Innovation performance of the Czech Republic and innovation activities of Czech companies in international comparison

This thesis analyzes the innovation performance of the Czech Republic and the innovation activities of Czech enterprises in an international context. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the country’s position based on secondary research and to assess how it compares with European and global innovation leaders. The theoretical part presents the main approaches to measuring innovation, the innovation typology according to the Oslo Manual, and the methodology behind the composite indices GII and EIS. The analytical part draws on data from the Czech Statistical Office, Eurostat, WIPO, and the European Commission to track the development of enterprise innovation activity and national innovation performance between 2010/2012 and 2022/2024. The findings show that the innovation activity of Czech enterprises averaged 46.7 % over the observed period. In other words, nearly half of all Czech companies implemented or attempted to implement innovation activities during this time. The country reached its innovation peak in 2018-2020. The most active innovators were large, foreign-controlled companies operating in the manufacturing sector. According to the GII, the Czech Republic has consistently held a mid-level position, while the EIS classifies the country as a moderate innovator. As for the most significant barriers to innovation in the Czech Republic, they include a lack of financial resources, particularly limited access to external funding such as venture capital. In addition, companies have repeatedly faced a shortage of qualified workers and the administrative complexity of innovation processes, which also weakens the innovation potential of the business sector. The relevance of these obstacles has remained relatively stable throughout the period, indicating that structural problems in the innovation environment have yet to be systematically resolved.