Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials
Following the decades of tradition in chemistry, electronics, textiles, or materials science, the Czech Republic has transformed its economy to become one of the leaders in applied nanotechnology. As a global supplier in nanofiber production devices, electron microscopes, and monocrystalline materials, innovative Czech solutions in nanomedicine and new types of batteries have found their way onto today's market. The growing number of students and high-quality R&D infrastructure support new developments in the industry.
Since the first breakthroughs in the field of microscopy in the 1950s, the country gradually became a global hub. Czech R&D skills and the abilities of the country's workforce convinced FEI Company (a subsidiary of Thermo Fisher Scientific) to open the largest microscope factory in the world in the Czech Republic in 2014.
A breakthrough in the production of nanofibers came in 2003 at the Technical University of Liberec and an entire nanofiber supply chain developed thanks to the high-yield, reliable production technology commercialized from the Czech R&D background.
The Czech Republic has come up with innovative nanofiber applications in areas such as water & air treatment, functional textiles, and bedding, as well as other applications using nanostructures or nanoparticles that offer the highest standard of anti-counterfeiting protection and air purification, respectively.
- 1/3 of global production of electron microscopes comes from the Czech Republic
- the first reliable method of spinning 200 nm nanofibers was developed in the Czech Republic
- establishing a nanotechnology R&D center costs about 40% of the cost in the USA or Germany
- modern, highly specialized R&D facilities (CEITEC, CxI TUL, ELI Beamlines, HiLASE, RCATM)
- industrial cluster introducing unique technologies
- strong academia & industry cooperation
Source: CzechInvest, 2018