FROM tomorrow, two York companies have only 48 hours in Prague to make their mark on the Czech business scene.

Pilotwise International Ltd, aviation and training consultants and MyKnowledgeMap, an e-learning development company, are joining 17 other export-minded businesses from across Yorkshire in a concentrated bid for business in the Czech Republic.

Mark Robson, regional director for trip organiser UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), said the organisation’s last overseas visit with the help of the International Business Network (IBN) was in Milan in last yea and proved a great success.

“This event is the result of a close collaboration between our two UKTI teams based here in Yorkshire and at the embassy in Prague.

“What we give the Yorkshire companies is a short, sharp taste of the market and we match them up with potential partner companies in the Czech Republic.

“The pace of the IBN is designed to be fast so that it puts the companies on their mettle and they really have to focus.”

The two day event will be opened by Lord Digby Jones who is patron of the Yorkshire and Humber IBN and it will be attended by the UK ambassador to Prague, Linda Duffield.

The Yorkshire firms will have an opportunity to network with more than 100 companies and agencies from the Czech Republic during a reception at the ambassador's private residence in Prague.

John Dignan, marketing director of the £800,000 turnover Pilotwise International Ltd, based at York Business Park, in Nether Poppleton, said: “Our core business has been in the aviation industry, but we will be looking for any company that is involved with hi-tech equipment for which training is essential both for themselves and their customers, whether the product is a high-speed train, a modern ship or even a mobile phone company. But the Czech Republic also has quite a good aviation industry and I will be exploring the opportunities.”

MyKnowledgeMap, of Micklegate, York, will be looking to help the Czech Republic’s universities – as it has done for five universities in Yorkshire – by being the major systems provider for the ALPS (Assessment and Learning in Practice Settings) project.

It also the UK’s top supplier of online infrastructures for National Skills Academies.

Other North Yorkshire firms on the flying business visit are TJP Electronics, of Scarborough, and British Horse Feeds, of Masham.