From cannabis use to safety: new research projects are starting outside Prague
The glass building in the shape of a gem dominates the science and technology park with an industrial zone – they can in a private innovation center InnoCrystal There are over 30 companies with more than a hundred employees. Most focus on biotechnology – and five companies inaugurated their lab here on Thursday afternoon. “For example, they will develop safety against infectious diseases or genetically bred plants for medical purposes,” said Veronika Ingrová on behalf of InnoCrystal.
There are also among them DIANA biotechnology, which we are trying to develop ultrasensitive kits for the diagnosis of covid-19 and over two million tests on the domestic market. It belongs to another Healthy longevity clinic to conduct research on healthy aging, which runs a longevity clinic at InnoCrystal – focusing on DNA analysis and attention to telomeres (which are the end parts of chromosomes), a French company Simply Green Labs producing CBD (hemp) oils and food supplements, Dutch Genetia BioScience, which, in collaboration with academia, deals with plant genetic modification in the development of non-pathogenic tissues, and the British Innaxon Therapeutics, which focuses on the development of safety for an infectious disease that is difficult to treat.
Deputy Governor for Finance, Subsidies and Innovation Věslav Michalik (STAN), who is also the mayor of neighboring Dolní Břežany and the chairman of the board of directors of the innovation region, also came to see the start-up laboratories. STAR, and Pavel Jovanovič, director of the Central Bohemian Innovation Center. The founder of the InnoCrystal center, Petr Kotal, in connection with the commissioning of more than half a thousand square meters of laboratory space, appreciated that facilities can also be created for international research companies – including demanding biotechnology companies from Western Europe. “For InnoCrystal, it is definitely due to the strategic location and the top technological base,” he stated – who reminded that these research centers are going to double the number of employees over the next 12 months.
Research projects, which are being launched in the laboratories of the InnoCrystal center, strengthen the position of the municipality of Zlatníky-Hodkovice within the “star region” – the STAR (Science & Technology Advanced Region) technology cluster, which also includes the neighboring Dolní Břežany and Vestec. In fact, InnoCrystal is practically in the middle between localities where top centers operate in a southwesterly direction ELI Beamlines and HiLASE focused on laser physics and new materials, the north-eastern neighbor is the biotechnology and biomedical center Biocev. The two largest scientific and educational institutions in the country have been involved in their construction since the initial preparations: Charles University and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. “It is the proximity of large research infrastructures that enables the further development of the InnoCrystal center and the transfer of scientific knowledge into practice; with a direct benefit for medicine and the quality of life of the population, “points out Ingrová.