Almost 60 firms to go on a business mission to the USA and Canada

On Sunday, April 28, representatives of almost sixty Czech companies and universities will travel to the United States of America and Canada to look for business opportunities. In terms of the number of participating companies, this is the largest business mission to both countries in history. The exporters, led by president of the SP CR, Jan Rafaj, will accompany Minister of Industry and Trade, Jozef Síkela, on the six-day trip.

Representatives of Czech companies and universities will successively visit Boston, Toronto, Chicago and Seattle. As the trip is mainly focused on start- ups and innovative companies in the field of ICT and technological solutions, participants will have the opportunity to visit several research centers in the field of technologies, technology incubators, accelerators or innovation centers.

"Our business mission to the USA and Canada is a great opportunity for Czech companies or start-ups to launch their business in North America. In six days, we have prepared a really busy schedule for the participants, full of face-to-face meetings with local partners. We will not only visit technology incubators, but also, for instance, the Amazon innovation center. We are happy to support daring Czech companies that have a good product or idea," says Jan Rafaj , president of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, who leads the business delegation.

SNADNEE, which offers customized digital projects and tools, is one of the many companies that would like to expand to the American market thanks to the mission to the USA and Canada. "This business mission is one of the first steps in SNADNEE's expansion and I believe it will open up new opportunities for us in areas such as healthcare and manufacturing, where we have vast knowledge and experience in developing applications, creating new digital products and digitally transforming companies," says Jan Ševčík, CEO of SNADNEE.

The business delegation will also bring the "good weather" with them. The Czech technology company Forecasts.Cloud dealing with applied prediction models linked to weather forecasting using machine learning is already successful abroad - it supplies data to OpenAI, for example. Now it would like to significantly expand its client portfolio in the fields of energy, insurance and health tech.​ "We have advanced applied technologies and interesting use-cases already attracting interest in the technological environment. The weather significantly affects business all around us, and we help companies get its effects under control. I believe that the mission will help us introduce Czech technological products to more prominent companies in the USA," adds Bohuslav Zeman, director of Forecasts.Cloud .

The business mission of the SP CR to the USA and Canada, accompanying Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela, is attended by start- ups and innovative companies from a wide range of fields. Selected quotes from other participants can be found in the appendix of the press release. Furthermore, companies are not heading to the USA with the help of the Confederation for the last time this year. In June, a delegation of exporters will head to Washington, DC and New York , accompanying Ivan Bartoš, the Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization.

THE CONFEDERATION OF INDUSTRY HAS BEEN HELPING EXPORTERS FOR OVER 30 YEARS

Business missions accompanied by high-ranking state representatives have been organized by the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic since 1993. During that time, the Confederation organized a total of 229 business missions to more than a hundred countries around the world and has helped more than 5,500 Czech companies and entrepreneurs. This year, the Confederation of Industry plans to take exporters to Morocco and Mauritania, among others.

QUOTES OF OTHER SELECTED PARTICIPANTS FOR POSSIBLE USE:

"Involvement in missions in the USA and Canada brings us a unique opportunity to meet with key players from the startup and investment scenes and expand the scope of our activities across the ocean. For the past few years, COPS has successfully developed its collaboration internationally with startups and investors, not only in the FinTech and LegaLtech areas which we primarily focus on but also with a whole range of other interesting projects. We devise technological solutions for new business ideas or products, and we can also assist startups or scale-ups from a business perspective by sharing our experiences. Recently, for example, we developed an international legal aid platform that brought together over 330 lawyers and, in about a year and a half, resolved over 4600 cases in 30 countries using artificial intelligence," adds Ondřej Dvořák, Co-CEO of COPS Solutions and mission participant.

“This mission represents a fantastic opportunity for us to establish new partnerships and deepen existing ones, both in the USA and Canada. In addition to several projects that we are already negotiating, we plan to sign at least one contract in the "Sport Data and Business" sector. Furthermore, we anticipate new collaborations in the "Principal Telemedicine" sector, where, among other initiatives, we are starting a project with a prestigious research institute in the field of women's health. We will also discuss strategies and opportunities for developing cooperation with partners from both coasts. All these activities will open doors to further opportunities for our consultants, who will then have the chance to work on prestigious projects and develop their skills in an international environment," says Miloš Tkáčik, CEO of the PRINCIPAL group, which includes Principal engineering and Principal Technologies.

"Programmers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia have been meeting the demands of global technology companies for top quality for a long time. At the same time, their work shows high cost efficiency in a competence comparison on the international market. Both of these are a great prerequisite for companies from all over the world to connect with freelance IT experts from our region and thus gain access to IT capabilities that support innovation and growth," says Jakub Konečný, CEO of TITANS, a Central European leader in IT supply specialists.

„At the civic-tech company Decision 21, we help dozens of cities, schools, and organizations with civic participation. We have long-term cooperation with New York City Hall, and the business mission can help us with the expansion to other American and Canadian cities.“ Renata Klanova, Marketing & Communications Manager of the company Decision 21.

Along with the entrepreneurial delegation, VisionCraft's ambitious startup VisioTherapy is on a mission to revolutionize the field of physical therapy. The startup has chosen the US as its primary market. "We've been on a thorny journey of developing a revolutionary technology that brings much of physical therapy into patients' homes using affordable means such as mobile phones and television. The time has come now to expand and further refine the technology. A key part of the expansion is securing growth capital and local partners. The mission should help us with both tasks. Many venture capital funds in the US and Canada specialize in investing in health-tech technology companies. In addition to the capital, these funds also have extraordinary experience and contacts in the industry, which are as important to us at this stage as the capital itself. We hope to make valuable contacts on this mission," wishes David Tuč, co-owner of VisionCraft.

“We are the creators of Strafos, a distinctive software solution tailored specifically for private aircraft operators. Strafos streamlines the process of pricing and optimizing aircraft operations, providing our clients with a competitive edge. While our primary market has been Europe, we now plan a strategic expansion into the United States and Canada. We perceive this forthcoming mission as an invaluable opportunity to establish our presence and showcase our innovative solution in these markets.” Martin Pultzner, Strafos.

„The delegation's visit to the US is an important opportunity for PrimeCell to meet with local biotechnology leaders and potential investors in our intellectual property, to whom we intend to present our innovative medical technologies. At the same time, we want to take the opportunity of this trip to meet with our team of advisors in the US who are handling all the negotiations with the FDA for our entry into the US market. "We are delighted to be part of Minister Jozef Síkela's delegation to the United States, which has been perfectly prepared and coordinated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. For PrimeCell, establishing strategic partnerships is essential to support innovation and advance our mission to bring cutting-edge medical technology to patients around the world," commented Stefan Savić, Global Business Development Officer of PrimeCell Advanced Therapy.

“Our mission to the United States highlights our commitment to driving innovation in the North American industrial automation and IT sectors. We offer a full spectrum of services, including staff augmentation, complex SW development, and expert implementation of MES and Scada technologies.” Matej Kult, AIKIT Digital.