Sampling Human Subsidiary Xeno Wins Entrepreneurial Project of the Year Award from Czech Ministry for Industry and Trade

Sampling Human was co-founded in 2016 in the Czech Republic by CEO Daniel Georgiev. Learn more in our recent Tenant Spotlight on the company.

From the Czech Ministry for Industry and Trade website. (via Google Translate)

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO) in cooperation with the Agency for Business and Innovation (API) awarded entrepreneurs in the prestigious Business Project of the Year competition. It has been awarding prizes for successful projects supported by European structural funds since 2006. The 2023 projects were implemented from the Operational Program Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Competitiveness (OP PIK). Prizes for the winning projects of 12 successful entrepreneurs were ceremoniously presented in the Martinicky Palace.

The winners for 2023 were One3D in the Applications program, NIMETAL in the Innovation program and Palacký University in the Infrastructure Services program. Then Lakum Galma and Mironet in the Technology program and eTruhlárna in the Real Estate program. COMPAG MLADÁ BOLESLAV won in the Low Carbon Technologies program, Draslovka scored in the Energy Savings program and Dudinger in the Renewable Energy Sources program. FSG Finaudit was the sole winner of the ICT and shared service program. This year, two companies were also awarded for their extraordinary social contribution, namely Xeno Cell Innovations and MiraclIS, both in the Applications program.

Watch the recording of the celebratory evening Entrepreneurial Project of the Year 2023 and get to know all the award-winning projects on YouTube MPO. We will gradually offer you stories of successful projects on social networks as well.

The announcement of the results of the Entrepreneurial Project of 2023 took place in the presence of representatives of the state administration, social and economic partners, and above all important personalities of the business environment.

“The current situation in Europe and in the world shows how important it is to help entrepreneurs. European funds give us the opportunity to provide this help and to respond to a difficult situation. In addition to the introduction of innovations and the development of digitalization of businesses, it is now necessary to strengthen efficient and sustainable business, among other things in the form of energy savings or the development of renewable energy sources,” says Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela, adding: “We need to take advantage of every opportunity that our membership in the European Union provides, and thus supported our competitiveness.

OP PIK was a key program to support Czech entrepreneurs between 2014 and 2020. 105 billion crowns were allocated from the European Regional Development Fund for their development. Support from the program was mainly aimed at supporting small and medium-sized businesses. The projects contributed, for example, to the use of the results of industrial research and experimental development or to the development of entrepreneurship and the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises. Activities aimed at reducing the energy demand of the business sector, the expansion of high-speed Internet access networks and the development of information and communication technologies were also supported.

Successful projects of the Entrepreneurial Project of the Year could also be nominated by the general public this year. She thus helped broaden the scope of the jury composed of guarantors of the MPO and API programs. “Projects of the year 2023 are awarded within the four priority axes of the operational program and were therefore evaluated according to evaluation criteria specific to the given area of ​​support. Across the priorities, however, the quality of project preparation, implementation progress or final evaluation, contribution to the region or social and environmental contribution were also evaluated. Among the projects of this year, we are also awarding two special category projects with an extraordinary socially beneficial impact,” explains the senior director of the EU funds section, Marian Piecha .

“This year, the prestigious Entrepreneurial Project of the Year award was once again won by a number of top projects by Czech companies. The projects we administer aim at increasing the competitiveness of our entrepreneurs and thus always mean a significant shift in their development, increasing the value of their know-how, market position and positive environmental impact. Support from OP PIK and the subsequent OP TAK from EU structural funds thus represent key investments that contribute to the development of the competitiveness of the Czech Republic’s economy,” says Jan Piskáček, CEO of the Agency for Business and Innovation .

“The year 2023 is a decisive year for OP PIK. It is a sign of joint efforts to complete the implementation of all projects, timely reimbursement of the successful ones and closing of the entire operational program. Entrepreneurs, beneficiaries, but also we at MPO and API have the same goal – to draw on European funds for entrepreneurs for the period 2014-2020,” says the senior director of the EU funds section, Marian Piecha, and concludes : “I am very optimistic that in at the end of this year, OP PIK funds will be successfully used up and, subsequently, the overall accounts towards the European Commission will be fully closed.”

OP PIK in the new program period 2021-2027 was followed up by the Technology and Application Operational Program for Competitiveness (OP TAK) with an allocation of CZK 81.5 billion. In the case of OP TAK, it is the fourth operational program in the sequence, where the Ministry of Industry and Trade plays the role of subsidy provider.