3 456 hours spent our consultants and experts supporting our clients
who are start-ups and small or mid-sized companies from South Moravia
„Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life.”
Viktor Frankl
JIC
Our vision is an open innovation ecosystem that is home to globally successful entrepreneurs and sets the pace for other parts of the world to do the same. We believe that their ideas have the potential to change the world for the better. And how do we contribute to that? For 17 years, we’ve been empowering people to do business. Now, when society faces unprecedented global challenges, good ideas like theirs are absolutely crucial. Our aim is to support them in becoming successful. And that’s where we find purpose.
We empower people’s desire to do business. Some have already become globally recognized entrepreneurs; Václav Muchna’s Y Soft and their intelligent solution for office printing and Oliver Dlouhý’s Kiwi.com flight ticket comparison service have conquered the world, while Ladislav Steinhauser and his company, Steinex, supply meat products to many countries in Central Europe.
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The companies we’ve supported had 11,050 employees in 2019.
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Last year, we helped organize 289 events with 8,940 attendees. And the average rating reached 9.7.
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We helped organize the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards in 2019. Among the people we nominated was one of our most successful clients ever – Oliver Dlouhý, founder of Kiwi.com. And it was he who won the national level of the awards.
In 2019, our budget was 110 million CZK. This, along with other indicators, make us one of the top innovation agencies both here and throughout the rest of Europe.
FabLab Experience, a mobile digital lab in a trailer, was born. Within a mere 12 months, 11 thousand students from 67 schools from 18 towns and cities tried out its 3D printer, plotter, and even its laser cutter. Neil Garshenfeld, the founder of the global FabLab network, said this trailer was the most impressive FabLab he’d ever seen.
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We help tackle global challenges. We’ve adopted the goals of sustainable development concerning water, clean energy, gender equality, and responsible production and consumption. In 2019, we participated in several projects on circular economy; at the International Engineering Fair we organized round tables, worked with Direct People and INCIEN to publish Circular Czechia 2 (Cirkulární Česko 2), and continue to introduce the principles of circular economy to our clients as well.
And our work is making headlines! Last year we were mentioned 762 times in the media, which is more than twice a day.
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We’d like to thank our founders
„P = S x J”
Meaningful entrepreneurship tastes best. Our support seasons it.
Entrepreneurial spirit in students
Get up and do something. Become the creator of your own life.
Doing business enables young high school and university students to grab the steering wheel of their own lives. In 2019, 200 young people attended the events of the #student series, we awarded 18 projects at the Business Plan Competition, and helped organize seminars on doing business at Masaryk University, BUT, and MENDELU. Together with other partners, we organized the Entrepreneurship – An Opportunity to Transform Education (Podnikavost – příležitost k proměně vzdělávání) conference.
Our activities allowed 1,043 young people to try entrepreneurship for themselves.
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„When everybody is talking about what’s impossible, start looking for the possible.”
Tomáš Baťa
People with a desire to do business
We walk with you into the unknown, offering guidance and support.
We reveal new paths to those who’d like to do business. Together, we provide consultations on potential solutions and meaningful support. With the help of experienced coaches and mentors, we help accurately describe customer demographics, map out target markets, and set up a business strategy as well as finances for the project. Our aim is to help new companies become successful on the market.
Consulting services for people who’d like to do business were used by 17 projects.
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Six sessions of the #chcipodnikat (#IWantToDoBusiness) series were attended by 115 people.
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#inspirace (#inspiration) lectures introduced 22 business plans, all of which later declared that they benefited from the event.
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Hexpeak, s. r. o.
Vojtěch Kolomazník created a hen house with an automatic door which opens and closes based on the intensity of light outside, making the lives of the breeders easier. He originally came up with the idea as a child, when it had been his job to open and close the door to the hen house, which he sometimes forgot to do. Now, this smart hen house is produced by Hexpeak.
What they say about us
“The most important thing I gained at the program was a new perspective on dealing with company affairs that I kept putting off or found myself unable to resolve, often due to inexperience. For me, the most useful are the people here with whom I can openly discuss company affairs. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to attend this consultancy program.”
Vojtěch Kolomazník, CEO
„Nothing has a direction if I did not mingle my body and my spirit with it.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Small and medium-sized companies
Together we dig deep, searching for the cause of problems and their solutions.
We offer support to newly established companies as well as experienced ones. We support their owners’ personal growth and interconnect them with other important contacts. We also track down opportunities for them to expand to foreign markets or innovate their companies and products.
333 owners and representatives of companies form the JIC+ community, sharing their business experience and supporting a positive, cooperative atmosphere.
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We interconnect our start-ups with 17 corporations that want to support our region and give back some of the good things they have gained from it.
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Our support helped our clients gain 8.5 million CZK (318,572 €) from various subsidy programs.
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Among our experts are 92 experienced businessmen, consultants, and managers whose experience and advice supported 78 new and well-established companies.
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EASYCON Solution, s. r. o.
Since the very first idea to improve one’s working environment, Radek Sysel has become an expert on the Internet of Things. He co-founded and has been managing EASYCON, a company involved in the completion and programming of smart devices that not only gather information and send it to customers’ phones but also enable the remote control of systems through their multifunctional app.
Radek Sysel, CEO
What they say about us
„JIC is about great people, that’s its biggest thing. The community it has built is simply amazing. I’ve seen many projects elsewhere that found an investor and still went bankrupt. If you don’t know what to do with the money, you’re bound to fail. You don’t get money from JIC – what you get is valuable advice and training. They never sweet-talked us. Instead they told us honestly what’s good and what’s bad. And I’m very grateful for this.“
Radek Sysel, CEO
S.A.B. Aerospace, s. r. o.
S.A.B. Aerospace was established in Brno in 2014, and in 2018 it opened a new construction hall in the Brno Technology Park. The hall complies with ISO 8 criteria, allowing various components for the space industry to be produced there. One such item is a dispenser satellite carrier which enables multiple satellites to be launched on a single rocket, thus substantially reducing the costs of trips to space. This device is unique to the European market and three launches are planned for 2020.
What they say about us
„I remain very grateful for the support provided by JIC through coaching and mentoring. Their method of cooperation and the speed at which the outputs were implemented on this project totally exceeded my expectations.“
Petr Kapoun, CEO
„The future depends on what you do today.”
Mahátma Gándhí
Innovation ecosystem
We coordinate and implement meaningful projects. We support education. We map innovative environments and create new connections. Under #brnoregion, we introduce our region as an attractive place for innovative and start-up businesses, as well as research and development.
The Regional Innovation Strategy of the South Moravian Region (RIS JMK) has been increasing the competitiveness of our region for a long time now. It’s our responsibility to develop it, and we even contribute to implementing it through some of our projects.
In 2019, we held 5 workshops with figures from science, research, innovation, and business of the South Moravian Region. They enabled us to further develop the Regional Innovation Strategy and come up with objectives and activities for the years to come.
Thanks to RIS JMK, 16 new projects were successfully started in 2018, which can change the world.
We are active in the following networks:
We take care of our daughter companies and other projects:
JIC VENTURES – daughter company of JIC which supports the development of verified JIC clients through investments.
INTEMAC – daughter company of JIC specializing in digital innovations. It offers comprehensive services and education for producers, distributors as well as users of production technology.
Platinn.cz – platform of six Czech innovation centres focused on utilizing the services of experts throughout various regions.
FabLab Brno – digital lab open for anyone interested in building their ideas using the latest technologies or in a classic mechanical workshop.
FabLab Experience – a trailer packed with digital machines and technologies which visits schools in the South Moravian Region to educate young people studying in technology programs. Started in February 2019.
Brno creative vouchers – financial support by the statutory city of Brno for companies from the South Moravian Region. Their cooperation with creative people helps companies improve their products or services and thus increase their competitiveness.
SME Instrument Brno – regional grant plan to support well-rated projects as part of the SME Instrument European program. For the previous year, we expect 68 million CZK to be divided among successful projects.
ESA BIC Brno – program from the European Space Agency focusing on the development of new companies that use space technologies or systems for their commercial application on Earth.
In 2019, 2 companies were supported thanks to ESA BIC Brno.
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In 2019, 48 companies won a creative voucher of the total value of 4.5 million CZK.
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Client experience with EIT Digital
Marek Polčák first came across virtual reality as a student at the Czech Technical University in Prague when he was building a platform for a professional flight simulator. He came up with an idea to build a similar thing to attract tourists to virtual flights through the picturesque historical centre of Prague. At the time, no VR system could provide the perfect level of brightness, so he decided to do it his own way and established Vrgineers producing XTAL glasses that now rank among the very best in the industry.
Vrgineers Partners, s. r. o.
„Our aim is to become a global leader in high-end virtual reality and entering the EIT Digital network is another of the ground-breaking moments that should push us towards it.“
Marek Polčák, CEO
Business with a purpose
Purkyňova 649/127
612 00 Brno - Medlánky
Česká republika
+420 511 205 334
smysl@jic.cz
www.jic.cz/en
