LERCO project
The Life Environment Research Center Ostrava is a newly built scientific research hub, which is one of the tools enabling the transformation of the Moravian-Silesian Region (MSK) from a "coal" to a "healthier and smarter" region. The project's state-of-the-art facilities and 9 excellent research teams will enable the implementation of activities in a broad and unique interdisciplinary focus in the biomedical, natural and behavioural fields, from basic research through experimental development to applied research, across R&D institutions (OU, FNO, VŠB-TUO) and other collaborating R&D and commercial entities in the Czech Republic/abroad.
The aim of the project is to comprehensively support the development of the innovative R&D potential of the MSK region in non-technical fields with impact on: population health, development of R&D cooperation with the commercial sphere (support for the creation of spin-off companies), promotion of employment in the region, increasing the attractiveness of the region in R&D, education and municipality by providing innovative tools.
The project is not based on commercial activities or their support, it only prepares a suitable background for further possible (and desirable) cooperation between the R&D sphere and the application sphere in MSK, which has not been sufficient regionally so far.
The University of Ostrava and its partners have high professional potential with the ambition to become an excellent workplace in selected medical, natural science, biomedical and behavioural fields as one of the foundations of the scientific research pillar supporting the transformation of the region. However, further development is already encountering limitations related to insufficient infrastructural facilities, expansion of the team with excellent national and international staff who will play a key role in educating their own future scientists continuing R&D activities at the OU and in the region. The only option is a specific grant programme that will financially cover the complexity and interconnectedness of R&D&I development issues in relation to the needs of the region.
