The Cassovia New Industry Cluster (CNIC) is also being established, thanks to which an investment worth over 300 million Euros should come to the region.

Stop the brain drain from the Košice Region, create new job opportunities, support innovations in the East of Slovakia and develop a new high-tech industry - this will be the task of the Innovation Center of the Košice Region (ICKK). On 4. August 2021, representatives of the Košice self-governing region signed a founding agreement together with three universities based in the Košice Region (Technical University of Košice, Pavel Jozef Šafárik University in Košice and the University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice) and the City of Košice.

Moreover, the partners associated within the Innovation Center established the first cluster, the Cassovia New Industry Cluster (CNIC). In addition to local governments and the academic sector; Cassovia Discovery Park, the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the L. Pasteur University Hospital also joined. The Innovation Center will be the coordinating body of the Regional Innovation Strategy of the Košice Region. Its role will be to coordinate the development and implementation of innovations and new technologies into practice.

The Košice Region is planning to participate in the call to be issued by the Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic, within which the county will prepare project documentation related to the Innovation Center. In the new programming period, it will apply for financial support for the reconstruction of the remaining part of the complex on Strojárenská Street, where ICKK will have its headquarters.

By signing the founding agreement, the members of the Innovation Center undertook to cooperate in the field of research and development and the introduction of new technologies in the region. Together they want to work on interconnecting knowledge from the academic sector with the business sector, i.e. with practice, thus to create conditions for the establishment of small and medium-sized innovative enterprises. These should focus in particular on the use of new production processes and technologies or products. The project also includes investments in scientific infrastructure, university buildings and school dormitories, and science parks.

Source: web.vucke.sk