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 main objective of the programme is to strengthen research activities in the area of applied social sciences and apply the results of these activities to increase the competitiveness of the Czech Republic, enhance the quality of life of its inhabitants and balance socio-economic development.
This programme will hope to implement projects focused on applied research and also support projects of experimental development (e.g. development of specialized software for modelling and simulation of economic and demographic trends, the impact of regulation and deregulation in various sectors, etc.).
The selected projects in this programme must be consistent with the objectives of the programme and must conclude with at least one of the supported results pursuant to the valid methodology for the evaluation of the results of research organizations and evaluation of the results of completed programmes. These results must be actually applied in practice:
• N - certified methodologies and practices, including specialized maps with expert content;
• R - software;
• Hleg - results promulgated into legislation and standards;
• Hneleg - results promulgated into directives and regulations of a non-legislative nature which are binding within the competence of the relevant governmental body;
• V - research reports
Projects in the OMEGA programme may be submitted by research organizations and enterprises but only by legal entities that meet the definition of an applicant pursuant to Act No. 130/2002 Coll. and the Community Framework for State Aid for Research, Development and Innovation (2006/C 323/01).
The duration of the programme is expected to be 6 years, between 2012 and 2017. The public tenders in research, experimental development and innovation (hereinafter referred to as the "public tender") will be announced in three consecutive tenders. The first tenders were launched in 2011 with support being provided in 2012. The minimum length of the research projects in this programme is 12 months. The maximum length of the research projects in this programme is 24 months. The length of the projects from the individual calls will not overlap.
Funding
The total amount of support for the whole duration of the OMEGA programme between 2012 and 2017 will be 309 million CZK, which is made up of public expenditure from the budget chapter of TACR. The recipients on the call for tenders will be allocated over 51.5 million CZK, if the rules for the provision of these public funds do not state otherwise.