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Countries form around the world signed up in 2015 to a United Nations plan for sustainable global develop. It was greeted as an unprecedented move towards creating a fairer and more sustainable world. The Czech government was due to give an update on its progress in attaining some of the goals at the UN this week. At the same, the Czech branch of the NGO Social Watch prepared to present its findings about progress or the lack of it locally.

There are a handful of Czechs who are part of the booming hi-tech new economy on the US West coast and more specifically in Silicon Valley. But few could boast a career that over the last decade has been littered with the names of so many of the large multinational US companies in the forefront of technology and its applications as Zlín native David Pavlík. His career has jumped from Microsoft, to Amazon, multinational pay for film company Netflix, and currently the private company at the cutting edge of the new space race, SpaceX.

Diplomats pushing Czech economic interests across the world have been gathering in Prague in recent days to discuss latest developments and initiatives. Such diplomats, not just from the foreign ministry but from industry and trade, agriculture, and research have multiplied in the past years with the number of dossiers and projects six times more than just three years ago. One of those taking part was Aleš Opatný, the head of the economic and commercial section at the Czech embassy in London. The London office was picked out for its success last

What began as Rekola, the NGO, is now an NGO-slash-successful socially-conscious business. If you need to get quickly from A to B in Prague or a number of other Czech cities, pinpointing the nearest Rekola bike through an online app is simple, and the bikes are easy to spot because they are… pink. For a mere 32 crowns for single use, you can zip around the so-called Pink Zone here in the capital. Rekola now has almost 15,000 registered users across the country and is even looking to expand abroad.

It’s probably a surprise to most outsiders that the Czech Republic is a world leader in terms of computer and mobile phone security but that’s undoubtedly the case as Avast wraps up its takeover of rival company AVG.

Štepan Vashkevich is a student at the Palacký University of Olomouc who is one of the founders of a student association at the school focussing on the environment and sustainability, launching projects such as Out of the Bin, to get the student body to cut down on needless waste. Further, he and fellow members iare trying to make a difference by launching this year the first student-run Free-Shop, where students can donate, take, barter, and borrow items absolutely free.

Every fifth family with dependent children in the Czech Republic is financially poorly off, according to a new survey conducted for the Christian charity Caritas Czech Republic and the Catholic Church by the IBRS Agency. That means more than 230,000 families in all.

Czechs are doing their bit to support economic and political development in the small and relatively poor Republic of Moldova, sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine. The Czech Republic is already among Moldova’s top 10 European Union trade partners and is supporting the country with development aid for targeted areas. But the Moldovans would like to deepen relations much further.

Nirvana Systems is a company based in Přerov, the Czech Republic, which for years has been building paramotors and kits and other gear for the sport of PPG – powered paragliding. The company was founded by successful pilot Pavel Březina and recently was involved in a major project which brought it national attention. For two years, the firm developed a new engine and other systems for an autogyro (or gyroplane) that became the first to receive official certification to drive on Czech roads.

The Czech tourism sector has something to celebrate following the announcement last week of record incoming visitors for 2016. But all is not rosy in the sector with some arguing that more could be done to promote tourism and others saying that established businesses playing by the rules are being undermined by those, especially in the so-called new economy, who are flouting them and undermining fair competition.