Could The Czech Republic
Become a Tech Superpower?
Photo by Chris Happel
Calling any country a ‘superpower’ will bring attention, popularity and hopefully more money to that country. Backing this hefty claim with solid-based arguments and data might prove too complicated and end up as wishful thinking, especially in a country as small as the Czech Republic that suffered so much under communist reign for more than four decades. Nevertheless, its industrial base and inventive people brought it back on its feet, and even though many perceive it as catching up to the western world, Czech Republic is in some areas already ahead. Not so fast
More than just a car manufacturer
When talking about technological advancements and innovation, the heart of Europe doesn’t usually make the top list. Take for example the latest Regional Innovation Scoreboard report by the European Commission, where the Czech Republic fell short of the European average, revealing the relatively low research and development expenditures, a weak knowledge-intensive service sector, or ineffective governance of public research.
As doomy and gloomy as the current situation might seem, there are areas where the Czech Republic truly shines and could stand among the world’s best. Some might not come to mind at first, for example, aviation, namely ultralight aircrafts; Czechs are one of the largest ultralight and light sport aircrafts producers in the world and belong to the world’s top aircraft engine developers .
The backbone of innovation and future successes, the educational system, despite all political chest-thumping and bold statements, is not hitting the mark when it comes to international comparison as well. In fact, the structural problems, such as low teachers’ salaries or low spending on students, have been prevalent for as much as twenty years and are among the lowest across OECD countries . Czech schools are also poorly equipped with IT hardware and most of Czech teachers, despite the enthusiasm of many of them, haven’t been appropriately trained in IT skills.
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In addition, Czech Phoenix was the first electrical two-seat aircraft in the world to take off , and guess who is the threetime-in-a-row European freestyle aerobatic champion and the current rising star of Red Bull Air Race…? Getting back to digitisation and innovations, thanks to similar technological jump that brought Hungary to the top list of countries with 4G penetration and speed, the Czech Republic became a European e-commerce leader with more than 43 per cent of technical or non-food goods sold online and the highest number of e-shops per person in Europe in 2017 . Since the introduction of mobile-contactless payments with Google Pay (formerly Android Pay) last year and Apple Pay promised to come soon , Czech Republic is on the way to fortifying its lead in the field.
