The leadership of the Czech Technical University in Prague has stirred up the stagnant waters of the Czech university environment. Rector Michal Pěchouček, who for years was the leader of what is probably the most successful post-revolutionary domestic company, Avast, wants to change the functioning of the university and motivate students and scientists to found start-ups. There have been more such efforts in the past, but they have rarely been taken seriously and the results have been embarrassing at best.
For Pěchouček and his colleagues – including Vice-Rector for Entrepreneurship Jakub Nešetřil, also a successful start-upist – it is different. They want to encourage future entrepreneurs to leave school and focus fully on building a company if they try to achieve entrepreneurial success. The share of the company’s future success should also be reduced. (This is a common practice for the university itself to profit from the success of a company that has emerged from a university environment. However, if it takes too large a stake, it will reduce its attractiveness to investors.) This in turn makes it easier to obtain capital for development and also directly establishes cooperation with important investment funds. “It is not a model in which I do 30 percent of the spin-offs, 30 percent of the teaching and 30 percent of the writing of articles. Those people have to leave and devote themselves to it one hundred percent. Cut off, burn bridges, jump into it,” Vice-Rector Nešetřil told the Lupa.cz server.
CTU has the best prerequisites to become a generator of founders of promising companies. So far, only nine spin-offs have been created in the entire existence of the school – that is, companies that are based on scientific knowledge gained during their time at the educational institution. This is desperately low – the American Stanford, a model of these efforts, produces 350 companies per year, the technical university in nearby Munich up to 150. In other words, there is no reason why the Prague Technical University could not produce at least dozens of companies per year.
One of the steps that could also help this is a change according to which faculty deans will also be evaluated based on the success of start-ups originating from their workplaces. Faculty heads will thus have no incentive to turn potential start-up founders away from the business path, which means for them the inconvenience of finding a new lecturer and researcher.
We should keep our fingers crossed for Pěchouček, Nešetřil and others who are responsible for this effort. The shift to a more advanced economy will not just happen out of nowhere and without the state's help. And this is exactly the type of effort that can make a lot of noise for relatively little money (hundreds of millions compared to tens of billions in subsidies). Someone will have to mentor CTU students, connect them with investors, advise the bureaucracy, and so on. It will cost money, but there is no doubt that these are public investments that will pay off over time.
In an article for Lupa, Neštěríl reminds us that the business technology environment is currently changing. So far, many successful cases have been based on relatively simple software that somehow made life easier. However, this has changed with the rise of AI, and these services no longer have such potential: today, a much wider range of people can create them with the help of artificial intelligence. Companies built on a unique technology or idea have greater value, which is exactly what CTU researchers should theoretically have an advantage over classic software engineers.
The second aspect that plays into the hands of graduates of domestic technology is the traditionally strong Czech industry. The Czech Republic still maintains a high share of industry in the entire economy, over 20 percent of GDP, which is almost the highest in Europe. Few people have the technical know-how for large-scale production - and at the same time it is increasingly clear that pushing industry out of Europe, especially to Asia, is not the right way. Theoretically, those interested in a business major from CTU should be in a good position to break through with their ideas in the world.
And it should not end at CTU. It would be great if support for entrepreneurship began to work to a greater extent at other schools. Including those that at first glance have nothing to do with a business career, i.e. at humanities or science faculties. It is a pity that Czech pupils and students almost never encounter support for a possible career path consisting of starting a company during their adolescence and education.
The problem, of course, is that there are very few people with a similar background to Michal Pěchouček. But even so, it can be an inspiration for other institutions and help move the entire country to the next level. The state should closely monitor the whole event, take notes, and apply any lessons learned to other schools. The chances are definitely higher than they were a year ago.