Czech Republic eager to become top EU research nation

Several top research centres are due to be established in the Czech Republic over the next few years. In EU jargon they are referred to as “European Centres of Excellence”. The media are even starting to talk about a Czech “Silicon Valley”, and there are plans for investments worth billions. However, they are currently being delayed due to administrative problems and an acute shortage of IT experts on the Czech labour market.

At least five top research centres planned

The Czech government and the Academy of Sciences in Prague are planning at least five such centres of excellence. These research establishments will give scientists an opportunity to work on top research projects, and put their results into practice economically and as fast as possible. The centres of excellence are an integral part of the EU’s strategy of making the "Old World” competitive against the United States and Asia.

Goal: to transform knowledge into money using EU resources

The planned centres will be set up with the help of EU resources, which could soon be flowing into the country under the “Knowledge and Research” operations programme. The project has a total volume of CZK 60 billion (EUR 2.31 billion), a third of which is earmarked for research facilities. One of the slogans in elaborating the underlying strategy is: “If science is the transformation of money into knowledge, innovation is the transformation of knowledge into money.” Repositioning the Czech economy with the aid of centres of excellence should also help to underpin economic growth.

“Silicon Valley” by the motorway

The projected Centre for Biotechnology and Biomedicine which the Academy of Sciences intends to erect in the village of Vestec on the outskirts of Prague can be seen as a pilot project. Within a period of five years, a research facility for more than 400 workers will be constructed on a five hectare greenfield site. The centre will consist of several top-notch laboratories and will focus mainly on the development of new materials like artificial bone for the medical industry. A key aspect will be networking with nearby companies like “Exbio”, which is involved in the field of human medicine and technology. University lecture halls and housing for researcher will also be included in the complex in Vestec. The cost of the project is estimated at CZK 2 billion (EUR 77 million), which will be financed partly from EU resources.

In Prague itself, the Academy of Sciences is also planning a leading research centre that will specialize in applied science, in this case in the fields of chemistry and physics. The project will cost around CZK 750 million (EUR 28.8 million), two thirds of which are earmarked for the purchase of instruments. The research facility will be operated in cooperation with the Czech Technical University in Prague.




Away from the capital in the town of Brno, there are plans to set up a so-called Central European Institute of Technology, which could cost up to CZK 10 billion (EUR 385 million). Apart from the Academy of Sciences, the members of this project include Masaryk University in Brno and Brno University of Technology. With the help of ultramodern instruments, scientists hope to achieve results in molecular and cellular research. Once again, neighbouring firms will be integrated, like the planned Brno branch of the US American Mayo Clinic.

The hurdle of bureaucracy

Nearly 200 projects have been applied for, including a planned particle accelerator in Brno and a centre for optical research in Pardubice. In the final analysis, about five of the projects submitted will be implemented, and in the autumn an international commission will decide where the resources from the operations programme should be directed. However, even the programme itself was submitted to Brussels too late, which was one of the reasons why education minister Dana Kuchtová was obliged to resign last year. When he took office last December, her successor Ondřej Liška declared his intention of making the project his number one priority.

Nevertheless, the project is currently floundering due to the shortage of experts at the ministry itself. The reason for this is obvious: the Czech Republic pays its civil servants a starting salary of around CZK 18,000 (EUR 692), well below the average monthly income. Young graduates involved in EU programmes and science can earn almost twice that in private industry at the drop of a hat.




Yet another problem could be that the Czech labour market is currently suffering from an acute shortage of IT specialists and other skilled workers. Each year only about half as many IT experts as industry would need complete their training in the Czech Republic. This could be a particular hindrance to projects implementing research results in practice. “Up till now the results of Czech research often only lead to patents,” Václav Pačes, President of the Czech Academy of Sciences, complained to the newspaper Hospodárské noviny.

Notwithstanding the shortage of IT specialities, the computer and software industry in the Czech Republic is booming, underscoring the decision of international companies like Skype and Opera which have relocated their development and programming operations to Prague.

 

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Czech Academy of Sciences Exbio Ministry of Education