Contemporary Czech space policy and its future prospects

Czechoslovakia was the third nation to have a citizen in space when Vladimir Remek flew in 1978. It was present at the formulation of international space law principles and ran some space-related projects within Intercosmos. The Czech Republic reassumed this tradition after Czechoslovakia was dissolved in 1993. There are no special funds to support space R&D. Hence, participants must compete for R&D resources with companies from other areas of industry. This improves their competitiveness. Czech society is broadly interested in space-related activities. The graduate system structure reflects this. Not only can one study space-related courses at technical universities but international space law is an obligatory part of international public law courses in the Czech Republic. Strong support for space activities is mirrored in the institutional fragmentation of this sphere. Competences in space applications are distributed among some 20 institutions and organizations. This status harms the Czech potential in space activities and R&D. The Czech Republic became a member of ESA in 2008 but Czech companies have not taken advantage of the full potential of membership. Participation in international projects is very important for a small post-communist economy because economic growth is based on convergence towards developed countries, which may dissipate after 2020. Now is the right time to strengthen the primary research that will establish a strong foundation for innovation-based economic growth.