Pilsen gave the world its famous lager beer. Today one of the Czech city's old breweries has been transformed into a state-of-the-art technology park.
The city of Pilsen has transformed an historic brewery into one of the most modern technology parks in the Czech Republic.
Known as TechTower, the park offers facilities and offices for innovative companies, technology enthusiasts, programmers and start-up entrepreneurs.
The TechTower project cost almost €26 million. About €7 million of that funding came from the European Cohesion Policy.
In addition to its multifunctional events hall, the building's 10,000 square metres is home to offices, coworking spaces, and other facilities.
“TechTower has actually created the best conditions for us, for our company. Not only in terms of local conditions, where we have excellent offices, facilities and everything else, but also in terms of the city's connection to the university, to other public bodies and to other businesses. The conditions are such that it is our clients who come to us; not us to them, which saves us a lot of time and money,” said the CEO of CIE, a start-up specialised in virtual reality for education.
The main aim of the project is to educate and nurture talent in the field of new technologies.
“We have here some hackers from the national team of the Czech Republic. We have here some guys who built their own hydrogen small car," Tomáš Cholinský, told Euronews.
The technology park also has a 10-metre-deep water tank, the largest in the country where rescue workers can test equipment, such as water drones.
Filip Kopecký from the Czech Red Cross' Water Rescue Service said: "Before the tank was here, it was simply not possible to train properly, because the deepest pool is only for swimming, a classic 50-meter pool, where the depth is 2 metres. You simply cannot practice, because it simply does not work as it should there.”
In that sense, the park is a true reflection of Pilsen's past, present, and future. Once a place for brewing beer, it has now become a place for brewing ideas.