The Innovation Center of the Ústí Region signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Dublin business center Furthr in Ireland. The subject of support and mutual cooperation will primarily be the transfer of experience from the fields of venture capital and seed funds, digitization of healthcare, creation of a startup ecosystem and cooperation with multinational companies.
The signing of the memorandum with the Irish center is another of the concrete steps that resulted from the prestigious EBN / EU BIC (European Business and Innovation Center Network) certification awarded to the Innovation Center of the Ústí Region this June.
On behalf of the Irish business and startup center Furthr, the memorandum was signed by Martin Murray, who was the main auditor in the EBN certification process, on behalf of ICUK, director Martin Mata added his signature directly. He, together with other colleagues from ICUK, visited the Furthr business center in its new Guinness Enterprise Centre, which was created only two years ago by the sensitive reconstruction of a unique brownfield - one of the buildings of the Guinness brewery.
"I am convinced that Furthr will be a great inspiration and asset for us, and not only with his experience. At its new headquarters, you can see the incredible work with the former brownfield, which gave rise to unique spaces for the business center, but above all for another 150 companies and startups. I would like to be inspired by this infrastructure here as well", comments ICUK director Martin Mata on the visit.
The day-long visit to the Guinness Enterprise Center was full of sharing experiences about venture capital and seed funds, the creation of a startup ecosystem, and the involvement of multinational companies and their cooperation with small and medium-sized enterprises.
ICUK subsequently continued from Ireland to the prestigious TechCamp 2023 event of the EBN organization in Coventry, UK, where presentations of breakthrough technologies, innovations and, above all, the experiences of the best businesses and innovation centers in the entire EBN network took place. There was again experience from the creation of a startup and innovation ecosystem from Great Britain, France or selected African countries, the issue of how to improve mentoring and expert services in relation to companies, cooperation with doctors on the digitization of healthcare. Unique were the presentations of specific applications of 5G networks, e.g. for remote taxi service (yes, taxis controlled from home) or the involvement of artificial intelligence in virtual reality.
