This morning, we visited a company called the Central Bohemia Innovation Center. Athziri Moreno Romo, a member of their regional innovation strategy team, gave us a presentation about the company. She was incredibly engaging and personable, and she discussed various companies that came to SIC for advice. Some needed help with sales, others with advertising, and some with developing an entire business strategy.
Athziri emphasized that starting a business requires finding the right idea, validating it, and building a strong team. We learned that the most common challenges to business growth include finding investors, dealing with a saturated market, managing family-owned company dynamics, limited growth ambitions, and operating in a heavily regulated market. Overall, I really enjoyed this talk.
Afterward, we headed to Charles University for a lecture on the Czech language. We practiced typical Czech phrases and words. It was challenging to pronounce everything correctly, but I’m glad we had the session. In a global engineering context, I think it’s important to make an effort to learn from the country you’re in. Our host, Jana, advised us that Czechs may seem cold at first, but speaking to them in Czech can help them warm up to you.
Swanson School of Engineering 