Prague, Oct 26 (CTK) – The expenditures on research and development rose by 3.6 billion crowns in the Czech Republic in a year, according to the data the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) released at a press conference yesterday.
Last year, they reached 88.7 billion crowns, which was a growth by 4.2 percent as against a year ago.
The number of research employees grew as well.
In the past two years, the Czech Republic has been spending on sponsoring science more money than most new EU members, except for Slovenia, in relation to the size of its economy.
In the past five years, the expenditures on research and development rose by two-thirds and the number of the people working in the sector by one-quarter, Martin Mana, from the CSU, said.
Last year, there were 2870 research centres with 100,000 employees, mostly with higher education, Mana said.
The research is primarily booming in the South Moravia Region, Mana said.
There are centres of excellence as well as a high number of research centres in the business sphere in which the spending on research all but quadrupled, he added.
Of all the expenditures, over one half was paid by companies from their own means, another third was paid from the state budget and the remaining money from the EU, Mana said.
Foreign companies spend on research more than domestic ones.
($1 = 24.846 crowns)
