Background information

On 2 April 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Ministerstvo průmyslu a obchodu České republiky, MPO ČR ) announced a one-stage public tender in research, development and innovation (Act No. 130/2002 Coll. (the “Act”) in The Country for the Future (the “Program”), Sub-Program 3 “Innovation in Practice”.). The tender is aimed at SMEs only.

The program Country for the Future was approved by the government in May 2019, however, the current situation associated with the expansion of COVID- 19 forced government to change the partial focus of the program.

Currently, the public tender is thematically aimed at the introduction of new innovative solutions (innovative can be both processes/organisation or products) which can in various respects help to combat the COVID-19 crisis or similar future health threat. Subsidies will also be provided for prevention-related innovations.

The total allocation of the programme is CZK 300,000,000 (€11,021,308 approx.).

Content of measure

The projects that can be supported:

• in the medical technology and diverse medical, monitoring and other applications, bringing a new or substantially improved manufacturing process or the provision of specialised services;
• projects in all sectors of business, aimed at introducing innovative operational, logistical and other organisational processes that reduce the risk of spreading infectious diseases to residents, including employees and customers of companies;
• projects that increase the degree of digitisation, automation or the ability of the organisation to respond flexibly and in an adaptive way to similar exceptional situations.

Amount of subsidy:

The program will be able to get a subsidy up to 100% for:

• personal expenses;
• depreciation and other direct costs, overheads, etc.

Up to 25% of project costs may be allocated to project related costs such as:

• preparation of the application;
• small investments;
• marketing etc.

The launch of the solution must begin in the period from 4 April 2020 to 1 September 2020. The duration of the project solution is a maximum of 36 months, and the completion of the solution should be no later than 31 August 2023.

Use of measure

According to the press release of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MPO ČR), 34 projects of the total of 52 project applications have been supported.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	SMEs	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Company / Companies	European Funds National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Informed	Informed
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

In general, social partners, which are members of tripartite body (Council of economic and social agreement, Rada hospodářské a sociální dohody, RHSD) were informed and consulted in both formal (requested by institutional settings) and informal ways. They were not involved in the management of the policy measures.

Views and reactions

Supportive.

Sources

• 02 April 2020: MPO ČR: Second call of the Country for the Future Program focused on COVID-19/MPO ČR: Druhá výzva v programu The Country for the Future – zaměření COVID-19 (www.mpo.cz)
• 02 April 2020: Country for the Future (www.enovation.cz)
• 24 August 2020: MPO ČR: Projects approved for the support/MPO ČR: Schválené projekty (www.mpo.cz)