The future of energy generation and bilateral cooperation – the Prime Minister visits MIT

On Thursday 26 September Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček, and Minister of the Environment Richard Brabec went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, as part of their visit to the United States. They discussed investments and the graduate labour market with representatives of important companies, and they met representatives from the world’s largest supplier of laboratory equipment.

The Prime Minister began this day of his visit to the USA with a tour of MIT, one of the world’s most prestigious universities. The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček, and Minister of the Environment Richard Brabec also visited a centre for generating energy using fusion.

Subsequently the Czech politicians met the leaders of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives and MIT.nano programmes. Both programmes are interested in involving Czech doctoral students and research teams in joint programmes. “We saw the fantastic interconnecting of education, business and research in practice. We talked about cooperation with Czech scientists, who are recognised here as some of the best in the world, and future opportunities for Czech students to study at MIT,” Andrej Babiš said after visiting the university.

Another part of the programme was a meeting with potential investors in the AIM International Business Council. Besides discussing potential investments, they also talked about the labour market for technology graduates and the Czech Republic’s support for polytechnical education. “We again presented the Czech Republic as a country that is confident of its future and full of hardworking people. A country with potential, where it pays to invest. I was very pleasantly surprised by how much they knew about the Czech Republic and how interested they were in us,” the Prime Minister said after meeting the investors.

The Czech delegation then met representatives of the world’s largest supplier of laboratory equipment, Thermo Fisher Scientific, who praised the company’s collaboration with the Brno-based Institute of Scientific Instruments (part of the Czech Academy of Sciences) and expressed their appreciation of the new innovation strategy Czech Republic – The Country for the Future. The Prime Minister also had an opportunity to tour the company’s development centre. The final item on the Prime Minister’s programme was a visit to GE’s research centre.

On Friday 27 September Andrej Babiš will visit Ground Zero, where he will pay tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 and meet with the Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.