News

The City of Ostrava is now launching the preparations for its new Strategic Plan covering the period 2017–2023, which will also outline the city's key goals for the following two decades. We have decided to take a different approach than in the past, because we are keen to involve Ostrava's citizens directly in the strategic planning process.

In recent years the Czech Republic has experienced a boom in shared services centres (SSCs). These centres represent an ideal option for modern, dynamic companies seeking to achieve cost savings and improve process efficiency. The core area for SSCs at present is IT, though they also provide accountancy, legal and human resources services.

Ostrava's presentation at this year's EXPO REAL in Munich will be the fourteenth time the City has showcased its investment potential at this prestigious event. This year Ostrava will be appearing jointly alongside its partner the Moravian-Silesian Region – enabling investors to gain a complete overview of the full range of investment opportunities available in Ostrava and the Region as a whole.

On Thursday 24 September the Mayor of Ostrava Tomáš Macura met with representatives of three key investors – the Passerinvest Group, ABB Czech Republic and AXA Assistance – at the Nová Karolina Park office complex.

A brand-new development and production centre has recently been opened on Ostrava's Výstavní Street by the Danish company Struers, previously based at the Science and Technology Park in Ostrava-Poruba. The company's 50 employees in Ostrava have all relocated to the new site, and the company plans to recruit a further 30 staff in the upcoming period.

Jobs will be created for up to 140 specialists in the area of IT, including skilled professionals and entry-level workers. CGI IT Czech Republic s.r.o., which is involved in consulting and services in the ICT area, is expanding its activities in the Czech Republic.

After a gap of 11 years, the Czech Republic is once again proud to host the Ice Hockey World Championship. The 79th championship will take place from 1 May to 17 May in two host cities – Prague and Ostrava. All venues and facilities for players, fans and other participants meet the highly demanding requirements set by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

On Thursday, 11 December 2014, Ostrava welcomed South Korean filmmakers who came to our region to gather material for a documentary. The documentary, which is to be broadcast at the beginning of next year on KBS, the Korean state television, focuses on successful South Korean companies with operations in foreign markets.

On Monday, 8 December 2014, the last-year students of the Industrial Secondary School and Secondary School of Technology and Transport took a guided tour of the plant of Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech s.r.o. (HMMC) and the company's logistic centre. This visit was facilitated by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) in cooperation with the Department of Economic Development of the Ostrava City Authority.

On Wednesday 15 October the City of Ostrava took part in a bilateral meeting with members of a Taiwanese delegation visiting the Czech Republic. The aim of the meeting was to present Ostrava as an excellent location for business and investment.

Cyclists are now able to use almost 5 kilometres of newly opened cycle routes in the heart of Ostrava, from Muglinovská Road to the footbridge near the Silesian Ostrava Castle. In the period 2013–2015 Ostrava plans to build a further 51 kilometres of cycle routes, creating a direct unbroken link between the city and the Beskydy mountains to the south.

New buildings at the Ostrava Science and Technology Park Ostrava’s Science and Technology Park currently has two buildings (Piano and Tandem), offering around 5 500 m² of leasable space. Both buildings are regularly full to around 96–100 % of capacity, and the Park is no longer able to meet demand for larger premises. This is not only an obstacle to the Park itself; it is also preventing the region from fulfilling its strong potential for innovative business and enterprise.

In June of this year, Ostrava was nominated to be European City of Sport 2014. Mayor Petr Kajnar welcomed the decision: “It is a great honour for us to join the family of European cities of sport. We will be holding a wide variety of exciting sports events, which will encourage both citizens and visitors to take an active part in sport. Increased visitor numbers will also bring tangible benefits to our local economy, so the title is good news all round for the tourism and services sector – not only in Ostrava, but throughout the region.”

From May 2013 to the middle of 2014, thousands of new trees will be planted in Ostrava – lime trees, maples, plane trees, oaks, birches, and various types of bush and shrub, all of which will help to reduce atmospheric pollution levels. The planting will take place as part of four separate projects, and will cost a total CZK 37 286 000. The majority of the cost (90 %) will come from EU funding, with the rest provided from the City’s budget. Thanks to a public tender announced by the City, the final cost will be almost 60 % lower than originally anticipated.

On 9 May Ostrava’s Cinestar cinema hosted the premiere of the film Isabel, with Petra Lorencová (from the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre) in the title role. The film tells the story of a young and ambitious yet naïve journalist who suddenly finds herself in a perilous situation. At a press conference in Ostrava, the directors Lukáš Melník and Marcel Škrkoň talked about their new film, which takes place on the boundary between the real world and a world of vampires.

Thursday 16 May saw the opening of the largest congress centre in North Moravia and Silesia at Ostrava’s Clarion Congress Hotel. The ceremony was attended by many VIP guests including the Deputy Mayor of Ostrava Martin Štěpánek and the Mayors of Ostrava’s Municipal Districts Vítkovice and Ostrava-Jih Petr Dlabal and Karel Sibinský.

Ostrava’s new supercomputer, the centrepiece of the IT4Innovations project, has been given an illustrious name from Ostrava’s past – Anselm. The ‘christening’ ceremony took place on Friday 24 May at the VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava, and was attended by the Education Minister Petr Fiala, the Regional President Miroslav Novák, the Mayor of Ostrava Petr Kajnar, the MEP Evžen Tošenovský, the Rector of the University Ivo Vondrák, and the Director of IT4Innovations Martin Palkovič.

FILM OSTRAVA!! is a project which aims to attract filmmakers to the region. As part of the project, a new website www.filmostrava.cz has been launched. The project presents and promotes Ostrava as an ideal filmmaking destination that is filmmaker-friendly and that abounds with unique and original locations.

Road closure of half of an important transport hub began on Friday the 13th January. Due to the reconstruction of the South Svinov bridge it will be closed until mid-August.

VSB-Technical University of Ostrava (VSB-TUO) and University of Ostrava (OU) began merging. The process should be finished in 2015. The name of the new educational institution has not yet been selected. Ministry of Education will fund the first phase of the project with 40 million CZK. Universities of Ostrava are the first universities in the country, which are merged.