The Liberec Region will financially support the construction of the new building of the TOPTEC Centre

The main topic of the meeting was the competence of the TOPTEC Centre of the CAS in Turnov and its future, for which the construction of the new building is crucial. The building will stand on land adjacent to its current headquarters. “By the end of this year we could obtain a building permit, the building should then stand until the end of 2025,” outlined the Director of the Institute of Plasma Physics of the CAS Radomír Pánek. However, securing financing for the construction, which will consist of multiple sources, is crucial. The support from the region will not be limited to the words: “The Liberec Region is ready to co-finance the construction with twenty million crowns,” stressed the Governor. Currently, the price estimate for the construction is around 200 million crowns. The Liberec Region, headed by Martin Půta, will confirm its interest in participating in the development of research and development in the region by signing an upcoming memorandum with the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

The town of Turnov has a long tradition in the processing of precious stones, which also led to the development of optics in the region. "The tradition of optics originated here as a synergistic effect of jewelry making," summed up Tomáš Hocke. The knowledge of local opticians created the preconditions for the creation of the TOPTEC centre.

The research centre of special optics and optoelectronic systems TOPTEC of the Institute of Plasma Physics of the CAS is active in the development of lasers, metrology and analytical optical instruments. Scientists from the centre participated, for example, in the repair of the Perk telescope of the observatory in Ondřejov, which is the largest in the Czech Republic. They are now preparing for the repair of the telescope in Chile.

The department is acquiring other space projects and in the future would like to dominate, for example, the development of satellite instrumentation at the international level. "We are the number one in the Czech Republic in the field of optical instruments and we are gaining wide awareness in Europe. Our main showcase are projects focused on satellite instruments and soon we will have several systems in space,” said the head of TOPTEC Vít Lédl.

The existence of TOPTEC in the region is important for the mayor of the city and the governor, as was said during their February visit to the Academy of Sciences. In addition, the center is significantly involved in the development of science and research in the region. “TOPTEC has a very close connection to the region. We are bound to it historically as well as by the support we receive from the city and the region. So we feel a certain social responsibility, which we understand by helping companies,” said Vít Lédl.

The Liberec Region will financially support the construction of the new building of the TOPTEC Centre

The Liberec Region will financially support the construction of the new building of the TOPTEC Centre

Photo: CAS.