Czech spending on research and development up by 5 %, still below EU average

Spending on research and development in Czechia rose by just over five percent last year to CZK 146.9 billion, the Czech Statistics Office informed on Thursday. The increase was driven mainly by companies under foreign control.

Despite the rise, R&D spending remained flat at 1.82 percent of GDP — below the EU average of about 2.3 percent. In Germany and Austria, the figure exceeds three percent.

Private sources funded Czech research with around CZK 93 billion, while public funds contributed 52.3 billion, including 9.2 billion from European grants.

Nearly two-thirds of all R&D spending in Czechia went into the business sector, where investments reached CZK 95 billion last year. That is nearly twice as much as was spent on research in universities and government institutions, which together accounted for CZK 50.7 billion.