We can also have an “ID card.”

Well, God laughs once you make some plans – this also applies to us.

In February, we received an announcement about the “launch of the audit by the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic” – two phases of the project Collective research from the 4th call, which has caused expenses of over 25 mils CZK. The supervision of the same project was for the first three stages without any issues, so It did not look dangerous. These four months have been highly informative – proofs of “division of wages and other expenditure on Experimental development / Industrial research” (and a description of the actual expenditure for invoiced research costs “in line items” (salaries, materials, overheads…). But what was necessary for the audit was the “burden of proof” that the SME members (small and medium enterprises) companies listed by us and agreed by API (Agency for Enterprise and Innovation) are indeed SMEs. Everything went well, and we can breathe. At least for now. The insurance company also contacted us, and we had to document our employee list because of the insurance payments. We had to prove it from the year 2017, and we made it! Once we thought we had done all audits, we got another check control on the spot from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. It means you only sign papers that the check started and then wait. For how long, we don’t know.

We also have been working in between checks and audits – we were successful.

We are proud owners of the NCA Golder Cluster for the year 2020.

The award was accepted by the cluster manager Libuse Founova at the Cluster day in Liberec.

CLUTEX has also tried to get the Cluster Management Excellence Label SILVER this year. In July, we had a full-day audit that checked the settings of the inner processes, collaboration with members, and more. Four areas were properly inspected: Cluster Structure, Management, Administration, Strategy, Financing, Service, Activities, and Achievements. We have succeeded here, too, and received the Cluster Management Excellence Label SILVER.

We already know that we have one “success story.” The long-prepared mission of foreign clusters representatives and Czech companies (mostly CLUTEX members) in companies and institutions on the route Liberec – Roudnice – Plzeň took place in person and was a success thanks to the host Petra, Laďka, Gabka, and Eva, with technical help from Miloš Beran from CTPT and of course thanks to the interest of companies and clusters. It is evidenced by the 92 B2B meetings and the praise from abroad. An Italian manufacturer of textile machines for the production of socks visited the Czech sock manufacturer Mr. Lošák from Hořovice near Plzeň. Thanks to this visit, they found common ground, and their plans met at the right time in the right place. Mr. Lošák has already visited the Italian textile machinery fair this October, and the cooperation continues.

Libuse Founova, cluster manager, founova@clutex.cz, www.clutex.cz