Prime Minister M. Topolánek's address at the National Technical Museum, 1 October 2008

I am not a museum expert, so therefore I will not speak specifically about renovated exhibits. On the contrary, I'm looking forward to seeing them for the first time in just a few moments. Please allow me to say just a couple of words on the topic: What comes to my mind when they say technical museum?

Firstly, it reminds me that, whether we like it or not, we are still in a technical civilisation. From its very beginnings, technology has influenced the quality of our lives and even enables us to survive. From the first apes to grasp a branch to pull another branch with fruit on it, to the first levers, the first declining surfaces, to the first block and tackle - technology is our main comparative advantage.

It occurs to me as well that our small country has had an excellent history of inventions, patents and new technologies. Everyone certainly remembers the Veverka brothers' "ruchadlo" plow from school. Fewer of us - at least in my generation – learned about the technological successes of Czech capitalism in the Austro-Hungarian era.

At the same time, names such as Škoda, Kolben, Daněk and others set the direction for both Czech and European industry. We were among the first countries to make our own airplanes and automobiles. In Mladá Boleslav, Ing. Hieronym constructed the first airplane motor in the monarchy. We have the same firsts in automobile production. The President from Kopřivnice and the Marcus from Adamovský's Machine Works.

Unfortunately, it also occurs to me that the prestige of technical fields has fallen. Hopefully not as relates to our companies and their renown abroad. But humanities studies are far more popular among young people. Hopefully the National Technical Museum's modernized exposition will contribute to turning this trend around towards increased interest in technology. It makes our livelihood. Not lawyers, sociologists, politicians or journalists.

As regards the mining exposition here, I also recall my younger years, when I too descended into the mines. It reminds me that I spent two-thirds of my adult life as a technician. So I do not consider myself a professional politician. Which for me is a kind of source of calm and self-confidence.

The last thing that occurs to me is that I do not want people to only come to museums to see the best results of Czech technology. This government has been happy to contribute to the financing of care for our national cultural treasures, one of which is this museum's expositions. This is also about our support for Czech science, research and development, and our support for new patents and technologies.

Today we can look with admiration at the results of our predecessors' technical efforts. And all of us must make sure that the next exhibit here is not an empty case with this year affixed to it, instead of showing top equipment and technology.