28 billion CZK to support digitalization in the Czech Republic

As part of the EU’s post-crisis economic recovery, the Czech Republic has been allocated nearly CZK 180 billion from the European Instrument for Recovery and Resilience, with 15 percent – just under CZK 28 billion – going to digitalisation. Private companies, state-owned enterprises, state and public authorities and start-ups can apply for funding for digitisation processes. 

Digitalisation is one of the two main pillars of the National Recovery Plan, a support instrument whose final form was negotiated with the European Commission in a complex manner. The individual pillars of the National Recovery Plan have their own promoter, i.e. a state administration body responsible for the distribution of NPO funds to the final beneficiaries. In the case of digitisation, these are mostly the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of the Interior, to which applicants then address themselves.

“Any entity that meets the conditions announced specifically for their group can apply for funding for digitisation. The allocated CZK 28 billion will be divided among six so-called components, where, for example, over CZK 7 billion is allocated to public administration and over CZK 5.5 billion to start-ups and new technologies,” said Jaromír Hanzal, chairman of the Association for Applied Research in IT (AAVIT).

Allocation for digital transformation

Digital ecology

In addition to being a major contributor to market productivity and technological development, digitalisation can significantly reduce emissions of so-called greenhouse gases. Digitalisation will thus enable the country to meet the criteria of the Green Deal for Europe, in which the Czech Republic has committed to reducing carbon dioxide production by 55 percent by 2030. Given the structure of the Czech economy, which is still largely industrial, digital innovations should simplify individual internal processes and thus reduce their emissions.

“There can be a significant difference in emissions from transport, for example. For instance, the development of technologies in the field of augmented and virtual reality will make it easier for companies producing any kind of machinery to carry out the necessary regular inspections and related visits – because they can revise their products in this environment ‘remotely’. Another example can be applications such as Bank ID, which will save citizens many unnecessary trips to the authorities,” explains Michal Košek, CEO of eMan.

The Bank Identity System is one of the leading projects of the Digital Czech Republic vision. The benefits are perceived not only by users, but also by service providers in the public and private sectors. 

“There is no doubt that the expansion of digitalisation is essential for the further development of the competitiveness of our economy. The fact that households and businesses are increasingly interested in digitised services has been confirmed to us by the rapid increase in the popularity of using bank identities to prove identity online, not only to banks but also to the state and to companies. When we surveyed satisfaction with the use of bank identity last year, it became clear that people have reservations about the still low number of digitised services. Expanding the range of digitised services is an area that the state and companies need to focus on intensively,” emphasised Petr Zíma, Bank Identity Manager at Česká spořitelna.