Strategic evolution and financing policy in science and technology in the Czech Republic after political and economic change

Summary form only given as follows. The Czech Republic was a leading country in high technology before the second world war. After this war a planned driven economy was installed. Science and high technology had not been entirely destroyed because of a long history and deep tradition in SST. After the political change many scientific and research workers left this profession. Traditional strengths in SST had been strongly jeopardized. The Czech Republic began to build a new strategy to support science and high technology by establishing a new Grant Agency. Experience confirms that in the Czech Republic new challenges emerged for science and high technology. We discuss our experience of critical destruction and recovery periods for different technologies.