The greatest investment opportunities exist in areas where huge imbalances are present. R&D in Slovakia is clearly one of them. Researchers & Scientists have the lowest salaries in Europe and not enough opportunities locally. They earn between EUR551 and 923 a month – substantially less than scientists in developed countries. Moreover there is a vast pool of talent available through the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and numerous local universities and colleges. The top notch scientists often decide to go West because of access to more modern tools, better infrastructure, and higher earnings.

Slovakia is an EU member state so the country is obliged to follow strict Intellectual Property Rights regulations.

Slovakia today represents enormous opportunities for companies of all sizes to open their sandbox labs or research centers. When provided with modern tools and furnished with challenging projects, Slovak scientists tend to stay in the country and are loyal to their employers. A few companies have already experienced the great benefits of utilizing Slovak brains.

Austrian Alulight International GmbH, Ranshofen, with scientists from the Slovak Academy of Sciences, developed aluminum foam which was awarded the “Application Award” at CELMET 2008 in Dresden, Germany for cellular materials that were successfully applied in the real world. This invention has a wide application in the automotive industry and is already used for the Ferrari racing cars and the Audi Q7. New applications are undergoing testing, and it seems that most of the trains and wagons in Austria and Germany may adopt this aluminum foil because it is light and it can withstand stronger impacts than previously used materials.

Siemens entered the Slovak market in 1993. Since then it invested SKK 18 bil. (EUR 600mil.), created 11,000 jobs and became one of the largest foreign investors and employers in the country. Its revenues reached EUR 1 bil. in the fiscal year of 2006/07. Today, the company manages a dozen firms and employs almost 6,000 people. If there are companies that perfectly know the local business landscape and space for opportunities Siemens is certainly among those on the top of the list. Their commitment to Development in Slovakia is significant. More than a quarter of Siemens local workforce is busy developing software applications for Healthcare, Energy, and Telecommunication sectors. Siemens PSE (Program & System Engineering) Slovakia is Siemens’s largest single software development house in Eastern Europe.

Their development team in Kosice, Eastern Slovakia created Software application capable of transforming ultrasound into 3D images. Thus Slovak developers helped bring in the first system in the world to acquire nonstitched real-time full-volume 3D images of the heart in one single heart cycle.

Recently, the topic of adaptive radiation therapy was given broad coverage by the international press. It was Slovakia’s Siemens that made a major contribution to this medical technology for a gentler and minimally invasive treatment of cancer.

The Slovak government expressed a strong commitment to upgrading its economy into a more high-end market. Investments in these areas in the near future should generate a positive return on investment because of a wide range of subsidies and support for projects related to R&D by the local government and the EU funding.