Once again, we see the development of an economy away from its heavy industry past, towards a modern, integrated, high-value manufacturing and service based economy.

Brno represents over 50% of the region's economy and around more than 100,000 businesses are registered in the city of Brno, the vast majority of them privately-owned, with only a very small number of them state concerns.

It is estimated that around 17,000 commercial companies (of which more than 1,000 are joint stock companies), 500 or so co-operatives and 70,000+ private individuals work in the city's businesses.

You name it, and Brno builds it

One of the most important industries in the region is engineering, both mechanical and electrical.

Electronics are also critical and so too is textile manufacturing. Industries as diverse as food-processing, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, glass and ceramics and wood-processing industries all contribute to the growing, professional and highly-educated workforce.

Brno is the single most important economic centre of the South Moravia region, and a centre of service industries.

More than half the city's workforce is employed in services.

What makes Brno especially attractive to employers is the fact that it has the highest share of university graduates in the Czech Republic, a city where language skills are especially highly rated.

Foreign firms investing in Brno include the likes of IBM and Siemens, who both have software design centres in the city.

Also here are BMT (medical equipment), FEI (electron microscopes), Honeywell (electronics and control devices), IngersollRand (engineering), Pliva (pharmaceuticals) and Flextronics (electronics), who all have research and development centres in Brno.

Brno is special not because it is becoming a world-leading centre of excellence for R and D, but because it already is!

Brno is also rapidly becoming a key centre for large fairs and exhibitions, an industry that can spawn rich rewards for a city.

The Brno Exhibitions (Veletrhy Brno) is a key employer - and the largest company specialising in fairs and exhibitions in Central Europe.

Brno Exhibitions directly employs more than 750 people. As well as direct employment, the exhibitions are a huge catalyst for the region's economy making Brno an important centre of international trade.

Annual exhibitions in Brno attract hundreds of thousands of exhibitors, businessmen, visitors and wheeler-dealers, specialising in shows that feature Information Technology, engineering, and the automotive industry.

It is thought that around 1.5million people a year come to the region, drawn by Brno Exhibition Centre events, making it one of the most important exhibition arenas anywhere in Europe.

As well as the Exhibition Centre, Brno is home to 10 theatres, 10 museums and galleries, 30 exhibition venues, 50 churches and a number of building monuments from the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Education

As important as manufacturing, is education.

The Czech Republic has a long and prestigious reputation for education.

And the commitment to learning and culture has always been key elements of the Brno cultural tradition.

Centres of learning in Brno include Masaryk University (founded in 1919) and the city's agricultural college.

Alongside Prague, Brno has the greatest concentration of schools and research institutions in the country.

There are half a dozen universities boasting between them 30 research centres and 27 faculties with a huge spread of subjects to study.

There are also 43 secondary vocational schools, and dozens of other schools and colleges. Plus, Brno is home to the world-renowned Moravian Library, which houses a staggering 3.6 million books.

The result is a highly educated workforce. Almost half (45%) of the workforce have completed their secondary education and 20% are university graduates.

Providing skills to the neighbours

One crucial element that makes Brno such an exciting investment prospect is its proximity to the Slovak Republic, one of the most productive car building regions anywhere in the world.

That kind of production demands massive resources - not only skilled assemblers, but state of the art manufacturing processes and people who understand them.

Brno is already supplying much of the highly trained workforce and middle-management that these automotive plans will need.

This factor alone will drive Brno's economy to strong growth right into the second half of the century.

The key to a successful investment in this market is to buy modern, purpose-built properties that will be rented by professionals for one, two, or perhaps three years before they are in a position - as development increases - to buy themselves.

Currently, there is an acute shortage of product either to buy or to rent.

If you invest in this kind of property, you can be pretty sure that when you do eventually sell and realise your capital growth, you will sell to a Czech.

This is a real estate market that is not founded on some mad dash for profits - its foundations are soundly economic and they are sustainable. There will be a serious influx of workers to Brno over the coming years.

That's why we like it so much. That's why we see such strong growth over the long term.

A cultural centre

Brno, importantly, also has the makings of becoming not just a thriving city economically, but also a great cultural centre and a place to visit.

The city is already home to the Brno Grand Prix circuit with a long tradition of car and motorcycle races including the MotoGP.

The Masaryk racing circuit near Brno is famous among race fans as one of the safest and technically most demanding in Europe. The circuit hosts the World Motorcycle MotoGP Championship and the European Touring Car Championship.

The city also has a 20 hectare golf course; there are eight football/athletics stadiums, 41 sports grounds, four indoor swimming pools, four ice-rinks, 12 rowing centres, eight fitness centres and four sports shooting ranges.

Brno also has its own zoological and botanical gardens and an observatory and planetarium. The city and its surrounding area offer more than 100 accommodation facilities, including 49 hotels with a total of 6,000 beds.