Winners of the previous years

2022

Does whether companies behave in an environmentally and socially responsible way affect their value? What are the tax pitfalls of using cryptocurrencies? Which commodities are best suited for a hedge fund's investment portfolio? Or how to defend against hacker attacks on wind turbines, traffic lights or automated factory lines?

These are the themes of the winning theses that succeeded in the fourth edition of the Atlas Copco Services Prize. The announcement of the results of the competition, which evaluated the best economic theses produced at domestic universities, took place on Thursday 24 November in Brno. The absolute winner of the competition was Natálie Gríllusová, a graduate of the Faculty of Economics and Administration at Masaryk University in Brno. In her thesis entitled "Factor models using ESG as a risk factor" she proposed her own model for valuing the value of companies, which also takes into account how responsibly companies behave in the environmental and social sphere and in the system of governance (ESG). The author then applied the model to historical data from 66 companies in the FTSE 100 index, covering the period 2016-2022. The results of her model are clear - ESG responsibility pays off for companies and their value grows faster!

The silver place was taken by Kateřina Mazancová, a graduate of the Faculty of Economics at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice. In her diploma thesis, she focused on evaluating the impact of dealing with cryptocurrencies in terms of tax burden for a specific entity. "The legislative regulations and tax regulations of the Czech Republic do not currently provide a clear and transparent procedure for dealing with cryptocurrencies. There is room for completion, not least because the Czech Republic ranks first in cryptocurrency mining," the author explained.

Patrik Králík, a graduate of the Faculty of Business at the Brno University of Technology, came third in the competition for the best economic thesis. His thesis focuses on the analysis and comparison of selected commodities in order to create investment recommendations for diversifying a hedge fund's equity portfolio. The author first selected, analysed and compared a number of commodities, taking into account the current state of the economy, the outlook for the coming years, and planned interventions by central banks. He then developed a proposal for expanding the investment portfolio and a process for making investments through commodity futures contracts, specifically in gold, silver, and platinum. These commodities, according to Kralik, are the best investment assets during economically weak periods.

It takes twenty years to build a reputation. And a few moments of a cyber-attack can destroy it - with these words, Patrik Slabý, a graduate of FP BUT, begins his diploma thesis entitled "Penetration testing methodology in industrial control systems", for which he received a special jury prize. In his thesis, he shows what real hacker attacks on everyday devices and systems could look like.

The award ceremony for the fourth annual Atlas Copco Services Award, which attracted a record 50 graduates from a number of Czech universities, took place on Thursday 24 November in Brno. A total of ten students were awarded, with the three most successful students sharing prizes totaling CZK 60,000. A financial reward was also given to the diploma thesis awarded by the jury. The teachers who supervised the diploma theses of individual students were also awarded during the event.

2021

A more comprehensive and better indicator of the performance of the Czech economy than the commonly used data "gross domestic product" (GDP), or an indicator that also takes into account how educated, healthy or environmentally friendly - exactly such indicators suggested in Viet Cuong Le, a student of the Faculty of Business and Economics at Mendel University in Brno, a diploma thesis devoted to circular economics.

Thanks to this, he became the absolute winner of the third year of the Atlas Copco Services Award, which recognizes the most interesting economic diploma theses created at domestic universities.

Viet Cuong Le impressed the jury with his dissertation entitled Circular Economics and its Influence on Sustainable Economic Growth. It explains why this model of the economy is more stable and sustainable than an economy based solely on resource consumption. "The circular economy is an economic model of production and consumption, which consists of sharing goods, leasing, reusing, repairing, renovating and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible," he explains.

Dmytro Koroľ, a graduate of the Faculty of Economics and Administration of Masaryk University in Brno, won the silver medal in the competition for the best economic diploma theses. In his work entitled "Predicting bank failure", he focused on modeling possible bank failures. Although banking sector tests are very well mapped in the Western world, Koroľ's work is innovative in how to set rules for analyzing huge amounts of data from a total of 908 The author achieved this by using machine learning, which can simulate a huge number of models based on input parameters and select the most accurate one, and his work is a practical example of how and what machine learning can be used effectively.

The third place was taken by Tereza Čtvrtníková, a graduate of the Faculty of Economics and Administration of Masaryk University in Brno. In her dissertation entitled "Project Management in the Company - Current Issues", she focused on the theory and application of project management for a particular company, using the Scrum approach. This agile management method is able to respond to ever-changing requirements and practical part. The author's work contains a number of recommendations for changes that the company can make to optimize the management of its projects.

The ceremonial announcement of the results of the third year of the Atlas Copco Services Award took place on Thursday, November 25 in Brno. A total of ten students were awarded, the six most successful of whom will share the prizes in the total amount of 31 thousand crowns. A prize of CZK 20,000 awaits the absolute winner of the competition. The leaders of the winning diploma theses were also awarded during the announcement.

2019

2018

2016 & 2017