Speech of the Chief Executive Officer of VUJE Matej Korec on the 45th anniversary of our company. We are a leader in Slovakia, a respected partner in Europe, and we have bold plans

Dear colleagues,

during important events and anniversaries, we usually remember all the important moments leading to their origin. Everything that exists around us and affects us happens for two reasons: because we did something, and sometimes because we did not do something. Today, as we commemorate the 45th anniversary of our company, we can proudly say that we can hardly find anything we wanted but did not do it. We know very well that success comes when vision, perseverance, effort and competency come together in creative environment.Bold goals need brave people, visionaries with the ability to provide the others in the team with the same amount of determination and enthusiasm. The ability to act logically can get us from place A to place B, but only imagination and determination can get us wherever we want.

This is also the story of our company, which would not get this far without a clear vision of its founding fathers and exceptionally competent potential. That is why even today we build on high technical competence and diligence with regard to the stable foundations of the past, as laid down by my father Ján Korec together with his closest colleagues.

He was a man of extraordinary qualities; his strong will and self-discipline were a model for all his colleagues.The secret of his success was not in doing what he always liked, but he admired what he was doing. He left an indelible mark on the development of Slovakia's energy sector and his human dimension is also unforgettable.

Thanks to him and his close fellow co-founders, they managed to lay a solid foundation for our company VUJE in its modern history, at a time when it was transforming from a research organization into a design and engineering company. The generation of the company's founders was and is characterized by its passion, determination and perseverance. Thanks to these features, we were able to successfully face the new great challenges.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest was the implementation of the project of the Gradual Reconstruction of the V1 Nuclear Power Plant, where VUJE was the general contractor.

The new era brings new phenomena, new technologies, new demands and new industries, which are gradually changing the way we function on a daily basis in both the work and private spheres. We strive to keep up with new trends, it is necessary for us to learn and be able to adapt to changes and have critical thinking.

Human potential is crucial at any stage of a company's growth or decline. Our company is based solely on human capital; therefore, we pay close attention to enhancing our most valuable assets. It is important to maintain professional capability and ensure continuity in our skills and competencies. Gradual generational change and investment in young and high-quality people is a long-term task. Investing in education brings the highest profit. Today's world demands people to be more versatile and flexible - able to work on a variety of things in a constantly changing environment. We try to make people see things in context and get them involved in the future of the company.

If we want to be successful in the future, we will have to enter the world markets in a more significant way and win important contracts outside Slovakia. Maintain and develop our core business, such as decommissioning, waste management, technical support for nuclear power plant operators, as well as services and deliveries for the transmission and distribution system. Besides that, however, we must keep an open mind and develop new activities in our but also other related sectors. In other words, in 10 years I can see VUJE as a company that, in addition to its standard activities, is fully engaged in topics such as modular reactors, micro-reactors, generation IV reactors, electromobility, hydrogen, aerial diagnostics or artificial intelligence in the field of diagnostics and so on.

There is forty-five years of constant hard work behind us and a path ahead of us that we have to tread on our own. We know that there will be obstacles, but we were able to overcome them in the past, in conditions that were not always favorable. Let's not wait for miracles, because all our work so far is a miracle itself. Our skills and knowledge grow through experience.

Therefore, on this anniversary, I would like to remind you that if we are to continue to be successful, we must be tethered to the path which is ahead of us. After all, it is our choice and the legacy of the founders of our company, and the credo of my father Ján Korec: To be prepared to face new and big challenges.

Let´s believe that there will be many more of them and that they will enrich us in the future.

Matej Korec, Chief Executive Officer of VUJE, a.s.

Let's remember the significant personality of our founder, since 1993 the Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer, Ján Korec, in his speech to one of the biggest challenges of the Nuclear Energy Research Institute (today's VUJE), which was undoubtedly the implementation of the project of Gradual Reconstruction of V1 Nuclear Power Plant HERE