UNYP Hosts Danish Business Leaders

On September 24th UNYP was proud to host an investment seminar for Danish business leaders. These leaders included 10 CEO’s and CFO’s from a variety of industries ranging from lottery to banking. The seminar covered a number of key topics on the Czech economy and investment opportunities.

Oscar Hidalgo-Redondo M.Phil, (Head of the Economics Department at UNYP) presented The Velvet Transformation: 20 year of Democratization in the Czech Republic: an assessment of the process of democratization in the Czech Republic since 1989. Oscar gave an excellent speech, not only analyzing the process but also giving the audience his view as a Spaniard. Oscar was followed by Helena Fialova, Ph.D., Dr Fialova is one of UNYP’s longest serving professors and a well known expert on the Czech economy. Dr Fialova focused on The Czech Economy & the European Union: an analysis of the consequences of the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU with a focus on the effect and changes in the Czech economy.

The lunch break allowed the delegates to discuss the differences in doing business in the Czech Republic and Denmark, including working inside and outside of the Eurozone, inflation, corruption and an educated workforce. It was clear to all that although the Czech Republic has an abundance of technical students (Engineers), the country is still lacking business students and graduate students in business. This was seen as a big advantage for all UNYP business students.

The final speakers were our partners from CZECHINVEST. Oldrich Dubsy, Project Manager of the International Marketing Section, spoke first on Investing in the Czech Republic: lessons, experiences and opportunities. He discussed a series of actual case studies, Czech resources, and strategic sectors of investment including possible partners. Dana Hruskova, Analyst of EU Structural Funds, then followed up with a very informative discussion on government incentives for foreign investors. These incentives include tax breaks, land at nominal cost, funds for training employees and even government built housing for employees. All of these combine to make the Czech Republic a very attractive destination for foreign production and investment.

UNYP’s rector, Andreas Antonopoulos, Ph.D., closed the seminar with a short explanation of UNYP and the quality of our graduates which the Danish CEO’s found very interesting. The potential investors were very happy with what they learned and had a much expanded view of doing business in the Czech Republic.