Czech Science Has Ambition. Will a New Law Deliver Results?

After twenty-five years, Czech research is getting new rules. From January 2027, the Act on Research, Development, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer (No. 328/2025 Coll.) will replace the 2002 legislation (No. 130/2002 Coll.). Together with the accompanying Act No. 329/2025 Coll. and its implementing regulations, it aims to link the state’s strategic priorities more closely with funding, research evaluation and the use of results.

A study by Petra Solská of Technology Centre Prague (TCP), published in the latest issue of the journal Ergo, places the new law within the broader arc of Czech research policy since the 1990s. It traces how expectations placed on the research, development and innovation (R&D&I) system have shifted alongside the Czech economy and research environment – from building institutions and funding rules to today’s focus on results, the use of knowledge and the returns on public investment. The study also examines the law’s new tools and the conditions for putting them into practice.

From Building the System to Measuring What It Delivers

The 1990s were a decade of transformation for Czech R&D&I. Academic institutions were restructured, the Government Council for Research and Development and the Czech Science Foundation were established, and project-based and institutional funding were split apart. The country’s approaching EU accession then set the stage for the next chapter. Act No. 130/2002 Coll. aligned public support rules with the European framework and shaped the basic principles of funding for the next two decades. Over time, procedural compliance came to dominate, while the link between funding, results and their actual use remained weak. From 2027, the priorities shift. Act No. 328/2025 Coll., together with the amending Act No. 329/2025 Coll., places greater weight on the effectiveness and evaluation of public support, knowledge transfer, the protection of state security interests, human capital development and the accountability of individual actors in the system.

The Case for Reform

The new legislation arrives at a time when the Czech R&D&I system is grappling with several long-standing structural weaknesses. The OECD has repeatedly flagged the system’s fragmented governance, weak links between research and business, and pronounced regional disparities. Attention is also turning to the relationship between the money invested and what the system actually delivers in return. The Supreme Audit Office has pointed to systemic shortcomings that limit efficiency and the ability to convert spending into corresponding results and benefits. Research and development intensity in the Czech Republic also lags behind the EU: in 2024, Czech R&D spending stood at 1.82% of GDP, compared with an EU average of 2.24% and the European Research Area’s target of 3%. The trend also shows up in the Global Innovation Index, where the Czech Republic fell from 24th to 32nd place between 2020 and 2025.

A similar debate is underway across Europe. Reports by Mario Draghi, Enrico Letta and Manuel Heitor approach the issue from different angles but point to the same problem: Europe’s scientific base is not translating into a matching rate of growth for innovative companies, productivity and technological competitiveness. At the same time, economic and technological security is becoming more important. Research, data and sensitive technologies are increasingly part of the rivalry between major powers, driving greater emphasis on protecting knowledge and reducing strategic dependencies.

Research policy is increasingly judged by something other than the sheer volume of money distributed. What matters more is what that public money produces and how the results get used – and the new law is built around that shift.

What the New Law Introduces

The study examines six interconnected areas: strategic governance and more predictable funding; eligibility, ethics and the protection of state security interests; three support regimes; the mobilisation of public, European and private funding; evaluation and its role in future decision-making; and data management and open science. Among the new tools are testing and experimental infrastructures, regulatory sandboxes (controlled testing environments), systemic support, and the option to launch or reinforce a funding programme in response to emerging risks.

What Will Decide Whether It Works

The study sets out five recommendations for implementing the law:

• manage the law’s rollout as a project, with clearly assigned responsibility;
• establish a transparent link between evaluation, actual results and subsequent decisions on programmes and funding;
• build up expert capacity in both public administration and research organisations for programme management, evaluation, data work and knowledge transfer;
• preserve room for high-quality long-term research and legitimate scientific risk-taking, while still being able to respond to current challenges;
• design the system so that the state keeps learning from it.

„The risk isn’t the text of the law itself, but a possible gap between its ambition and the system’s capacity to put the intended changes into practice. The law expands the tools available for managing and supporting R&D&I – but how much they achieve will depend on how the new instruments are translated into methodologies, decision-making procedures and the everyday work of everyone involved,“ says Petra Solská.