On
Friday, 30 January 2026, the Research, Development and Innovation Council,
chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel
Havlíček, met for its first session this year. The Council welcomed the newly
appointed members and elected its Board. At their session at the Straka
Academy, the Council members also nominated a new chairman of the Technology
Agency of the Czech Republic and members of the Board of the Czech Science
Foundation. The nominations will be submitted to the Government for
consideration.
Following the Government resolution of 26 January 2026, the new members of the
Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Council are the Minister of
Education, Youth and Sports Robert
Plaga, the President of the Czech Academy of Sciences Radomír Pánek, the President of the
Association of Research Organisations Libor
Kraus and the President of the Scientific Council of the CAS Pavel Baran. Plaga, Pánek and Kraus
were also elected, by secret ballot, vice-chairs of the RDI Council today. The
First Vice-Chair position has not yet been filled.
"I
want the R&D&I Council to hold a strong position, to have momentum, and
to be truly influential. It has what it takes, as it is composed of respected
figures from the Academy of Sciences, academia, and the business community,” stated Karel Havlíček, Chairman of the Research, Development
and Innovation Council, adding: “We
have a massive opportunity to make a difference. We can deliver on things that
have long been discussed, and I will not hesitate to push forward with whatever
the Council agrees upon.”
At the beginning of the session, the RDI Council members observed a minute of silence in memory of the late Jiří Witzany, rector emeritus of CTU,
who served on the RDI Council in 2016-2020. Karel Havlíček then briefed the
participants on the priorities and opportunities for Czech science, research,
and innovation as outlined in the Government’s Policy Statement.
“The
Prime Minister will certainly attend some of our sessions; he places great
emphasis on new technologies, including artificial intelligence. The Government Commissioner for AI, Lukáš
Kačena, is present at today’s session; these fields are well-known to us—we
also have a Government Commissioner for Digitisation,” Vice-Prime Minister Karel Havlíček informed the Council.
Today, the RDI Council unanimously agreed to
nominate Petr Sklenička to the Government as the new Chairman of the
Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR). He is a highly regarded expert
who, among other roles, served two terms as the Rector of the Czech University
of Life Sciences Prague.
"At
the moment, the Czech research environment may be viewed as being characterised
by certain timidity; there is a prevailing sense that the research being
conducted lacks boldness. It might be a matter of mindset, or perhaps the
agency is more focused on ticking off deliverables rather than on monitoring
the actual impact of the projects. We want to motivate the promoters and
authors to leverage the results effectively," said Petr Sklenička adding: "It is important to use the multiplier
effect so that the invested funds yield the highest possible returns. I also
regard as crucial the issues of cooperation with top countries and linking
research with the transformation and modernisation of Czech industry."
The members of the RDI Council agreed to
propose to the Government that it appoint Martin Hartl, who is currently the Vice-Chairman of the Czech
Science Foundation (GA CR) for technical sciences, as a member of the Board of
the GA CR for a second term. In addition, the Council members proposed to the
Council Chair Havlíček that he appoint new members for the 11 FORD expert
panels that are replenished annually.
They also approved, among other things,
minutes from the meetings that discussed the results of the evaluation of
research organisations with the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of
Labour and Social Affairs, which will be published on https://hodnoceni.rvvi.cz.
Further, the Council approved a report on its activities in 2025, which it will
submit to the government.
Karel Havlíček also thanked Vladimir Mařík, who had completed his
mandate after 8 years, for his work on the RDI Council. He said that the Council is
aware of his importance for Czech research and will be happy to cooperate with
him in the future.
Source: RDI Council - Office of the
Government of the Czech Republic | 30. 1. 2026
