13.01.2026
The Thomas Bata Foundation will commemorate this year’s significant anniversary, 150 years since the birth of Tomas Bata, with a series of special events throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is preparing a lecture tour, exhibitions, publications, and two major conferences in Prague and Zlín for the general public, which will be the highlights of the year.
“It was a desire to create, to provide an ever-increasing number of people with access to benefits,” is the motto of this year’s celebrations, taken from Tomas Bata’s moral testament. The two main conferences, which will take place at the Žofín Palace in Prague and the Congress Centre in Zlín, will also be held in this spirit.
The Prague conference, entitled Bata Forum: Paths to Responsible Leadership, will take place on 16 April. It will offer a space for inspiration and sharing experiences on how Bata’s principles and values can be applied in current practice. Participants will meet personalities who have been developing these ideas for a long time, live in the spirit of Bata service, and believe that people are the greatest asset of every company and society as a whole.
Speakers will include prominent entrepreneurs such as Ivan Baťka, CEO and sole shareholder of Fosfa, Stanislav Martinec, managing director of KOMA Modular, and Miroslav Hofman, co-founder of 2N Telekomunikace. Economist Tomáš Sedláček, top para-cyclist Jiří Ježek, and surgeon and writer Tomáš Šebek will also be in attendance.
“Tomas Bata” left behind a legacy full of functional principles that are still relevant today. The invited speakers are living proof of this. Bata’s ideas about responsibility, cooperation, service, and human development can be an inspiration and an answer to questions that people ask themselves in their personal and professional lives,”says Gabriela Končitíková, director of the Thomas Bata Foundation, which has been dedicated to Bata legacy for eighteen years.
The conference in Zlín, entitled Upgrade Bata: Bata principles in times of innovation, is scheduled for 16 September. It will offer a unique opportunity to pause in the daily rush and look at business, leadership, and personal responsibility in a broader context. It will connect technological progress with humanity, performance with values, and current challenges with timeless Bata thinking.
“More than a dozen top speakers, four thematic discussions, one inspirational lecture, and eight presentations await you, offering different perspectives on the current world of business, working with people, and personal responsibility. Participating in the conference means meeting people who have the courage to think ahead, take responsibility, and seek long-term solutions,” adds Jakub Malovaný, project manager at the Thomas Bata Foundation.
Visitors can look forward to seeing Juraj Surovič, the main shareholder and long-time leading figure of the PSG construction group, Ľubomír Švec, founder and owner of the Švec Group technology group, Michal Pastier, a prominent figure in Central European marketing and brand strategy, and Helena Sováková, a leading figure in Czech psychology and psychotherapy.
Tickets, the complete program, profiles of all speakers, and information about the accompanying program are available at www.bata150.cz.
The Year of Bata: 150 celebrations are held under the auspices of Czech President Petr Pavel and are included in the prestigious UNESCO calendar.
