Vysočina Region

The Vysočina Region has an advantageous central location not only within the Czech Republic, but also in the whole of Europe. The D1 motorway, the E59 road, and the Vysočina railway corridor offer the opportunity to reach important European transport hubs and major cities quickly. The closest airport, Brno-Tuřany, can be reached by car from most of the towns in the Region in one to two hours, and Václav Havel Airport Prague can be reached in two hours. Vienna International Airport is 2.5 hours away. The territory of the Vysočina Region is administratively divided into five districts.

The Region is characterised by its rugged terrain, high altitude, and low population density. The Region is attractive because of its comparatively low levels of air pollution and relatively healthy forests. The Vysočina Region also offers many fine opportunities for summer and winter stays, as well as the possibility of visiting a number of valuable historical and cultural monuments. There are three UNESCO monuments in the Vysočina Region. They are the historical centre of Telč, the Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk on Zelená hora near Žďár nad Sázavou, and the Jewish Quarter with Cemetery and Basilica of St Procopius in Třebíč. Besides urban tourism, the future of tourism in the Region will undoubtedly rest on various forms of tranquil, environmentally-friendly stays. This is supported by a dense network of tourist trails (approx. 2 900 km), the development of bicycle routes, and the gradually emerging agrofarms providing accommodation.

ECONOMIC POTENTIAL

The Region accounts for more than one-third of the total potato production in the Czech Republic. The Region also holds first position in the harvesting of fodder crops cultivated on arable land and in maize production (17 % of national output). With regard to livestock production, the Vysočina Region specialises in cattle and pig rearing. As concerns economic growth, the Region’s most important economic sector is industry. In the past few years, industrial production in the Region has been very dynamic and has favourably influenced the entire regional economy. Much credit for this is due to the intensive development of industrial parks along the D1 motorway (Jihlava, Humpolec, Velké Meziříčí), which was followed by massive direct foreign investment in industrial output in the Region. The most important industrial sectors in the Vysočina Region are metalworking, engineering, and the automotive industry, specifically the manufacture of car components. The leading industrial enterprise in the Vysočina Region is Bosch Diesel, which manufactures diesel fuel injection pumps for the automotive industry. Another important engineering enterprise in the Region is Motorpal Jihlava, which has a similar production programme to Bosch Diesel. The largest clothing manufacturing enterprise in the Region is the traditional underwear manufacturing firm, PLEAS Havlíčkův Brod, owned by the international SCHIESSER GROUP AG, based in Switzerland. An important industrial employer in the Havlíčkův Brod District is Futaba Czech, the supplier of components for the automotive industry, which started production in the Havlíčkův Brod-Baštinov locality in 2005. The construction of this plant on a greenfield site was the first investment project of the Japanese concern in continental Europe. Another foreign investor to locate a plant in the Region, specifically in the Pelhřimov District, is Valeo Compressor Europe — an important employer in the Region — manufacturing compressors for car air-conditioning units. Its customers include leading global car manufacturers (Renault, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Mercedes, Toyota, Volvo, Nissan, and others). Engineering is represented in the Pelhřimov District by the traditional manufacturer of agricultural machinery, AGROSTROJ Pelhřimov. In recent years, the firm has significantly broadened its production range and increased its output. ŽĎAS company is a prominent industrial enterprise in the Žďár District. It is one of the most advanced Czech engineering firms. For more than 65 years, it has been a modern and reliable manufacturer of forming machines, rolled products’ processing machines, metallurgical products, and pressing tools. Its production halls are fitted with high-quality machines for heavy- and light-duty machining, assembly, and product testing. The firm supplies its products to nearly 50 countries worldwide. The Vysočina Region has the most vast timber reserves in the Czech Republic, with a well-developed woodworking industry. The most important enterprises in this area are Stora Enso, Kronospan, and Sapeli – the largest and historically the oldest door manufacturer in the Czech Republic. DDL – Dřevozpracující družstvo cooperative – is another large firm operating in the timber production and wood-processing sector, with a 60-year tradition in sawn wood and wood-based panel manufacture. The glass industry is a traditional manufacturing branch in the Region, represented by smaller export-oriented firms, such as CRYSTALITE BOHEMIA s.r.o. Another manufacturing firm is Bohemia Machine at Světlá nad Sázavou, the cradle of original Bohemian crystal cut glass. It is a recognised manufacturer and supplier of high-quality glassmaking machines, to which it has recently added the manufacture of luxury modern-style crystal products under the BOMMA trademark. Another interesting project

Třebíč

undertaken by Nuvia in Třebíč is an order for the modernisation of four nuclear power stations in Ukraine. The project will be realised in conjunction with the company´s Ukrainian partners for the Ukrainian enterprise, NAEK Energoatom. The modernisation will involve the key safety systems of the power stations, including reactors, turbines, and back-up diesel generators. Nuvia obtained the order after winning an international tender as the tenderer best meeting the technical conditions. The company´s stability and, not lastly, the price were also important factors. The Region has several industrial zones. One of these, Jihlava Industrial Park, is situated in the northern part of the city of Jihlava, in the close vicinity of the D1 motorway, linking up with the city’s industrial agglomeration, in which important firms such as Bosch Diesel, Automotive Lighting, and Kronospan have their manufacturing facilities. Žďár nad Sázavou-Jamská Industrial Park lies on the south-eastern outskirts of the city, linked to important road and railway lines. Bystřice nad Pernštejnem Industrial Park is situated on the south-western outskirts of the town of Bystřice nad Perštejnem (10 000 inhabitants), in close proximity to the railway station. The Pelhřimov District also has a number of industrial parks. Among them, the CTPark Invest in Humpolec has a strategic position beside the D1 motorway linking Prague and Brno.

THE REGION AND THE EU

Under the 2018-2021 Working Programme, based on the Cooperation Agreement between Lower Austria, the South Moravia Region, the South Bohemia Region, and the Vysočina Region, teams composed of regional office representatives, representatives of the Lower Austria Provincial Government and the embassies of the two countries cooperate in 13 areas. One of those thematic groups is the Economy and Digitalisation group. The Vysočina Region is the contact place for the Interreg V-A Austria – Czech Republic Cooperation Programme. Under this programme, bilateral cooperation projects of Upper and Lower Austria, Vienna, the South Moravia, the South Bohemia, and the Vysočina Regions are financially supported, in agreement with the aims of the programme (one of the priorities of the programme is strengthening research, technological development and innovations). The contact place supplies information about the implementation of the programme, organises consultations with applicants, and processes their applications. The Vysočina Region is also a member of the Danube-Vltava European Region (ERDV) group, which cooperates with six other regions in Germany (Oberpfalz, Lower Bavaria), Austria (Upper Austria, Lower Austria), and the Czech Republic (Plzeň Region, South Bohemia Region). The subjects tackled by the group include the ERDVmedium-term strategy Space for 4.0 society and Industry 4.0, Healthcare and Tourism. The Vysočina Region has six partner regions, three of which are in the EU: Austria – Lower Austria, France – Grand Est, Slovakia – Nitra Self-Governing Reion. The Vysočina Region cooperates with Lower Austria also bilaterally, but the main communication platform is 3 + 1 format cooperation, i.e. three Czech regions – South Bohemia, South Moravia and Vysočina, and on the Austrian side Lower Austria. The 3 + 1 working programme covers all important areas with regional and land competence. With the French Grand Est Region cooperation focus-

es on secondary education, i.e. general and vocational training, and culture. Both sides would like to extend their cooperation to also cover the economic sphere and the use of new technologies in public administration. In this respect the Vysočina Region also cooperates with the French-Czech Chamber of Commerce. Its cooperation with the Nitra Self-Governing Region mainly concerns education, culture, and agriculture. With the South Moravia Regional Development Agency, the Lower Austria Region, and the South Bohemia Regional Development Agency, the Vysočina Region cooperates in the framework of the Interreg V-A Austria – Czech Republic project called DigiVill. Its main purpose is improving the quality of life in the countryside and in the Czech-Austrian border region by improving the access of the population and the communities to digital technologies and verify which applications can be used for communication with citizens and for the joint planning of the development of the area. With this project, the Region follows up on the previous very successful projects Local Agenda 21, which also include the Committed Citizens project and MAG 21. Together with the Upper Austria Federal State, the Vysočina Region realises a project called Cross-Border Transfer of Knowledge in the area of Industry 4.0, financed by the Interreg V-A Austria-Czech Republic Small Project Fund. The objective of the project is to increase the competence of the target groups (mainly small and medium-size enterprises, secondary schools and universities, potentially other institutions) in the area of digitalisation and Industry 4.0 on both sides of the Austrian-Czech border. In past years the Vysočina Region was a partner to the RUMOBIL (Mobility in European rural regions affected by demographic changes) project financed from the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE programme, which was realised by a consortium of 12 partners from seven Central European countries. The consortium prepared a common supranational strategy for the optimisation of public transport and realised pilot activities for testing and verifying specific innovative solutions in public transport in the partner regions.

HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF THE REALISED PROJECTS:

Roštejn Castle – opening of new expositions (2017 – 2020) Bypass of Velký Beranov; bypass of New Veselí; bypass of Salačova Lhota Gradual modernisation of II/602 copying D1 practically its whole length (Pelhařimov – Velké Meziříčí) Reconstruction of key Brno Bridge in Jihlava on road II/602 Children´s hospital pavilion in Nové Město na Moravě – new structure Surgery Pavilion in the Třebíč Hospital Training and education centre of the Vysočina Region´s Medical Rescue Service Regional hospital information system set up by the Vysočina Region Household heating boiler subsidisation programme Renewable energy sources study centre at the Žďár nad Sázavou Secondary Technical School and the same type of centre at the Secondary School of Construction in Jihlava Transformation of social housing, thermal insulation of public buildings Construction of a new hall for machine storage in the school farm in Humpolec, construction of facility for small-scale pig breeding and fattening Gradual revitalisation of parks created by the Vysočina regional administration

USEFUL CONTACTS: Vysočina Regional Office – www.kr-vysocina.cz Jihlava Municipal Council – www.jihlava.cz Regional Chamber of Commerce – www.hkjihlava.cz Vysočina Regional Development Agency – www.rrav.cz