Czechia re-organises research activities with new innovation-heavy economic strategy

Czechia has moved to consolidate its research and innovation activities under a single body and announced a raft of R&D targets as part of a new economic plan. The government hopes this will serve as a basis for long-term growth and increased competitiveness.

The move comes swiftly after right-wing populist billionaire Andrej Babiš was sworn in as prime minister in December 2025 to lead a three-party majority coalition. Babiš previously served as prime minister from 2017 to 2021. 

The new economic strategy, named Czech Republic: Country for the Future 2.0, was announced by Babiš on February 16, with further details set out at a press conference four days later. 

One of the major changes sees the Council for Research, Development and Innovation (RVVI), previously an expert and advisory body of the government, become the central point for research and innovation policy. The council has been placed under the Ministry of Industry and Trade in a new, specially created research and innovation section. Space activities are also being transferred to the Ministry of Industry and Trade from the Ministry of Transport. 

The government says the goal is to better connect these activities with the broader economic and innovation strategy of the state.

“Science and research, their successful commercialisation, as well as innovation, start‑ups, spin‑offs and their successful expansion will become the foundation of the Czech Republic’s prosperity,” a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Industry and Trade told Science|Business. 

“It is necessary to move from general statements about supporting science to its effective governance. This will also be reflected in the role of the Council for Research, Development and Innovation, which will become the central body for the governance of science,” she added. 

Karel Havlíček, deputy prime minister and minister of industry and trade, underlined this statement at a meeting of the RVVI on February 27, saying that the “ambition is for the Czech Republic to be not an average country, but one that sets the course.”

The change has largely been welcomed by Czechia’s research community, who understand there is a need to reduce fragmentation. Despite the RVVI now sitting under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) remains the main administrative body for research and development, while the Ministry of Industry and Trade is the authority for innovation activities. Both ministries are now represented on the RVVI, alongside the president of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the president of the Association of Research Organisations. 

“I think in this situation, the most pressing issue is not whether the RVVI falls under the Office of the Government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade or the MEYS,” said Pavel Doleček, an advisor to the minister of education, youth and sports. 

“What matters is that the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Education are now simultaneously in the leadership of the RVVI, which links these bodies together. Let us see whether this will result in effective coordination.”

Ladislav Krištoufek, vice-rector for international and government affairs at the Czech Technical University in Prague and a member of the RVVI, described the restructuring as “pragmatic, rather than ideal.” 

“Personally, I have always been and remain a proponent of a strong, standalone ministry for research and higher education. But if there is no political will for that, then the current model makes sense,” he said. 

“Two ministers with strong ministries carry more weight in the governmental setting compared to the previous structure. When RVVI reaches a decision, the key players will have already been part of the discussion, which makes it much harder for anyone to dismiss what RVVI proposes,” he added. 

Balancing the needs of science and innovation

Krištoufek warned, however, that the new research and innovation section set up at the Ministry of Industry and Trade could tilt government priorities towards applied research and innovation at the expense of basic research, which, he noted, is not mentioned in the economic strategy. 

He said that he was concerned about three elements: the role and support for fundamental research, the representation of universities as a whole, and the position of the Ministry of Education within the system. 

“Given that the changes are happening quite abruptly, there has not been much time to actually discuss them, at least not at the RVVI level,” he said. 

Both Babiš and Havlíček have stated the need for the private sector to take a lead in supporting research and innovation activities, and are banking a lot more heavily on businesses to drive research. 

“This is something we need to watch carefully,” Krištoufek said. “Innovation ultimately flows from basic research, and this is a battle being fought at the European level as well. The RVVI membership itself still includes independent academics and researchers, so the checks and balances exist, but they will need to be actively exercised.”

Related articles

• Czechia benefits from first international transfer of JRC scientific equipment
• Czechia targets knowledge transfer reforms to tackle ‘stagnant situation’ in innovation
• Czechia announces R&D budget boost to €1.7B

The focus on innovation and the private sector, perhaps unsurprising given Babiš's background as a business leader, marks a departure from the previous government led by Petr Fiala, which focused more on a bottom-up approach to R&D. 

Whether Babiš's more top-down, industry and business-focused method works better remains to be seen. 

“I believe every government struggles with an inherent feature of the Czech research and innovation system: its considerable fragmentation and the associated limited capacity to respond to the challenges ahead,” Doleček said. 

He said that while both governments had their own approaches at dealing with this, neither solution appears so far to have reached its full potential. 

Allen Weeks, director general of the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI), said that it was important for there to still be a focus on long-term, fundamental research. 

ELI is a research organisation that provides access to three high-power laser facilities, one of which is based at Dolní Břežany outside Prague. 

“From the perspective of an international research infrastructure based in the Czech Republic, it is positive to see efforts aimed at strengthening the connection between excellent science, technological development and economic competitiveness,” Weeks said. 

“At the same time, the long-term success of such reforms will depend on maintaining a healthy balance between support for fundamental science and pathways to industrial application.”

He said that it is too early to judge the full impact of the reforms, but if they lead to better coordination while maintaining strong support for excellent science, then “there is reason to be cautiously optimistic.”

Innovation a central pillar of Czechia’s new strategy

The near 100-page new economic strategy document begins with a stark warning about the EU and its individual member states losing ground to China and the US in terms of growth and innovation. 

“The European Union is ceasing to be an attractive investment region for large companies, industry is being crushed under pressure from Chinese competition, and emerging technological start-ups after their first incubation phase are, to a considerable extent, moving to the US due to the absence of required capital,” the report states. 

It references the 2024 report on the future of European competitiveness by former Italian prime minister Mario Draghi, saying that its call for urgent measures to address the EU’s slipping technological competitiveness is “not being taken with sufficient seriousness.” 

It also spells out in no uncertain terms the problems facing Czechia’s research and innovation ecosystem, including that it is underfinanced, has a poor rate of commercialising research, not enough engagement with European funds, fragmentation between funding bodies, and a visa system that makes attracting talent difficult. 

To resolve this, the strategy sets out a series of measures and targets, with innovation cited as one of the five main pillars to achieve this, alongside people, infrastructure, finance and environment. 

The strategy calls for Czechia to increase its spending on R&D to 2.4% of its GDP by 2030, up from around 1.8% today. It also sets the target of having four Czech universities in the top 500 of the QS World University Rankings and at least one in the top 200 by 2035. There are three Czech universities in the top 500 today, with Charles University in Prague ranked the highest at 265. 

It also calls for a series of new instruments and measures to spur innovation. These include setting up patent boxes, a special regime that sets a lower corporate tax rate on profits generated from patented inventions, and introducing a new start-up law to improve administrative and investment conditions and to attract foreign investment. It also calls for more support for regional innovation centres. 

The economic strategy places significant importance on artificial intelligence, which has its own section in the document. This sets out the ambition for Czechia to become a central European centre for AI, and proposes measures to increase the number of AI experts, to ensure access to AI-related infrastructure such as supercomputing centres, to massively integrate AI use into the public sector, to join international bodies such as the European AI network Ellis, and even suggests a mission-orientated AI programme modelled on the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. 

“To be honest, I was positively surprised by many parts of the economic strategy, specifically the ones that matter for the research and innovation environment and culture,” Krištoufek said. 

The key, however, will be implementation. “As I see it, many of the proposed changes and directions are not directly fiscal, meaning they are mostly political. But we must not forget that the fiscal – that is, financial and funding – parts are crucial as well. And there are no promises there,” Krištoufek said. 

“Universities and public research organisations cannot claim tax deductions, so it will be critical to ensure that institutional funding for public research does not stagnate while gross domestic expenditure on research and experimental development grows through private-sector instruments,” he added. 

Doleček is optimistic about the potential of the strategy, saying that it creates a sense of ownership for those responsible for its implementation. “In this sense, the strategy holds great potential, and I believe we will learn from some of our past experiences,” he said. 

“Naturally, the reality of its implementation will be crucial, not only from the perspective of R&D expenditure but also in terms of pulling together in areas that cross departmental boundaries and often have a European dimension.”