Crowdfunding has become increasingly popular over the past decade, yet it has been with us for centuries. The Statue of liberty in New York or the Czech National Theatre are both examples where communities funded an idea or a project. The latest innovation in crowdfunding is equity crowd investing allowing investors to invest in and own a share in privately held companies or real estate. 

According to the European Innovation Scoreboard 2018 published by the European Commission,,the Czech Republic is a Moderate Innovator. Over time, performance has declined relative to that of the EU in 2010. Employment impacts and Firms investment are the strongest innovation dimensions. Finance and support and intellectual assets are the weakest innovation dimensions, the country report says.

The business services sector in Prague reports a year-on-year growth of 20% and the same is expected for the next year. Prague business service centers currently employ 50 000 experts and plan to hire 5 000 more by the end of 2018, the latest report by the Association of Busines Services (ABSL) says.

When it comes to competitiveness, Europe is a story of contrasts, with four distinct groups: a very competitive north-west, including Switzerland; a relatively competitive south-west, led by France; a rising northeast region, led by Poland, Czech Republic and the Baltic countries, which rank on par with or higher than several Western European economies on several aspects of competitiveness; and the south-eastern region—in particular, the Balkan countries—which lags behind the other groups, according to the 2018 edition of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report.