Miloš Vystrčil, Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, has visited CATRIN

Representatives of CATRIN’s management spoke today with Miloš Vystrčil, Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, about CATRIN’s research, its findings, the position of university institutes within the Czech research landscape, and the barriers preventing a more rapid transfer of scientific findings into practice.

CATRIN representatives briefed the second-highest constitutional official in the Czech Republic on the results of both basic and applied research, international collaboration and cooperation with companies. As they emphasized, CATRIN distinguishes itself from other research institutions through its strong emphasis on interdisciplinarity and the practical application of research findings. Vystrčil also toured some of the laboratories, where he learnt, for example, about the development of printed sensors for a wide range of applications and had the opportunity to see just how far state-of-the-art microscopes can penetrate.

“I’m leaving with two key impressions. The first is extremely positive: we have a marvelous research institute in Olomouc which carries out both basic and applied research at world-class level. It is perhaps a bit of a shame that we are unable to make further use of this in specific applications, or in putting those results into production,” said Vystrčil.

During the discussion with scientists, issues relating to the system for commercializing scientific results and the competitiveness of the Czech Republic as well as Europe – compared, for example, with the US or China – have also been raised. “We have amazing scientists, amazing concepts and excellent ideas, but we are lagging behind in terms of application because we are hampered by a low level of collaboration and too much regulation, and perhaps we also focus too little on performance and results and too much on ensuring that all the forms are filled in correctly. This is a challenge for us politicians to do something about it,” added Vystrčil.