Czech Republic ranks 10th place in Europe for R&D investment
This is the first time the Czech Republic has spent this large amount on R&D. In fact, in 2021, R&D occupied 2% of GDP, as indicated by the Czech Statistical Office. Precisely, it increased by 7.4 percent (year-on-year) compared to 2020, reaching an amount of 121.9 bn koruna. With this result, Czechia represents the 10th state in the entire European Union for R&D investment, where the average is 2.3 percent.
Already in 2020 had been allocated 47.8 bn crowns to R&D from domestic and foreign public sources, including 7.8 bn from Europe. Most of these funds went to universities and the academy of sciences, while 7 bn were donated to companies. In 2021 a total of 76.6 bln kroner was given to enterprises engaged in research and development. The processing industry received 38.5 bn.
At the end of 2021, a total of 121.6 thousand people worked in research and development, a number that, as today, has increased by 3%. Of this total, the percentage of women is 31%. This is because the sectors that create the most employment in R&D are industrial and technology, where traditionally women are less present.
Another important category when it comes to research are foreign people working as researchers at Czech universities. In 2021 there were almost 3,000 of them and they accounted for 12 percent of all researchers. It must be said, however, that there are more foreigners at the Academy of Sciences than at universities. Most frequent foreigners are Slovaks, in second place are Indians, and they are followed by Russians and Ukrainians whose number is about 600 in the public sector (pre-war situation).
Sources: https://www.czso.cz/ ; https://www.camic.cz/
Sources of images: https://pixabay.com/ ; https://www.fiscooggi.it/ ; https://storyset.com/
