Analysis

Prague in new bid to promote innovation over tourism

Prague City Hall has opened an entrepreneurial and innovation centre on the ground floor of Škoda Palace, with the aim of gathering together in one place all the comprehensive information on promoting business and innovation from the public and private spheres.

“Our aim is that Prague becomes perceived abroad as not only a tourist destination but also as an important economic and business centre,” said the city’s mayor Zdeněk Hříb.

The centre offers space with modern technology and its staff plan to organise a variety of educational events, provide personal consultations and work with universities and national institutions.

The project is designed not only for entrepreneurs and business people, but also for students, academics, innovators, researchers and the general public. In the future, the city council also wants to add an expat centre project expanding its professional consulting services to provide information in English to students, investors and workers coming to Prague from abroad.

“We are working to maximise support for meaningful business projects. We want to reach out to small and medium-size companies, mostly those which have been operational for three years or less. We can offer them up to 85 per cent of the cost of implementing quality projects,” said Vít Šimral, a Prague city councillor.