Overview
The Technology Agency of the Czech Republic is an organizational unit of the stat that was founded in 2009 by the Act No. 130/2002 Coll. on the support of research, experimental development and innovation. The creation of TA CR is one of the cornerstones of the fundamental reforms in research and development (R&D) in the Czech Republic. The key features of the reform is the redistribution of financial support from the national budget. The Technology Agency of the Czech Republic simplifies the state support of applied research and experimental development which has been fragmented and implemented by many bodies before the reform.
In accordance with the Act No. 130/2002 activities assigned to TA CR are:
- preparation and realization of its own programmes of applied research, experimental development and innovation; and realization of programmes from those governmental departments without public financial support,
- evaluation and selection of programme proposals,
- administration of functional financial support of applied research from the national budget,
- control of a fulfilment of project contracts,
- evaluation of fulfilment of objectives of programmes and control of their results,
- counselling (legal, financial and IPR) for programmes and projects of applied research, experimental development and innovation,
- communication support between research organizations and the private sector,
- negotiations with institutions in the Czech Republic and the European Union in terms of permitted public support of applied research and innovation, and
- cooperation with similar foreign institutions.
There are 7 funding programmes of The Technology Agency CR:
- Alfa Programme
- Beta Programme
- Gama Programme
- Delta Programme
- Epsilon Programme
- Omega Programme
- Competence Centres
The programme aims to support the verification of the results of applied research and experimental development (hereinafter referred to as “R&DI”) in terms of their practical application and to prepare their subsequent commercial use. The main objective of the programme is to support and significantly streamline the transformation of R&DI results achieved in research organizations and/or in collaboration between research organizations and enterprises into practical applications to enable their commercialization and support their implementation.
Programme of applied research, experimental development and innovation GAMA (hereinafter referred to as the “GAMA programme”) was approved by Government Resolution No. 455 of the 12th of June 2013.
Projects supported by the GAMA programme must (in accordance with the applicable Methodology of evaluation of research organizations, and evaluation of completed programmes, and the Register of Information on Results) lead to the achievement of at least one of the following types of results:
P - Patent
G - Technically realized results - prototype, functional sample
Z - Pilot operation, verified technology
R - Software
F - Results with legal protection - utility model, industrial design
The results achieved in Sub-programme 2 must have a particular user.
The programme is divided into two sub-programmes with different methods of implementation and recipients.
Sub-programme 1 is aimed at supporting verification of the practical use of R&DI results that were created in research organizations and have high potential for application in new or improved products, manufacturing processes or services with high added value and high probability of competitiveness. Sub-programme 1 is also focused on systemic support of the stages of R&DI, beginning with the identification of practically utilizable results of R&DI and ending with verifying the possibility of their use as a commercial model, functional sample or prototype. Recipients can only be research organizations.
Sub-programme 2 is aimed at supporting projects of applied research and experimental development especially leading to the commercialization of the achieved results, which the programme will not support. The support will be provided for projects involving the completion of functional prototypes, verification of their properties, verification of test series and evaluation of all technological, economic, social, health and other impacts of new products or services. Recipients can only enterprises. Research organizations may participate as other project participants.
The planned duration of the programme is 6 years (2014-2019). The first public tender was announced in 2013, with the provision of support commencing in 2014. Subsequently, public tenders will be announced annually for Sub-programme 1 from 2013 to 2016 with the provision of support commencing from 2014 to 2017, and for Sub-programme 2 from 2013 to 2017 with the provision of support commencing from 2014 to 2018, only in the event that projects with the same subject of support are not financed in the Czech Republic by the upcoming Operational Programme “Research, Development and Education” or “Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Competitiveness”.
Funding
Total expenditure on the programme will be 2,770 million CZK, of which 1,798 million CZK will be covered from the state budget. The expenditure shall be provided for each year of the duration of the programme in accordance with the expected announcement of the individual public tenders.