Innovation and Innovation Policy in Czech Republic
Innovation and Innovation Policy in Czech Republic 
Overview of Innovation Policy
The Czech Republic is currently undergoing a transition from an efficiency-driven economy to an innovation-driven economy and innovation is therefore becoming the main competitiveness advantage of the Czech economy (see The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009). According to the European Innovation Scoreboard 2008, the Czech Republic has been ranked in the overall innovation performance within the group of moderate innovators (more details are available on the INNO Metrics website here). In terms of dynamics the overall innovation performance has been improving and the Czech Republic has been slowly but steadily converging to the EU-27 average.
At the level of the key dimensions of innovation performance in 2008, the Czech Republic ranks among the leading countries in Economic effects, especially in employment in medium- to high-tech manufacturing and medium- to high-tech exports. Further relative strengths, compared to the country’s average performance, are in Firm investments and Innovators. On the other hand, the Czech Republic relative weaknesses are in Throughputs, Finance and support and Human resources (more details are available on the INNO Metrics website here).
Summary of the main challenges
On the basis of the analyses of the Czech Republic’s innovation performance provided in the EIS 2008, as well as through additional analyses of various aspects of innovation environment (see Green Paper on Research, Development and Innovation in the Czech Republic), three main innovation challenges could be identified.
1) Weak cooperation between research sector and industry, which results in lack of linkages in the process of creation, transfer and utilization of new knowledge.
2) Lack of researchers and S&E graduates, which can negatively influence the further development of a knowledge-based economy in the Czech Republic. The lack of qualified research staff has already become an essential limiting factor in further development of industrial R&D.
3) Insufficient utilization of the IPR protection, which negatively affects the commercialization of R&D results and transformation of new knowledge into innovation.
Innovation governance and policy trends
Even though there is no legally defined body responsible for innovation policy in the Czech Republic, the scale of authority of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) is closest to this issue.Pursuant to the Competence Act the MIT, among other things, is the central authority of the state administration for state industrial and trade policy, issues of small and medium-sized enterprises, industrial research, and the development of engineering and technologies.Since competitiveness is closely linked to R&D, innovation issues are also linked to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS). The MEYS is the central body of the state administration for high schools and universities, science policy, R&D, and international cooperation in this field. The coordinating role in R&D&I policy is assigned to the Research and Development Council, which is an advisory body to the government. Its responsibilities include elaboration of long-term principle directions in R&D for the Czech Republic, preparation of yearly analyses and assessment of the state of R&D&I in the Czech Republic, proposal of the volume of overall expenditure on R&D in individual budget categories and its allocation.
In recent years, the Czech government started to regard R&D&I with greater consideration. In March 2008, the Government has approved a document entitled Reform of the System of Research, Development and Innovation in the Czech Republic. The document outlines the basic direction and more detailed steps to a more efficient system of R&D and innovation governance. The Reform is characterised by the motto ‘Science turns money into knowledge, innovation turns knowledge into money’. The reform efforts are primarily directed at simplifying the system of support for R&D from public funds (decreasing the number of budget chapters contributing to the R&D) and creating an R&D evaluation system that would encourage excellence in research teams and motivate them to create knowledge that would be usable in innovation.
Future innovation policy actions
In respect of the innovation policy measures the emphasis in the near future will be placed on efficient utilization of the financial resources from EU Structural Funds (more details are available in the Policy Measures section). As far as the R&D&I policy generally is considered a new law on support for R&D from public funds has been submitted by the Government in the summer of 2008. Based on this law, the Czech Technological Agency will be established (starting its operation in 2011), which will be allocating most of the public funds for the support of applied research and innovation. This will result in a significantly simpler and more transparent system of public support for R&D&I that will be accompanied by a decrease in administration expenses for both suppliers and recipients.
Another milestone is the drafting of the new ‘National R&D and Innovation Policy for 2009-15’ which will stipulate the basic policy direction in this area for the upcoming years. This document, which is currently being finalised, focuses on nine areas of the national innovation system for which it sets partial targets and a set of associated measures:
§ system of R&D and innovation government;
§ priorities of state support for R&D and innovation;
§ amount of provided public support depending on achieved R&D results;
§ utilisation of R&D results in innovations to show efficiency of public support;
§ internationalisation of R&D and innovation;
§ provision of quality human resources for R&D and innovation;
§ relationship of R&D and innovation to society;
§ policy (concept) within a context of policies for other areas;
§ periodical evaluation of the progress of the reform, fulfilment of the ‘National R&D and innovation policy’, and the system of public support.
| Annual Country Reports |
 Country report 2009 for Czech Republic
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| Country report 2008 for Czech_Republic
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| Country report 2007 for Czech_Republic
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| Country Report 2006 for Czech Republic
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| Country Report 2005 for Czech Republic
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| Country Report Czech Republic September 2004
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| Czech Republic - Trend Chart Country Report, September 2003
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| Czech Republic - Trend Chart Country Report, March 2003
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| Czech Republic - Trend Chart Country Report, October 2002
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| Czech Republic - Trend Chart Theme-specific Country Report, May 2002
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| Czech Republic - Trend Chart Country Report, November 2001
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| Czech Trend Chart Country report June 2001
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| Czech Republic Trend Chart Country Report Dec 2000
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| Czech Republic Trend Chart Country Report May 2000
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| Latest TrendChart Deliverables |
| Workshop Briefing Czech Republic 13_2006 |
| Workshop Briefing Czech Republic 11_2006 |
| Workshop Briefing Czech Republic 10_2006 |
| Workshop Briefing Czech Republic 9_2005 |
| Workshop Briefing Czech Republic 7_2005 |
| New Support Measures |
 CZ 57 POTENTIAL - OP Enterprise and Innovation 2007-2013 |
| CZ 59 INNOVATION - OP Enterprise and Innovation 2007-2013 |
| CZ 81 National Research Programme I (2004-2009) |
| CZ 83 TANDEM |
| CZ 84 IMPULS |
Who Is Who
Senior Official(s) for Czech Republic
Petr Porak
Correspondents for Czech Republic
Michal Pazour
Ondrej Valenta
Search Who's Who
Innovation Performance
Performance in Innovation Scoreboard 2008Find Out More
List of relevant websites
