We organized Slovakia Hub Innovation Summit 2018

On 22 - 23 November, 2018 in the city of Chennai, the the second B2B Summit between Slovakia and India called Slovakia Hub Innovation Summit was held - an event for Slovak and Indian innovative companies, startups and companies with high added value production. The event is a follow-up to the 1st year of the Slovakia Hub initiative, supported by the Slovak Embassy in India (New Delhi), in line with the strategic focus of economic diplomacy in the Republic of India. Slovakia Hub 2018 was ceremonially opened by the Ambassador of the Slovak Republic in India Mr. Ivan Lančarič.

The main organizer of the event was the Indian Chamber of Commerce in the Slovak Republic (INDCHAM) with the financial contribution of MZVaEZ SR (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic), as part of the ED (SHSP) project and Indian Embassy in Slovakia. The initiative also expressed support by the European Union Delegation in Delhi, which has included the event in a group of Member States' bilateral activities that fit into a strategy to support cooperation between European and Indian innovative companies.

Slovakia Hub was also presented during the preparation of the start of the European innovation platform on 16.10.2018. Slovak innovative companies are opening opportunities to draw on information from all EU Member States, as well as to cooperate with the upcoming EU innovation hub in Bangalore

The Slovakia Hub 2018 had its general partner and sponsor of the event and this year BVK Group took the challenge. The general partner provided the conference and catering facilities plus covered media press and our traditional Slovak IT jewel - ESET Asia Pacific took part as a project guarantor.

The Summit was also a valuation event for Slovak companies' activities that kicked off the last year's event in Mumbai. Slovak companies managed to sign contracts in a relatively short time:
1. In the field of aviation: Tomark Aero, Prešov, will sell its lightweight two-seaters in India, called Viper and Skyper models
2. In the field of smart energy solutions: SEAK Energetics, Prešov, implemented a pilot project on the control of urban lighting in Mumbai (one street, similar to that implemented in Tel Aviv, Israel).
3. In the field of engineering: CSM Industry, Tisovec, will supply to the Indian side, the state-owned company BEML, the universal finishing machines built on Tatra chassis, which successfully operated in the Czechoslovakia and Soviet Union since 1967. The cooperation in this area has been in place for almost 2 decades without result. It has done so now, thanks to the contacts and initiatives that started the first edition of Slovakia Hub.
4. in the field of railway industry and energy: SFERA, a. s., Bratislava, signed a contract with Bharat Fibers Ltd. Representation of Uttar Pradesh Railways on the software solution for measuring statistical and performance indicators.

Projects are an important reference framework for other Slovak companies that will enter the Indian market. The Slovak Hub initiative is also a platform for expanding a database of contacts that can be used by Slovak businessmen through INDCHAM. Even at this year's event, the cooperation between the Chambers and the signing of the MoU with the Asian African Chamber of Commerce, which operates in more than 40 countries around the world, has been expanded. The FICCI Regional Director for Chennai also set out for a successful cooperation that began during the ICC IN - SR negotiations (04/2017).

Speeches:

Opening speech: Ivan LANČARIČ, Slovak Ambassador in India, Rakesh TAURANI, President of INDCHAM, Alexander HORVÁTH, Vice President of INDCHAM, Benoit SAUVEROCHE, EU Delegate Counselor in India, Bala V. Kutti, President of BVK GROUP, C. J. Roy, Honorary Consul in Bengaluru, President CONFIDENT GROUP

Presentations:

Roman MAZANEC, ED DE Delhi, Ajaykumar JOSHI, General Manager ESET India, Tomas MAROŠ, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CSM Industry, s.r.o., Daniel TOMKO, Sales Director Tomark Aero, and. Harish REDDY, CEO of SEAK India, Anton ARTIM, ELCOM Technical Director, Robert FRANČEK, Commercial Director Sfera, APARNA MISHRA, Director Cafebiz, Lea DANIS, Director of Merrymebarefoot, A. Suresh BABU, Sales Director of Autointelli Systems, Roban HOBDAY , director of the FICCI branch in Chennai, GD Singh, chairman of the Asian African Chamber of Commerce and others.

We thank all the partners and companies that have supported this event and are looking forward to the third year of 2019.