Plzeň will build a scientific-technical park for innovative companies for 455 million

Plzeň - Plzeň will construct a scientific and technological park for innovative companies, Tech Tower, in the former brewery and barracks at Světovar in Slovany for approximately 455 million crowns. Construction is expected to begin by the end of this year and is set to be completed in 2021. A condition for the project is obtaining a grant of approximately 182 million crowns from the European operational program for Business and Innovation for Competitiveness. This was stated to ČTK by city councilor David Šlouf (ODS) following today's city council meeting.

In the coming years, 500 people are expected to find employment there, not in assembly lines but in the creation of products and services with higher added value. Plzeň has already obtained the construction permit. According to city officials, the grant application and project are prepared at such a quality level that it should be awarded the funding.

"We want to renovate two buildings in the brownfield and adjacent areas to serve as a base for the scientific and technological park for innovative companies. It will provide comprehensive services and spaces for selected firms with high growth potential, and it will also support start-ups and young entrepreneurs," stated Deputy Mayor Pavel Šindelář (ODS).

Tech Tower Světovar will primarily consist of the former lager cellars, a dominant monumentally protected reinforced concrete building. Offices, prototype workshops, a conference hall — which the city lacks — meeting rooms, a water testing tank for special drones, and dining areas with kitchen facilities will be created there. Tech Tower will also include the former villa in the premises, which will serve as a base for two twenty-member children's groups of employees.

Support for innovative entrepreneurship, development, and research will, according to the director of the city's Information Technology Administration, Luděk Šantora, be at several levels. "In the rental of office space for technology-oriented innovative companies focused on drones, artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, hardware and software development, IoT (Internet of Things), sensors, and similar fields," he said. Prototype testing production will also be supported. "We will collaborate with universities and a coworking and incubation center located at Cukrovarská 20. We are already working with a community of young, technically oriented individuals," he added.

The estimated cost of preparing and implementing the Tech Tower Světovar project is 455.4 million crowns, including VAT. According to Šlouf, the equipment is expected to cost around 30 million crowns.