What expats say I
18 expats attended the 2nd Brnopolis Open Coffee meeting and discussed their needs with the representatives of City Council, CzechInvest and South Moravia development agency. Here is several thoughts and comments…
There is a lack of the real figures. How many foreigners are Brno residents and have their permanent address here? How many work in creative professions as managers, artists, researchers, students, entrepreneurs, designers, teachers, programmers, doctors, consultants, etc? What are the nationalities having the highest shares?
There is a need to
* interconnect them across countries of origin and nationalities. The foreign police should have the contact information, their representative will be invited to our next meeting.
* change attitudes of the city towards foreigners who are no longer one social group (like refugees) that needs the very basic support. Some officers do not fully realize there is already a high number of well educated, intelligent and creative people in Brno who have different needs of networking, socialising, doing business etc.
What do expats miss in Brno?
* English language, especially when contacting foreign police, hospitals and at places where everybody should expect a lot of foreign tourists – Grand Prix, airport, etc. Imagine tourists landed in Brno for the first time and leaving the beautiful airport building. Do bus drivers on the airport line speak some foreign language?
* A local media (at least) in English that would provide local news, events calendar and opportunities to network. It could be an interactive website containing all the information needed.
* A complete system of schools in English. There is already a number of Czech families who would prefer their kids to attend them too.
* Not much to do for young people considering the high number of students. Or low awareness caused by lack of information in English.
Did I forget something? No doubts, at least the main Brno attractors, the motivations to stay, relocate to Brno or possibly do innovation business here. I’m going to mention a few examples in my next post. Meanwhile feel free to add your comments.
You can also tell us your story. Where are you from, how did you get to Brno, what you like here and what you don’t.