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On 25 January, Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Minister for Science, Research and Innovation Helena Langšádlová presented individual measures of the comprehensive reform of the transfer of scientific knowledge into practice at the National Technical Library. The reform contains 30 specific legislative and non-legislative measures aimed at promoting the link between science and business, the commercialisation of scientific results and the use of scientific knowledge for public policy-making. The aim of the reform is to turn intellectual property generated in Czech universities and research institutes into value for society.
"Strengthening the innovation ecosystem and establishing more effective cooperation between academia and the private sector has been one of the main pillars of our programme statement on science, research and innovation from the outset. Putting research into practice and building a knowledge-based economy has always been my long-term priority, whether as Rector, Minister of Education or currently Prime Minister. It is, after all, one of the key conditions of my vision for the Restart of the Czech Republic." said the Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
The reform focuses on strengthening the supply side of research and the demand side of business and government.
"In the Czech Republic we have top research in a number of fields, Czech scientists are respected abroad, we have the most modern research infrastructure. Nevertheless, we are not very successful in translating excellent science into economic and social value, and only a fraction of companies based on scientific knowledge are created here compared to other developed countries." warned the Minister Helena Langšádlová.
Part of the reform consists of legislative changes. In particular, it is a recodification of the existing law on the support of research and development from public funds, which newly establishes knowledge transfer as one of the main roles of research organisations. In addition, changes are proposed to the Higher Education Act and a number of other norms.
However, a key part of the reform focuses on shifting the mind-set of actors throughout the system and connecting all parts of it: academia, business, government and the financial sector. It is the financial sector that can play an important role in the shift towards a science-driven economy. The reform therefore includes the creation of a Transfer Investment Fund in cooperation with the European Investment Bank, which has already received the support of the Government's Strategic Investment Committee.
"We see a great future in investing in the knowledge economy, which is why we recently announced an investment in a transfer fund focused on biotechnology. However, the whole infrastructure for this must be in place, not only the research results themselves, but also a well-focused investment fund that can find promising projects and develop them. We see the announced reform as an opportunity to prepare these conditions on all sides," confirmed Tomas Salomon, CEO of Česká spořitelna and one of the speakers at the conference.
The reform is based on the conviction that change must be driven largely by the business sector, for which a move towards innovation is a prerequisite for development. The reform therefore also focuses on various forms of tax incentives, in particular for companies engaged in research and development.
"We have been pointing out for a long time that the setting of tax deductions for research and development is inadequate in our country. Other instruments that will make it easier for companies to engage in risky activities with potentially high added value are still completely missing. We are quite exceptional in Europe in this respect. The transfer reform is clearly going in the right direction in that it thematises these instruments. It will still be a challenging journey, but we are certainly offering a helping hand." Supplemented by Martin Jahn, Vice President of the Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic and member of the Board of Directors of Škoda Auto.
The academic community also perceives a greater appreciation of the results of scientific work as essential. It makes no difference whether the research is basic or applied.
"Evaluating results is not just about applied research. Abroad, we see that many groundbreaking discoveries with significant economic and social impact come from basic research. In the history of Czech discoveries, this is also true," He mentioned Jiří Homola, Deputy Chairman of the Government Council for Research, Development and Innovation and member of the Academic Council of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, pointing to the groundbreaking discoveries of Antonín Holý, who was at the birth of drugs against hepatitis B and AIDS, or Otto Wichterle, who gave the world contact lenses. "Any measures that will stimulate research organisations to transfer and help them develop their transfer activities are therefore very beneficial," He added.
Universities, institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences and other research organisations have their own transfer offices, whose activities are the focus of the reform in the section on strengthening the transfer ecosystem. Some of them have managed to blaze a trail for knowledge transfer in recent years.
This was confirmed by Martin Fusek, director of the IOCB Tech transfer office and one of the pioneers of knowledge transfer in the Czech Republic:"For many years, transfer was only talked about at government level, yet a number of very professional and successful transfer offices have been established. I am glad that now there is not just talk, but finally something is really happening. Reform is necessary. I see the support for academic spin-off companies in particular as positive. The reform removes some of the legislative obstacles and also focuses on funding."
While strengthening economic competitiveness and strategic resilience in key technologies is one of the main objectives of the reform, the reform also focuses on knowledge transfer to government and public policy making. Science to policy is one of the core areas of knowledge valorisation, which appears in the reform in a range of measures, from support for specialised centres for transfer to public policy (policy labs) to support for departmental research capacities.
"Truly effective public administration cannot do without a good understanding of even very complex social phenomena. This requires a strong research background. In our country, it has never been purposefully built, and it is time to correct that." added the Minister Langšádlová.
The presentation of the individual steps of the transfer reform was followed by a conference that looked in detail at the different areas of the reform. This event launched a series of further activities that will not only be directed by the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic. The key to success is the cooperation of all actors. For example, a project to support the European Commission in setting up a transfer ecosystem in the Czech Republic was presented at the conference and should be launched this spring.
The full set of measures can be found on the transfer.gov.cz website.
PRESS DEPARTMENT MVVI
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