Almost all of last year, companies from the Ústí Region could submit their innovations to the competition for the most innovative company of 2023. And just on Thursday, January 18, 2024, the Innovation Center of the Ústí Region in the Lovoš Cultural Center in Lovosice announced the best innovations in the categories of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME ) and large enterprises. The prize in the first category went to the company Ventos Energy Solutions, and the company 2JCP won among large companies. The prize of Prof. Entrepreneur Martin Hausenblas received the Jiřina Jílková Award for his extraordinary contribution to the development of the Ústí Region in the field of innovation.

The gala evening, where the best innovation of the previous year is announced, is a summary of the best that companies from our region have implemented in their production, their products and/or internal processes. The best innovations of products, services, technologies or processes are evaluated in two categories: small and medium-sized enterprises, including startups, and large companies. A separate category is the Professor Jiřina Jílková Award, which honors personalities for their extraordinary contribution to the development of the Ústí Region in the field of innovation.

World-class innovation in large enterprises

Among the large companies, the main prize went to 2JCP with the design and production of operating parts for the Silyzer 300, an industrial electrolyzer for the production of green hydrogen. 2JCP are the only manufacturer of this system in the world. The prize was accepted by the director of the company, Vojtěch Křenovský.

"Energy utilization of hydrogen is one of the main priorities for our region. We put a lot of energy into this topic. This is also the reason why we became the first region with its own hydrogen strategy. That's why I'm glad that the first place goes to a top innovation in this particular field," Ústí Region councilor Iva Dvořáková, who presented the award, commented on the win.

Second place was awarded to Spolchemie from Ústí with its innovative technology for cleaning wastewater from the production of epoxy resin and its further use in production, and the prize for third place was also taken by Malfini from Ústí for the application of a robotic storage system in Ostrava.

Innovative people are moving the entire region

The winner of the SME category was the company Ventos Energy Solutions with its industrial dryer for a wide range of uses not only in the food industry, which uses waste heat from production and has the best thermal technical operating parameters. The award was received by a representative of Ventos from the director of the Innovation Center of the Ústí Region, Martin Mata.

"For me, this evening is always a showcase of skilled people who want to advance their companies. However, they are also moving our region forward, and for that I am extremely grateful to them," Martin Mata commented on the gala evening.

Elsewhere in the SME category were Photoluminescent Europe, with its photoluminescent road markings, and New Water Group, which developed sophisticated wastewater treatment using artificial intelligence.

The winners in their categories took home their awards, including the opportunity to use the title of Innovation Company of the Ústí Region for the year 2023, and a monetary reward of CZK 50,000.

The innovative personality of the Ústí Region supports students and VRT

Professor Jiřina Jílková's award, which honors personalities for an extraordinary contribution to the development of the Ústí Region in the field of innovation, was won by the Ústí patriot and businessman Martin Hausenblas for, among other things, long-term support of talents and interest and activities in negotiating the route of the high-speed line in the Ústí Region.

"Martin Hausenblas is a true heartthrob of the Ústí Region, who gives the region a good name, among other things, by being the winner of many awards at the national level. I am therefore very happy that we have finally noticed it here too, and that he is receiving an award for an innovative personality, which we introduced last year in honor of Professor Jiřina Jílková, the founders of our innovation center,” comments ICUK director Martin Mata at the end.

The competition is announced by the Innovation Center of the Ústí Region (ICUK) with the support of the Ústí Region, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University and the ÚK Regional Chamber of Commerce. The professional guarantor of the competition is CzechInvest. The jury that evaluated the submitted innovations was composed of representatives of Komerční banka, Czechinvest, ICUK and last year's winner of the competition, Chart Ferox. The main partners of the competition are: Komerční banka, Sev.en Energy and Noesis. The Innovation Firm of the Ústecký Region competition is supported by the project Smart Accelerator for the Ústí Region III., registration number CZ.02.01.02/00/22_009/0004316.

Category Small and medium enterprises:

1. location: Ventos Energy Solutions
2. location: Photoluminescent Europe
3. location: New Water Group

Large enterprises category:

1. place: 2JCP
2. place: Spolchemie
3. place: Malfini

Prize of Prof. Jiřiny Jílkové – nominees:

Miroslav Cink, hydrogeologist, designer of waterworks and solar-powered ships

Tomáš Siviček, university teacher, former director of ICUK, who founded the organization

Martin Hausenblas, entrepreneur, benefactor - award winner