This is partly due to the public perception that science is responsible for the legacy of environmental and health problems left by the communists. But low salaries also play a part. Such a move, however, will make up only a small amount of the research funds lost since 1989. At the moment there is a severe lack of support for research from sources other than the state. We are an industrial country, but most parts of our industry are out-dated.
Applied research is therefore severely under-funded.
Unlike its western counterparts, the government after the velvet revolution chose not draw up a research policy targeted at national problems. The memory of research controlled by political influences under the communist regime was still strong and the government preferred to leave research to free competition on the basis of quality. It appreciates the importance of science, pays the money and has left the scientists to get on with it. People who do basic research like this. The goals will be to encourage research aimed at making industry and the economy more competitive, to improve the research infrastructure and support neglected research fields, and to tackle the legacy of national problems left by the communists.