Annual Conference
10. 9. 2024
Czech National Bank
On Tuesday, 10 September 2024, we held the 5th Annual Conference of the Association for Foreign Investment - AFI in the Czech National Bank Congress Centre. The conference was subtitled "The future of the Czech economy: investment, decarbonisation and global influences" and was attended by more than two hundred participants from among leading representatives of major international and Czech companies, institutions and organisations, senior representatives of the Czech government, as well as ambassadors and foreign guests.
As every year, the conference had a very busy programme, which was opened by the Chairman of the AFI Steering Committee, Kamil Blažek together with the AFI Executive Director Ondřej Votruba. This was followed by 3 panel discussions led by experts on key topics shaping the present and future of the Czech economy.
In the first panel discussion entitled Economic outlook of the Czech Republic: deglobalisation and investment, featured following speakers:
In the second panel discussion, which was entitled Current views of investors on the investment environment in the Czech Republic, the following panellists discussed:
In the third discussion panel Decarbonization of the Czech Republic and economic impacts spoke:
Kamil Blažek and Ondřej Votruba have published fresh results of the AFI Business Environment Survey 2024, which for the fourth year has been conducted by AFI among companies of different focus from all over the Czech Republic. The survey revealed a number of positive findings, such as that 76% of responding companies plan to invest further in the Czech Republic, 89% of companies plan to maintain staffing levels or recruit new employees, while the growing trend of using robotics, automation and AI, from which companies expect financial savings and increased efficiency, was confirmed. At the heart of the research is the area of investment support. According to 2/3 of respondents, investment incentives contribute to the development of the Czech economy and the same proportion of companies intend to use subsidy titles.
The awards ceremony was dedicated to the AFI 2024 Awards. The Award for Significant Achievement in the Field of Investment was presented to Vitesco Technologies, which plans to invest up to CZK 5 billion in the development and production of advanced drive systems for vehicle electrification as part of its expansion in Ostrava-Hrušov. The Award for Innovative Idea of the Year went to Born Digital for its Digital investigator project used in cybercrime investigations in the Central Bohemia Region. And we had the honour of awarding the Award for Long-term Contribution to the Investment Environment to the duo Aleš Cáb and Josef Švejda, onsemi. We congratulate all the winners not only on the awards they received, but especially on the great projects they can be proud of.
We would like to thank all speakers, partners, co-organizers and participants for creating a great and inspiring atmosphere and opening up countless interesting and beneficial discussions.
A selection of highlights from the conference below, comlete photo gallery HERE.
