Updated on: 2020-05-18
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| Q1A. What arrangements, if any, do you have in place to ensure scientific advice informs national policy and decision making in relation to Covid-19? | The National Security Council (hereinafter referred to as „NSC“) is a standing body of the Czech Government responsible for coordinating the Czech Republic’s security issues and preparing draft measures to ensure the country’s security. The Czech Government establishes, in support of its activities and decisions, advisory and working bodies, made up of members of the governmental institutions and other experts. They may be established either as permanent or temporary bodies (https://www.vlada.cz/en/pracovni-a-porad...). In cases of serious infectious diseases, the NSC is activated and other members in accordance with their specialized professional focus become a part of it. This is the case of the Central Epidemiological Commission (hereinafter referred to as „CEC“) for recent coronavirus SARS CoV-2 / COVID-19 crisis. The CEC is chaired by Minister of Health and is composed of 21 members (representatives of the main public stakeholders). External collaborators, experts in the field of medicine and/or scientific community, have been invited to cooperate in dealing with the current emergency too. The Research, Development and Innovation Council (hereinafter referred to as “CRDI”) is the main advisory body to the Government of the Czech Republic in the area of RDI. The CRDI is chaired by Prime Minister and is composed of a team of experts from various fields of academia, industry and RDI policy stakeholders. |
| Q1B. In what ways, if any, are you coordinating on Covid-19 STI responses at international level? | The Ministry of Health is in close contact with national medical experts and scientists in relevant fields as well as with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and World Health Organisation (WHO). The connection with those and many other platforms allows for using the most up-to-date information on the latest developments and related recommendations for dealing with the situation at the Czech national level. The Czech Republic is a Member State of a number of international research infrastructures and is thus engaged with the efforts that the research community is developing in response to the SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19 pandemic. Whether these are international R&D organizations established under public international law (https://www.vyzkumne-infrastruktury.cz/e...) or European research infrastructures cosortia (ERIC) established under the EU legal framework (https://www.vyzkumne-infrastruktury.cz/e...), the Czech Republic fights Covid-19 as an active Member of the world leading laboratories (https://www.vyzkumne-infrastruktury.cz/e...). |
| Q2.Do you have dedicated arrangements in place for communicating science advice and for refuting misleading information to the public on Covid-19? | The Czech Republic announces the latest information related to the national and international pandemic situation to the public via various official means of communication, through which scientific findings and expert advice are communicated as well. Several approaches and examples can be mentioned: • The Czech Government and each Ministry have its own official website where progress reports on the coronavirus pandemic situation are regularly updated and where information and advice based on analytics are also placed. • The Ministry of Health created website for communication with the general public (https://www.mzcr.cz/cizinci/dokumenty/qu...). It also launched the website in collaboration with IBM chatbot, so called virtual nurse Agnes (Anežka), which continuosly apears on other official sites. • The Czech Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as „CAS“) – experts from numerous institutes of CAS assist with testing of samples for the new type of the coronavirus and analyse materials for the production of breathing masks and respirators. All news related to the CAS’s assistance in the struggle against the contagion can be found at http://www.avcr.cz/en/news-archive/The-C.... |
| Q3. What new STI policy measures, if any, is your country taking to respond specifically to the Covid-19 crisis? | The Czech Science Foundation (hereinafter referred to as „GACR“) is the only institution in the Czech Republic that provides public funding exclusively for basic research projects (https://gacr.cz/en/). GACR also supports bilateral cooperation with foreign agencies on the Lead Agency principle approach. • GACR is engaged in the Austrian joint call "Urgent Funding SARS-CoV-2" announced by the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF), https://gacr.cz/vyhlaseni-vyzvy-urgent-f.... The GACR’s budgetary allocation for the call is approximately 3 million EUR. • GACR is also engaged in the Swiss SNSF Covid-19 international call (https://gacr.cz/vyhlasujeme-vyzvu-nrp-78...) with the 1.5 million EUR approximate allocation. The Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as „TACR“) supports applied research, experimental development and innovation (https://www.tacr.cz/en/). TACR permits to its running projects to enlarge their scope and ask for additional financial support for activities related to COVID-19 (i.e. top-up funding), https://www.tacr.cz/aktivity-na-podporu-.... New calls focused on addressing the Covid-19 topics have been launched by TACR too with the following budgetary allocations: • Approx. 3.7 million EUR for the projects financed under the “GAMA” programme. • Approx. 3.7 million EUR for the projects financed under the “ETA” programme. • Approx. 3.7 million EUR for the projects financed under the “TREND” programme. (The recent currency rate used above is 27 CZK / EUR.) The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as “MEYS”) financially supports the large research infrastructures (https://www.vyzkumne-infrastruktury.cz/e...). The Czech Republic is a Member State of numerous international research infrastructures and is engaged in the efforts that the research community is developing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. An overview of related activities in response to the Covid-19 epidemic can be fund at https://www.vyzkumne-infrastruktury.cz/e.... The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as „MIT“) has announced several initiatives for projects to support fight against the coronavirus epidemic: • MIT calls for projects through its program „The Country for the Future“. The contest is thematically focused on the introduction of new solutions through innovation process in small and medium-sized enterprises. The amount of the subsidy can reach up to 25 million CZK/project (approx. 1 million EUR). In total approx. 11.1 million EUR have been allocated for the projects to be financed under the “Country for the Future” programme. (https://www.mpo.cz/cz/podnikani/podpora-...) • MIT announced XII. COVID-19 Call under the Technology Program within the implementation of Operational Programme Entrepreneurship and Innovations for Competitiveness (hereinafter referred to as „OP EIC“). The call is aimed at supporting business activities focusing on manufacturing of medical devices and personal protection or disposal of infectious waste and those with the fight against the further spread of coronavirus infection through the acquisition of new technological equipment. The allocation is set at approx. 11.1 million EUR. (https://www.mpo.cz/cz/podnikani/dotace-a...) • The MIT has been a long-term support provider for development of state-of-the-art technologies and innovations and has announced a call for applications under the „Czech Rise Up – Smart measures against the COVID-19“OP EIC sub-program. Projects will undergo the Czech version of the hackathon “Hack the Crisis – Czech Rise Up”. It is organized by the CzechInvest agency jointly with the MIT and in cooperation with Poland and Estonia. Approx. 7.4 million EUR is set for the projects to be supported. (https://www.mpo.cz/cz/podnikani/dotace-a... https://www.mpo.cz/en/) • MIT also announced a call „Innovation vouchers COVID-19“ under the OP EIC to promote sharing of knowledge and know-how between businesses and research community, which entrepreneurs can use exclusively for the fight against coronavirus infection. MIT is ready to allocate approx. 2 million EUR. (https://www.mpo.cz/cz/podnikani/dotace-a...) Another iniciative taken by the MIT related to COVID-19 is described under the Q4A. |
| Q4A. At national level, what mechanisms are you developing or relying upon to bring together different STI actors (researchers, industry, government, health sector, foundations, etc.) to effectively collaborate on responses to Covid-19? | The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic (hereinafter referred to as “MIT”) launched new platform “CONNECTING THE CZECH REPUBLIC (SPOJUJEME ČESKO): Innovation and modern technology help manage the coronavirus pandemic“. It was prepared jointly with CzechInvest agency, which both cooperate with the Ministriy of Health, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Transport, Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, CzechTrade Agency, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, universities and private sector (https://www.mpo.cz/en/guidepost/for-the-...). The Council for Research, Development and Innovation (hereinafter referred to as “CRDI”) - CRDI´s main role is governance and coordination of RDI on the Czech national level, including preparation of the framework of public budget spending for RDI activities. The CRDI members are actors and experts from different RDI areas and the CRDI team is composed of representatives of academia, industries and other RDI stakeholders (https://www.vyzkum.cz/Default.aspx?lang=...). |
| Q4B. At international level, what mechanisms are you developing or relying upon to bring together different STI actors (researchers, industry, government, health sector, foundations, etc.) to effectively collaborate on responses to Covid-19? | The Czech Republic is contributing to discussions and cooperates within the European Union as well as with other international organisations worldwide in various directions of the utmost important subjects in this area. At the European level, in the past few weeks an umbrella document originated on the platform of EU Member States and the European Commission - the so-called Action Plan "ERAvsCorona". It provides a wide range of measures constituting a response to the current pandemic. One of the key instruments of implementation of the Action Plan is already the 8th EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (2014-2020), in which the first specifically targeted call has led to funding of a total of 18 European research projects focused on diagnostics, vaccines and drugs development against Covid-19 in the total amount reaching nearly 50 million EUR (https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-i...). The Technology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic is the national information centre for European RDI, and has created a website on information about European RDI opportunities in relation to Covid-19 (https://www.tc.cz/en). The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (hereinafrer referred to as „ESFRI“) is putting all its effort in helping to coordinate actions and investments among research infrastructures at the European and national levels for the development of diagnostic tools, treatments and vaccines, as well as the analysis of the economic and social impacts of the implemented confinement measures. ESFRI is helping the scientific community by gathering information about dedicated services offered by research infrastructures and communicating all relevant actions as broadly as possible (https://www.esfri.eu/covid-19). Participation of the Czech Republic on the international global level takes place within organizations such as WHO (http://www.euro.who.int/en/home) or UNESCO (https://reliefweb.int/report/world/unesc...). |
| Q5. What novel approaches, if any, is your country using to address the coronavirus crisis (e.g. use of machine learning, open science initiatives boosting access and sharing of data and research results, development and use of prediction models, etc.)? | [Left blank] |
| Q6A. What impact on the STI system do you anticipate in the short-, medium- and long-term, and what measures are you implementing to address those? | The Czech Government adopted the COVID program (interest-free funding for entrepreneurs affected by coronavirus infection). It was prepared by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) and the Czech-Moravian Guarantee and Development Bank (CMZRB). It aims to facilitate access to operational funding for small and medium-sized enterprises, whose economic activities are limited due to the occurrence of coronavirus infection and related preventive measures (https://www.cmzrb.cz/en/). Among the proposed instruments are: • The COVID Loan program provides support for SMEs in the form of soft loans in the amount of CZK 500 000 (approx. 20 000 EUR) up to CZK 15 million (approx. 600 000 EUR) with zero interest rate. Loans are granted up to 90 % of eligible expenditure with a maturity of 2 years, including the possibility of deferred repayment for up to 12 months. The loan may be used, for example, for the acquisition of small tangible or intangible assets, the acquisition and financing of inventories or for other operating expenses and expenditures. There are no fees associated with the processing and granting of the loan or its possible early repayment. Applicants for the COVID Loan will benefit from this interest-free financing, if their contractual performance has been delayed, suspended or cancelled due to measures taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection (https://www.cmzrb.cz/podnikatele/uvery/u...). • The guarantee program COVID II was the next one in a series of upcoming supports announced by the CMZRB (https://www.cmzrb.cz/podnikatele/uvery/u...). • The CMZRB in cooperation with the MIT, Capitol of Prague and commercial banks prepared further guarantee schemes such as COVID Prague and/or COVID III. The COVID Prague Program was already launched. The COVID III Program will be announced soon. |
| Q6B. Is support of the STI system part of planned stimulus packages aimed at supporting the economy? | At national level, all described activities in responses to previous questions support the STI system and thus contribute to the economy recovery and development. To briefly summarize, among such activities are those of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, CzechInvest, Czech-Moravian Guarantee and Development Bank and/or Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. |
| Q7. Is there anything else regarding the STI policy response to Covid-19 in your country you would like to mention? | [Left blank] |