talented information technology professionals who are fluent in multiple languages," said Jozef Koko--ka, managing director of Accenture's Brno delivery center.
February 2007: IBA Group ( www.iba-it-group.com) will expand it's development center located in Brno as an investment project being supported by the Czech Government. 50 jobs are estimated to be created for Brno IT professionals. Commenting on the event, Sergei Levteev, IBA Group President, said: "The reasons behind the decision to invest in the expansion of the Brno branch are conducive business environment in the Czech Republic, the country's EU membership, and the growing interest in IT outsourcing of the European business community".
NTN Manufacturing Czech s.r.o Japanese firm
AISIN AI Czech, s.r.o japanese firm Manufacture of automotive parts (Timing chain case, Water pump, Oil pump etc.) We are the first production plant of AISIN in the Central East Europe.
Aluminium high-pressure Die Casting Production started in 2005, and now we are working on further expansion for 2008 in a young dynamical team (236 employes)
BOMAR, spol. s r.o. In 2004 our company (with 170 employees and production area 6000m2) sold approximately 4500 band saws.
BOSCH REXROTH
Brno/Lohr. With the new construction of production and office space in Brno, Bosch Rexroth is further expanding its location in the Czech Republic. From 2008 on, hydraulic power units will be produced on a floor space of 4,000 square meters. Further 5,200 square meters are provided for office space for design, sales and service depart-ments. The company is investing 13.5 million euros in the new building. Thus, Bosch Rexroth is growing further in Central and Eastern Europe.
New production capacities safeguard long-term growth
"The new plant is an important milestone in the expansion of our European production network", explains Manfred Grundke, Chairman of the Executive Board of Bosch Rexroth AG. "With these new capacities we will strengthen our presence in the growth region of Central and Eastern Europe and improve our cost position." In the course of the build-up of production capacities, the number of employees will be increased as well. At present, Bosch Rexroth employs a workforce of about 150 in Czechia, 130 of them at the existing location Brno.
HONEYWELL
Manufacturing units, Combustion Control, Security, Environmental Control, Honeywell Controls
2002 – As a part of Invensys Controls acquisition Honeyewell acquired Invensys Controls branch in Brno, a sensor manufacturer for automotive industry
2003 – Foundation of Global Design Center in Brno (current HTSL-Brno) aiming to strengthen technology potential of the company – project received "Investor of the Year 2002" award in the category of investments mostly enhancing qualified labor
2003 – Honeywell takes over the former Flextronics facility in Brno to foster further expansion in the region making thus Brno an important manufacturing and technology hub
2003 – Acquired Olympo company in Brno, a distributor of integrated security solutions
Currently corporation Honeywell employs over 1,600 employees in the Czech Republic. Honewell presence includes Prague, Brno, Olomouc and Ostrava.
CARCLO TECHNICAL PLASTICS
The technical plastic division of Carclo is a truly global operation supplying multi-national customers in three industry sectors: automotive, optical-medical and teletronics. CTP operates from ten sites in Europe, one site in the Czech Republic, five sites in the USA, and one in China, offering services ranging from design concept through to sophisticated production and logistics management.
MODUSLINK Czech Republic s.r.o.
Many clients rely on our global network of facilities to provide product assembly, multi-channel fulfillment services, customer care, and to simplify getting to market on an international scale. Click on a location below to learn more about our Europe locations in Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
Bodycote HT s.r.o.
Maehler & Kaege CZ s.r.o.
PILKINGTON Czech spol. s r.o.
To be the global leader in the manufacture and supply of glass products, through the best use of our people and technology
and the pursuit of innovation.
BGS LEVI Czech a.s.
BGS LEVI is group of companies which are engaged in distribution of information and telecommunication technologies (ICT) in Central Europe and has been operating exclusively on the B2B market on the territory of the Czech and Slovak Republic. BGS LEVI Group manufactures computer brand LYNX. Its customers are computer producers, computer technology wholesales, specialized dealers and trade networks. In 2006 BGS LEVI was, with the turnover exceeding 10 billions CZK, the biggest company on the Czech-Slovak.
TAM Europe, s.r.o.
The TAM Europe Repair Centre is a comprehensive, state-of-the-art unit and component level electronics repair service located in BRNO, the Czech Republic at the heart of Europe. The center was established to maximize advantages to customers of a low cost environment with excellent skills & knowledge in engineering, management, logistics which results in cost effective repairs, rapid turn around times, quality repairs and customer satisfaction. Repairs cover all types of IT equipment and components. Among our customers are large trade chains, banks, insurance companies, government institutions and many others throughout Europe.
BOC EDWARDS SERVICES s.r.o.
BOC Edwards is a leading supplier of vacuum equipment and related products and services to the world's most advanced industries. Products include dry vacuum pumps, turbomolecular pumps, oil-sealed mechanical pumps, liquid ring pumps, exhaust gas management systems, liquid abatement, chemical management systems, chillers, valves, coupling components, coating systems, control software and measurement instrumentation.
BenQ Technologies Czech s.r.o.
Fermat CZ s.r.o.
Wistron InfoComm (Czech), s.r.o.
Banta Global Turnkey, s.r.o.
Seaborne Plastics Limited
CZECH TECHNOLOGY PARK
Client Companies
The Czech Technology Park is already home to leading international and domestic technology companies, reinforcing its position as the leading business and technology zones in the region. These companies undertake a wide range of activities occupying space for administration, research, technological development and high-tech production. Current park tenants are set out below with links to individual company web sites for further information.
FEI Czech Republic
The American FEI Company develop and produce the latest generation electron beam microscopes for export throughout the World. The 8600 m² FEI facility on the Technology Park has close links with the Brno University of Technology, which together with local industry, has a very strong history of electronic optics development.
Siemens
The German engineering group has its Czech divisional headquarters for Moravia located within Kaplan Building on the Technology Park. Siemens' operations cover a wide range of activities but the core focus of this division is in the telecommunications and energy supply industries.
SGI
Formerly Silicon Graphics, this world re-known company, with it's headquarters in Silicon Valley provides fully integrated development and production of efficient computer servers and graphics stations. The company has its regional headquarters located within Kaplan Building.
Vodafone
The Czech Republic newest mobile phone operator has it's second switch site for the Czech Republic within List Building on the Technology Park. The company also has regional office space within the building.
Control Techniques
Control Techniques plc is a world leader in the design, production and marketing of electronic drives for electric motors. These products reduce energy consumption and increase productivity and have applications in almost every industrial process. The company has a drive centre occupying 850m2 within Zone B of the Technology Park. The facility provides tailored solutions to clients and employs 13 people, including specialist variable speed drive experts who also lecture at the Electrical Faculty of the Technical University within the sphere of electrical drives.
Honeywell Controls s.r.o.
Honeywell is a diversified technology and manufacturing leader of aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; power generation systems; speciality chemicals; fibers; plastics and advanced materials. The 2 500 m2 Honeywell facility on the Technology Park is park of Sensing and Control division, which is one of the word´s leasing suppliers of senzors used in the automotive industry.
Bovis Lend Lease
One of the world's leading construction and project management organisations, Bovis Lend Lease has its regional division within the Technology Park. The company has managed many high profile construction projects throughout the region including the refurbishment of the Prague congress centre prior to the meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
TIMKEN< STRONG>
The Czech Technical Centre is a part of Timken group. CTC has been established in Brno, Czech Republic, to strengthen Timken´s high technical level and to continue innovation of the company´s products and processes.
CTC is being developed as a resource for Bearing Sciences (Tribology, Analytical/Materials Engineering) and IT Engineering providing engineering support for new and existing businesses in both the automotive and industrial divisions worldwide.
CTS´s services:
Testing of bearings
New product development support
Benchmarking
Analytical engineering
Material and failure analysis
FEM simulations
Mechanical design
Application engineering (Eastern Europe)
Accoustics, dynamics and vibrations
Literature search
IBM Global Services Delivery
Center Czech Republic
The IBM expert centre in Brno is a integral part of IBM´s outsourcing organization which is providing complex services to hundreds of clients in the whole of Europe. The extent of the services provided includes support and running of business applications over computer networks up to data centres. This centre is in the primary phase focusd on the support of database and system software.
Phoenix Contact s.r.o.
Phoenix Contact is one of the word´s leading manufacturers of industrial electronic interface solutions between conductors and printed circuit boards, automation technology, signal level matching and surge voltage protection. Headquarted in Blomberg, Germany the company has its Czech division within Kaplan building on the Technology Park.
Bobst Group Central Europe s.r.o.
The Bobst Group is the world´s foremnost supplier of products and services in the field of solid board, corrugated board and flexible materials packaging industries. These products range from the simplest machine to complete high-tech manufacturing systems.
With its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Bobst Group of companies has developed a sales and service network with offices in more than 100 countries.
The subsidiary Bobst Group Central Europe, recently located in Kaplan building of the Technology Park, was set up in 1993 in order to respond more efficiently to the customers´ needs on the territory.
ENERGO-PRO Czech, s.r.o.
ENERGO-PRO Czech, s.r.o. is currently the largest independent Czech producer and supplier of hydro electricity generated from environmentally pure plants throughout the Czech republic and abroad.
Symbol Technologies, Inc.
Symbol Technologies, Inc., The Enterprise Mobility Company--, is a recognized worldwide leader in enterprise mobility, delivering products and solutions that capture, move and manage information in real time to and from the point of business activity. Symbol enterprise mobility solutions integrate advanced data capture products, radio frequency identification technology, mobile computing platforms, wireless infrastructure, mobility software and world-class services programs under the Symbol Enterprise Mobility Services brand. Symbol enterprise mobility products and solutions are proven to increase workforce productivity, reduce operating costs, drive operational efficiencies and realize competitive advantages for the world's leading companies. More information is available at www.symbol.com.
STAR 21 Networks, a.s.
STAR 21 Networks, a.s. operates its own wireless telecommunication network with guaranteed quality of services in the Czech Republic. The network is used mainly by other operators and Internet service providers (ISP's) to provide voice, data and Internet services to businesses and institutions. The list of STAR 21 Networks' current customers includes all major fixed line operators in the Czech market.
South Moravian Innovation Centre The South Moravian Innovation Centre (JIC) creates a complex infrastructure for innovative enterprises in the South Moravian Region. It supports innovative firms, science, research and development and students with original ideas and provides money, contacts, space and consultations to promising projects. One of the key parts of JIC´s activities is running incubators and building new incubators to support such promising firms. These incubators concentrate several support tools for starting entrepreneurs at one place. JIC also focuses on biotechnology and carries on the biotech web portal www.gate2biotech.com, which became the main guide-post and information umbrella covering all activities in the biotechnology sector in the Czech Republic.
CSC Computer Sciences
CSC Computer Sciences is one of the world leading suppliers of IT services. The company assist its customers to achieve their business results by delivering them the best IT solutions. The branch office in the Czech republic is already in existence from 1995.
CSC provides both professional services and global activity in the fields such as managerial consultancy, e-business, information strategies, system strategies, aplication software, IT outsourcing and business processes.
CTPark Brno South Biggest Private Investment in the Czech Republic
September 25, 2007
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CTP Invest is proud to announce its largest industrial park project in the Czech Republic so far, the 200-hectare mixed-use CTP Park Brno South project, starting in 2008. The investment value of the project is estimated at €600 million. The site is superbly located, close to the D1 highway, a high-speed railway station and Brno International Airport, making CTPark Brno a superior site for distribution and logistics. This ambitious project and the international companies attracted by it will make a huge contribution to the local economy and community, and up to 15,000 jobs could be created as a result of it.The high-quality development will be carried out in two phases. The CTPark Brno South site will have a total built-up area of 764,864m² and comprise all the standard facilities offered by CTP: Flexi-Space; Warehouse Space; Custom-built; CTBoxes and Axis Office Park.
Several of the warehouses in the park will have direct rail access, allowing for on-site loading of freight cars and maximum efficiency. Phase I of the park will cover an area of approximately. 1,275,000m², with an estimated built-up area of 500,000m². A new pavilion will be built in the park, including athletics facilities, supermarket and a day care centre. High-quality landscaping will also be a feature of the site. It is planed that phase I will be completed by 2009. CTP plans to invest approximately €350 million in each phase of the project.
CTPark Brno South will be unique thanks its to its significant size, the scale of operations and the range of amenities that companies locating here can enjoy. This project is set to become one of the most important in the country, and the timing of it is ideal because Brno is becoming increasingly important from a regional and international point of view. The city boasts six universities, whose 60,000 students create an intellectually and economically vibrant city, and offer foreign companies one of the most available and highly skilled labour forces in the region.There are already pre-agreements in place with a variety of potential clients such as Brno-based transportation company --SAD Hodonín, which will occupy a modern logistics centre. CTP Invest has agreed conditions with it for the construction of a new production facility. In addition, CTP has signed contracts with various investors that would come to Brno with their production, design and test facilities.
CTPInvest – Spielberk Office Centre
At 80,000 sqm., Spielberk Office Centre is the first large-scale office park in Brno, one of the region's fastest growing business destinations. The A-class buildings include features such as raised floors, high-speed data transfer infrastructure and flexible floor-plan designs that allow tenants to customise their office layout as their business requires.
Five low-rise office villas offer well-designed modern office space, ideally suited for representative offices and other uses. The four IQ office buildings are an intelligent solution for a wide range of office activities, including call centers, R&D, regional headquarters or shared service centers, with a flexible design for optimal workspace and the possibility to expand either horizontally or vertically.
The first of its kind in Brno, high-rise office Tower offers modern office facilities in an attractive location, with excellent views of the city's skyline. Connected directly to the adjacent on-site Hotel, it offers easy access to conference and retail facilities.
Spielberk Office Park - Honeywell Moves In
September 25, 2007
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Spielberk Office Centre is proud to announce the arrival of renowned technology and manufacturing firm Honeywell. After the second phase of the move Honeywell now occupies the 2nd and 4th floors of a building on Holandská Street, with a total of 3,626m² of A-Class office space. The company produces diversified technology for buildings, homes and industry, power generation systems, and aerospace products and services. At Spielberk it will be utilising the modern space for its laboratories and design centre. "Business opportunities and the expansion of the Honeywell Global Design Centre prompted the need for a new facility. Spielberk was chosen as a site because of its close proximity to facilities in Brno, Prague and Olomouc. The available skilled engineering work force in the region was another consideration," said Michal Orlita of Honeywell.
Providing a pleasant working atmosphere has always been a part of the Spielberk Office Centre design, and special attention has been paid to the landscaping and greenery. Landscape architects and professional gardening services are on hand to ensure that the attractive lakeside landscaping around the office facility will be well maintained.Meanwhile, work continues on the hotel and office building. The project is scheduled for completion at the end of 2008. Once complete, the hotel will offer a total of 18 floors, including three floors for underground parking. The office tower will have a total of 24 floors including parking, 200 rooms, with luxury double bedrooms, unique suites, and terraces overlooking the peaceful lake. The hotel will offer services for companies, meetings, presentations, and private parties.
CTZone Brno Project
September 24, 2007
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Work on the CTZone pilot project, consisting of seven CTBox buildings in Brno, is approaching completion. Three CTBox buildings have been finished, providing 10,800m² of office retail and warehouse space all under one roof. Work on three more CTBox concepts is also under way, and the reconstruction of two historic buildings will be a mix of classic architecture with modern A-Class office space interiors. One of them, the oldest building on the site, dates from 1920 and has a floorspace of 1,000m². It is being refurbished and is scheduled for completion in autumn 2007. Building two, dating from the 1970s, is also being altered and will be completed in early 2008, offering 1,900m².We will also begin the demolition of the old building located on the west side, where a new CTZone Office Box concept building will soon be constructed. It will be a modern space offering the same, flexible design and focused on companies who require a modern turnkey solution for their office needs."We have chosen the CTZone because its close vicinity to the centre of Brno, there are public transport connections and very good road and rail links. In the future there will be a lot of companies locating here, and CTZone is becoming a very attractive place for business," said Petr Sk--ípský, of Lektronix, an electronic repair solution company.When fully completed, the seven CTBox buildings will offer 10,800m² (3,600m² x 3) of floorspace and will bring retail office and warehousing space together all under one roof. These facilities are ideal for SMEs, and CTP Invest is meeting their needs. "In our activity in the region we realised that the ever stronger SME sector struggles with a lack of suitable, modern spaces to do business," said Remon L. Vos, general director of CTP Invest, explaining what led the company to introduce the CTBox concept.Brno is an ideal location for CTBoxes. It is situated at the heart of Europe, has a highly skilled workforce and is home to six universities, creating an intellectually and economically vibrant city.
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[14 Apr 2007 | Saturday]
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Category: Art and Photography
  
SPECIAL GUESTS Marina Abramovic, Vanessa Beecroft, Shirin Neshat.
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EXPANDED PAINTING 2
(Curated by Helena Kontova and Giancarlo Politi):
Special homage: Carla Accardi
Dimitrios Antonitsis, Michael Bauer, Pablo Bronstein, Bonnie Camplin, Valerio Carrubba, Radu Comsa, Jiri David, Jules de Balincourt, Igor Eskinja, Adrian Ghenie, Charlie Hammond, Nate Lowman, Angelo Mosca, Djordje Ozbolt, Daniel Pitin, Pietro Roccasalva, Alessandro Roma, Matthieu Ronsse, Stefan Sandner, Serban Savu, Josh Smith, Ulla von Brandenburg
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DER PROZESS. Collective memory and social history.
(Curated by Marco Scotini):
Janis Avotins, Zbynek Baladran, Chto Delat? / What is to be done?, Harun Farocki / Andrei Ujica, Luca Frei/Gruppo Parole e Immagini, Kaspars Goba, Ion Grigorescu, Dmitry Gutov, Iosif Kiraly, Armando Lulaj, David Maljkovic, Dan Mihaltianu, Ciprian Muresan, Vlad Nanca, Deimantas Narkevicius, Roman Ondak, Adrian Paci, Cristian Pogacean, Ian Tweedy, Mona Vatamanu & Florin Tudor, Vanghelis Vlahos, Martin Zet.
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WHAT WENT WRONG
(Curated by Andrea Bellini):
Four top Californian artists will explore Prague, its culture and history in their project in situ prepared during their three-week stay in Prague. Chris Beas, Pentti Monkkonen, Eric Wesley, Mario Ybarra Jr.
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STORY TELLERS
(Curated by Gea Politi e Sonia Rosso):
Art as Narration. Massimiliano Buvoli, Jeremy Deller, Luke Fowler, Mathew Sawyer, and Jonathan Monk.
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ALIAS/ALIASES
(Curated by Virginia Hackermann):
The project concentrates on different aspects of identity: specifically, on virtual identities. Kathleen Cleaver, Virginia Hackermann, Victor Lucas, Massimo Poma, Lilith Pomme.
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GLOCAL OUTSIDERS
(Curated by Jiri David, Vasil Artamonov):
provides a large view of recent contemporary art in the Czech and Slovak Republics. Jasper Alvaer, Vasil Artamonov / Alexej Klyuykov, Daniela Barackova, Ondrej Brody / Kristofer Paetau, Lada Gaziova, Eva Kotatkova, Jiri Kovanda, Ladvi, Dominik Lang, Vaclav Magid, Jan Mancuska, Marek Meduna, Jan Nalevka, Petr Pisarik, Reality, Evzen Simera, Jiri Skala, Vladimir Skrepl, Vaclav Stratil, Marek Ther, Jiri Tyn.
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GLOCAL GIRLS. Young Czech and Slovak Women Photographers
(Curated by Vladimir Birgus):
Barbora Balkova, Zuzana Blochova / Dita Lamacova, Daniela Dostalkova, Katerina Drzkova, Petra Feriancova, Sylva Francova, Sona Goldova, Andrea Kalinova, Marketa Kinterova, Alena Kotzmannova, Monika Kovacova, Barbora Kuklikova, Andrea Lhotakova, Barbora Mrazkova / Filip Lab, Lucia Nimcova, Martina Novozamska, Dita Pepe, Silvia Saparova, Stepanka Stein / Salim Issa.
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CZECH MINIMALISM
(Curated by Martin Dostal):
The development of the movement between the '60s and '80s: Milan Grygar, Stanislav Kolibal, Jiri Kovanda, Karel Malich, Karel Miler, Jan Mlcoch, Petr Stembera, Zdenek Sykora.
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BETWEEN ACTION AND CONCEPT
(Curated by Juraj Carny):
Milan Adamciak, Peter Bartos, Robert Cyprich, Stano Filko, Michal Kern, Julius Koller, Milos Laky, Alex Mlynarcik, Rudolf Sikora.
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MONUMENT OF TRASNSFORMATION, FRAGMENT#3
(Curated by Vit Havranek and Zbynek Baladran):
Monument of Transformation is an installation of artworks, objects and theoretical statements that develops in time. It started in 2006 as an interdisciplinary (art - art theory) project focused on the topic of cultural, social and political "transformation". Artists: Zbynek Baladran, Kajsa Dahlberg, Sanja Ivekovic, Alexander Kiossev, Milica Tomic.
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BALTIC MYTHOLOGIES
(Curated by Laima Kreivyte and Luigi Fassi):
Emerging artists from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the context of a New Europe. Coolturistes, Merike Estna, Laura Garbstiene, Ugnius Gelguda, Kristina Inciuraite, Alice Kask, Kristine Kursisha, Katerina Neiburga, Mark Raidpere, Kriss Salmanis.
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MACHO PAINTER
(Curated by Andreas Schlaegel):
A reaction to the return of neo-academic male painting in Germany: Heike Beyer, Susanne Bürner, Berta Fischer, Marten Frerichs, Tine Furler, Jukka Korkeila, Kirstine Roepstorff, Andreas Schlaegel, Gunna Schmidt, Milena Vrtalova, Christine Würmell, Haegue Yang.
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THE NEW ROMANIAN SCENE
(Curated by Simona Nastac):
Presenting the most unusual Romanian artists. Matei Bejenaru, Victor Man, Ciprian Muresan, Sebastian Moldovan, Ioana Nemes.
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BIZART TRAVEL AGENCY
(Curated by Xu Zhen and Davide Quadrio):
Experience China and its contemporary society and culture. An agency specialised in tailored travel for museums, curators, artists, collectors and anybody who is interested in investing in Chinese Art.
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FROM KOSOVO TO KALININGRAD
(Curated by Aaron Moulton):
An extraordinary journey through Central Europe and the Ex-USSR. Luchezar Boyadjiev, Alexey Chebykin, Jakup Ferri, Ciprian Muresan, R.E.P. Group.
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HUNGARIAN PROJECT
(Curated by Kati Simon and Laszlo Gergely):
An exploration of new Hungarian art. Istvan Csakany, Andrea Schneemeier, Aniko Lorant, Marcell Esterhazy, Zsolt Fekete, Miklos Mecs / Borbala Sarai / Csaba Vandor.
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KINETIC ART IN EASTERN EUROPE
(Curated by Getulio Alviani):
Poland: Janusz Kapusta, Jerzy Grabowski, Ryszard Winiarski
Slovak Republic: Milan Dobes, Stepan Pala, Pavel Rudolf
Czech Republic: Hugo Demartini, Jean Kubicek, Radek Kratina
Hungary: Imre Bak, Janos Fajo, Istvan Haasz
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REFUSING EXCLUSION
(Curated by James Colman):
'Refusing Exclusion', a short essay by Dr. Thomas Acton, will include five artists from two families of Romani and Irish Traveller extraction.
Daniel Baker, Celia Baker, Damian le Bas, Delaine Le Bas, Damian-James Le Bas.
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OPEN SPACE 2007
Andrea Chrenova + Monika Haima Kovacova, Eja Deveckova, Pavla Gajdosikova, Lukas Machalicky, Jakub Matuska, Tereza Severova, Erik Sille, Tereza Velikova.
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[11 Apr 2007 | Wednesday]
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Category: Art and Photography
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JÁN JAKUB KOTÍK - 18. 4. - 3. 6. 2007 (opening 18. 4. 07)
60 WATT MAX | ..>
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A camel lies in a hospital bed, he gazes into emptiness while being on a drip. Beside, one reads 'Joe CHEMO.' At first, it could strike as an ad for a famous brand of cigarettes; instead, it is an e..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />xample of culture jamming, meaning a semantic overturning (a sort of sabotage.) Creating interference, deconstructing texts and images of the media and advertising industry through détournement is what 'Adbusters, Journal of the Mental Environment' aims at. With Joe (CAMEL) CHEMO, in particular, the message to the consumer is pretty clear: smoking kills and Joe is on chemotherapy. ..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
This year again, and for 41 years in a row, GE (General Electric) donated to Washington DC lights and decorations for the National Christmas Tree, which was switched on last Christmas in the presence of Bush, the President of United States of America. Similarly to other corporations, General Electric does not produce just household appliances and medical instruments. It manufactures many other things. Among them, nuclear reactors and military devices.
It is on the edge of these colossal ambiguities - both social and media-related - that Jan Jakub Kotík works. The artist, born in the U.S. by Czech immigrants and now back in Prague, builds home appliances with parts of planes, tanks, and military instruments to highlight the existing connections to the armaments' industry. In the series 'Economies of Scale,' the combination of elements is shrill, seemingly bizarre. Those little constructions take us back in time, to when we were kids and we had fun creating new objects by mixing parts of old ones. But it is just at a closer look that those objects reveal their reason of being. They have lost the original function, they are models with a paradoxically aggressive shape to make the audience perceived them as even dangerous. Nothing weird, taken into consideration that those manufacturing them produce war machines too. Kotík's purpose is not sterile provocation; he tries to make the audience conscious, to give them useful instruments for criticism. It is not a coincidence that his biggest influence has been Hans Haacke, one of the few artists capable of transforming - in an excellent way - the structures of power and political engagement into his own domain. His pulled-up floor in the German pavilion at the Venice Biennale of 1993 is unforgettable.
Kotík reminds us that the perception of an object is never the same and that its meaning depends on its manipulation and on the context in which it is placed. A banal plastic cable, used to coat main cables carrying electric current, can be turned - as it happens in the installation 'B-2' - into an architectural element taking the profile of a B-2 bomber supplying, in turn, electricity to an electrical device. The same cable reproduces the shape of an Apache helicopter, of two men shaking hands in agreement, and supplies electric current to a monitor giving updates on arrivals and departures in an airport.
Which are the political choices determining technological development and which are, above all, the consequences of the duality technological/social well-being on the man? Kotík does not give clear-cut answers. Still, he makes us think. With discretion and elegance.
Daniele Perra
Translation: Micaela Cecchinato | ..>
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