Prague, April 7 (CTK) – The Czech government on Thursday earmarked some 800 million crowns for the Technological Agency’s ZETA programme of applied research in 2017-2025, which will be aimed to improve cooperation between academicians, businesses and public administration, and support young scientists.
The programme will boost university departments and research institutes’ participation in applied research.
Deputy Prime Minister Pavel Belobradek (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL), who submitted the proposal, said the implementation of research result in practice is insufficient in the Czech Republic.
He said the ZETA programme focuses on real cooperation between young researchers and companies in solving projects.
“We expect the programme to help raise the competitiveness of the Czech Republic, and also make the use of young talents’ skills more effective,” Belobradek said.
According to the plan, projects are to be carried out by teams of students or researchers aged under 35.
Advantageous conditions should be granted to scientists on parental leave and those caring of small children.
By this, the programme wants to enhance the number of women in Czech research, of whom there are only some 30 percent among scientists.
Within ZETA, the state may spend 85 percent of a project’s costs on it at the most, two million crowns on one project on average.
The total spending within the programme is to reach 847 million crowns.
