While aspects of the Czech science, technology and innovation system are catching up with the OECD standard, the system as a whole is still lagging behind, recently published OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2016 says.

Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) increased from 1.3% in 2009 to 2% in 2014, compared with the OECD 2014 average of 2.38%. The annual GERD growth rate in 2009-2014 stood at 3.4% compared with OECD average of 2.5%. The National Research, Development and Innovation Policy update (2016-2020) confirms the set goal 2.7% in 2020.

The Czech Republic's business environment is in need of improvement, the report says. While the ease of entrepreneurship index has improved over the time, it is still below the OECD median and venture capital is scarce.

The public research system has improved, but challenges remain. Public R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP is well above the OECD median, although the number of publications in top-quartile journals is still limited. The current performance-based research funding system will be replaced by an international process of peer review.

The indicators of innovation-related skills suggest a mixed picture: tertiary education expenditure is slightly below the OECD median and only 17% of the adult population possess a tertiary-level qualification, compared to 27% in the EU28. However, adults's technical problem-solving ability, the performance of 15-year-olds in science, and the share of doctoral graduates in Science and Engineering are at the OECD median, the report says. Look also at the OECD PISA 2015 report on pupils' performance that shows a negative three-year trend in mean scores achieved for science and mathematics.  A summary. The country profile. A summary by the Czech School Inspection Authority (in Czech) is available here. More by the Czech Televsion.

According to the OECD report on science, technology and innovation trends, although salary increases among researchers in recent years have been higher than average salary growth, the Czech labour market does not attract enough foreign researchers. Appropriate incentives and skills-building measures are needed to enhance mobility and competitiveness in global markets.

In spite of efforts to move to a more knowledge-intensive economy, innovation performance is lagging. 
Read more details in the country profile. The press release and the report is available here.

Read also a letter to Dr Andreas Schleicher, director of the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment, where academics from around the world express deep concern about the impact of Pisa tests and call for a halt to the next round of testing.