T
heCzechRepublic celebrated its22ndbirthdayon1 Jan-
uary2015. Thismeans that, togetherwithSlovakia, it is
theyoungest nation in theEuropeanUnion.However, its
roots reach far back to the5th century, the timeof the
greatmigrationof Europeanpeoples. Even though it tookmany
centuriesbeforepolitical sovereigntywasachieved, thepeople
livingbetween theBohemian Forest, theCarpathianMountains
and theSudetenMountainswereoftenpioneers invariousareas.
In1348, Charles IV foundedPragueUniversity, thefirst such
institutionnorthof theAlps. JanHuswasoneof themost impor-
tant reformersat the turnof the14thand15th centuries,while
FranzKafka isoneof thegreatestwritersofworld literatureand
themanwhogavehisname to theword“Kafkaesque”.With the
PragueSpringof 1968and theVelvet Revolutionof 1989, the
Czechsshowed theworld their desire for freedomandself-
determination.Theywereable to form theirownstate for thefirst
timeon1 January1993. TheCzechRepublicwith its10.5million
inhabitantshasbeenamember ofNATOsince1999, and this
youngnation joined theEuropeanUnion in2004. Apart froma
periodof recession in2012and2013, the country’seconomy
has followedasteadyupward trend.
Therearedumplings inparadise
TheCzechRepublic is located in theheart of Europebetween
Poland in thenorthwest, Slovakia in thesoutheast, Austria to
thesouthandGermany to thewest. The country covers
1.2015
trends inautomation
Synergies
22
–
23
