In the Business Centre at Brno. Yesterday between activity phases I tried a couple of flutes - one wooden bodied open-holed non standard fingering. Wasnt sure about the tuning. Another new with an Armstrong head and Cz made body - around GBP 290 - hmmmmmmmmm.

Then off the Prague Technical University - the oldest institute of its kind in the world founded in 1707. I met Prof Macek - chair of theit internal cumbustion engine centre. Her is already in touch with Ricardos who are not far away and is supplying them with students. Skoda have been made the small petrol engine specialist centre within the VW group.

It became clear that a big issue in technical education in the former Soviet Bloc was lack of laboratory equipment. The result was that Russian engineering was very very theoretical - not very detailed unlike the German approach which preceded it. My hypothesis is that because the Czs have a good tradition of practical engineering and are open minded they are able to hoover the best bits up from all the passing phases. The root proposition for why Cz society has been so advanced for so long is that it is at the croos roads of Europe and therefore a place for the exchange of ideas between traditions and civilisations. I think that in addition the Cz took their lack of lab equpt for education in a different direction - students only opportunity to apply their knowledge was on practical internships and so they take these very seriously.

It is similar to the way that participation in SAE Formula Student motorsport competition is such a great learning tool eg at the University of Hertfordshire. There third year students have their car configured so that they can tune the engine by programming the ECU during pitstops. I didnt mention this to Prof J but discussing various issues with him it was clear to me that this would be considered pretty advanced practice in the Cz education engineering sector. On the other hand when the UK revised Engineering Education in the early 1980s I think the Cz model was (rightly) pretty influential.

There is obviously some tension between Skoda U and the Cz Technical U - inevitable when an upstart organisation of two years standing crosses the path of one with nearly 300. Whats more the Skoda U is trying to shorten the course length by around a third. My guess that with the Peugeot-Toyota investment near by creating labour shortages the quick fix approach to automotive operations management will be appealing.

I also had a meeting with Prof Vojtek who is the Vive Dean for Education in the Engineering Faculty. He is clearly very concerned about the relative unpopularity of engineering in the Czrep - the same situation as the USA, UK and even Germany face. We agreed that chemistry has an even worse image problem. With him was the professor of forging whose name I cant lay hands on. Fortunately I had seen some metal flow forging software which he uses so that got me off to a good start with him. He mentioned that to understand the Cz engineering cultue I ought to look at the technical museum - this has to be a brilliant suggestion. The Czs clearly still regard thmesleves as having been the brains of the Austro-Hungarian empire esp vis a vis the Austrians themselves. I wonder what they make of the Austrian developments which are now seen as being definitively modern - serialism, psycho-analysis, logical positivism.

I actually saw it at a small forging company in South Wales with astonishingly good management - whose motto is that you can learn something from everyone. The software sticks in my mind because it was developed by Moscow University and I was impressed that this small company managed to track it down. The prof said that there is now better 3D flow software which he is using. He seemed to be a pretty practical guy not least when it came to understanding the constraints on academics helping small firms.

So after these two meetings I was picked up and driven to Brno in the North of the country to meet a trade mission of British firms who had just arrived. Whenever you meet these small firms who have got the bottle to go eg to Cz or SA or Mexico looking for opportunities its always inspiring. I was talking to a guy who runs a firm of 15 people doing wiring harnesses - with a lot of smart capital investment. I am sure he will find a good partnership opportunity here. During the dinner I sat next to the Commercial guy from the embassy and we made a good connection between his interest in the Peugeot-Toyota deal and some people I know in the Tokyo embassy. His two locally engaged women assistants are fantastically committed - working on foreign trade has very high prestige. One of them used to be a librarian - apparently in the decades after WW2 Cz had the world best library usage rates - people borrowed more books per head. Its easy to this as part of the underlying cultural strength of this country.

I fell into bed and woke early to get myself into shape for the symposium. It transpired that I was to speak after the Chairman of the Board of Skoda which from my point of view was quite good positioning. I had only added some factual slides at the last minute but this was a good move and I think the stuff about the expansion of the UK engine manufacturing centre went down well. The questions at the end were quite good I thought - but I have yet to find out from colleagues how the presentation looked from the floor.

Its lunchtime and then a meeting with the cost-down strategist from Skoda and back to Prague in the car. I feel quite knackered but I will be able to sleep in the car.