Ensuring an accessible skilled workforce is a key condition for the successful development of economy, the innovation ecosystem and to develop and improve the performance of public R&D. In order to have enough skilled people, it is necessary to have a quality and functioning education system that is responsive to current trends (technological and societal) and also able to respond to the needs of the labour market. The issue of people and their skills is primarily addressed in sector strategies as an integral part of them. The objectives, instruments and measures in the field of education presented in this chapter are mainly linked to the Czech Education Policy Strategy 2030+ and the Ministry’s Strategic Plan for Higher Education 2021+ for the period from 2021 onwards. The National RIS3 Strategy is only a recommendation for the field of education and addresses only partial aspects in education in areas relevant to the mission of the National RIS3 Strategy. The National RIS3 Strategy focuses only on those aspects of skills that correspond to its objective, i.e. the concentration of funding on priority areas the support of which will result into a concrete shift towards higher competitiveness and which are continuously confronted with the needs of the economy and society through the EDP. The individual strategies, in particular the R&D&I National Policy, the Education Policy Strategy 2030, the SME Support Strategy, the Strategic Employment Policy Framework 2030, the Ministry’s Strategic Plan for the Higher Education Sector for the Period from 2021 Onwards, and others, create a broad base of conditions that must be primarily met in order for the National RIS3 to realise its objectives. In the education system, support linked to the National RIS3 Strategy will focus on the development of STEAM, green and digital skills, or innovation and creativity in education, to name a few.
The following objectives have been set for this key area of change:
Strategic objective: C. Increasing the availability of skilled people for research, development and innovation
This strategic objective should lead to the modernisation of the education system for initial training, the development of the further education system, especially in terms of developing skills for smart specialisation, industrial transition and entrepreneurship, and to an increase in the professional potential of people in research organisations.
This strategic objective is monitored by the following indicators.
Specific objectives:
C 1 Improving the capacity of the education system to prepare people for research, development and innovation
This objective focuses mainly on supporting the modernisation (and digitalisation) of the initial training system with an emphasis on the development of key competences in pupils and students relevant for long-term employment in the economy and society of the 21st century, both on the labour market and in self-entrepreneurship.
C 2 Developing skills for smart specialisation, industrial transformation and entrepreneurship
This objective focuses on the development of flexible forms of training, including the necessary increase in both accessibility and relevance (i.e. making training available in areas where there is simultaneous demand on the labour market). Related to this is the need to support the vocational training of employees in the corporate and public sectors with respect to skills required for the introduction of new technologies, digital and green industrial transformation, and smart specialisation through re-skilling and up-skilling. Support will also be given to the development of all skills needed for entrepreneurship, including market competences and generally developing an entrepreneurial mind-set and thinking and fostering entrepreneurial aspirations.
C 3 Increasing the potential and motivation of staff in research organisations
This objective focuses on securing and retaining quality researchers as a prerequisite for improving the quality and performance of the entire public research system. This requires improving the institutional environment in research organisations to improve the working conditions for researchers. Similarly, it is important to work on increasing the internationalisation of the environment in research organisations (in terms of involvement in international cooperation and research projects, but also in terms of increasing the number of foreign researchers in the country). For this purpose, it is also necessary to create suitable conditions and environment (such as through communicating in English, the existence of a welcome office, competitive salary conditions, etc.) and to motivate research institutions and researchers themselves to develop internationalisation.
