On 18 May, the Government of the Czech Republic approved a new programme of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic called SIGMA, which will support applied research and innovation projects.

The announcement of the first public competitions is scheduled for the end of this year (2022) within the budget possibilities.

Objectives

The SIGMA programme is designed as a broadly focused instrument to support applied research and innovation. This concept will allow to meet the objectives of national strategies while responding flexibly to current research and innovation challenges.

At the level of the programme, which is approved by the Government, only the basic parameters are defined and other thematic and technical issues will be determined according to actual needs in the preparation of competitions. This will make the whole process of supporting applied research and innovation more flexible and faster. The identification of the topics of the competitions will be done with the involvement of relevant ministries and regions.

The programme is designed with a duration of 14 years. More about the SIGMA programme here.