Liberec University is building research and education centers for a billion

Liberec - The Technical University of Liberec is building research and education centers for more than 1.2 billion crowns. It is also investing tens of millions of crowns in the modernization and insulation of its buildings. The university is utilizing European funds to finance these demanding projects. For example, the research center for nanomaterials and advanced technologies, costing 800 million crowns, is entirely funded by the Operational Program Research and Development for Innovations and the state budget. Other projects require co-funding, which the university covers from its own resources. CTK was informed today by Rector Zdeněk Kůs.
    The research center for nanomaterials is nearing completion and is expected to be ceremonially opened in early October. The center focuses on the research and application of nanofibers and their further uses in medicine, the textile industry, and environmental protection. It currently employs 170 people who work on 45 research projects and collaborate on another 12. "The center also carries out dozens of research projects for companies across the Czech Republic, including Škoda from Mladá Boleslav, Magna, Preciosa, and Elmarco," said university spokesperson Jaroslava Kočárková.
    The second significant building on the university campus is a research, development, and education complex for advanced technologies - building G. "The building will have laboratories and specialized classrooms that the university currently lacks and needs. There will also be a large auditorium, which we are also missing," said Kůs. The construction has just begun, and the building is expected to be completed in April 2014. The center will cost 290 million crowns, and equipping it will require additional tens of millions.
    The school is investing more than 70 million crowns in the modernization and insulation of its buildings and also in the reconstruction of the heating system. The campus on Husova Street was previously connected to the Liberec district heating plant, but the school decided to invest in its own gas boiler room for savings, which, including new piping, will cost 18 million crowns. Similarly, a few years ago, the school built its own gas boiler room at the Harcov dormitory complex. "We recovered our investment in four years, and we expect similar returns in this case," said the rector.
    The Technical University of Liberec was established from the original Technical School of Engineering and will celebrate its 60th anniversary this academic year. In addition to the original faculties of engineering and textiles, four other faculties were added between 1990 and 1995 - pedagogy, economics, architecture, and mechatronics; since 2006, the Institute of Healthcare Studies has also been operating in Liberec, which is expected to eventually become the seventh faculty. In 2009, the Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies, and Innovations was established. Approximately 10,000 young people study in Liberec, with five percent being foreigners. The school operates with a budget of more than one billion crowns, but only about 40 percent comes from state contributions. The rest comes from grants, EU subsidies, and payments for contracts with companies.