Research & development

The modern history of the Czech automotive industry boasts not only production successes but also outstanding results in the field of automotive research and development. Based on the well-established automotive market and high-level technical education with one of the world's largest proportions of graduates, numerous R&D companies have established branches here.

The Czech Republic offers high-level technical education at several technical universities evenly distributed across the country. The country has more than 90,000 university students majoring in technical or science-related programmes. More than 20,000 graduates enter the workforce every year and the number of technical graduates increase every year. Apart from universities, the Czech educational system features other sources of skilled labour, including specialised four-year higher professional schools whose students graduate with the near equivalent of a university bachelor's degree.

The more than thirty R&D companies that utilize the country's industrial potential and highly skilled engineers include Porsche Engineering Services, MBtech Bohemia, Ricardo, Idiada, Swell, Aufeer Design, Valeo, Visteon, Benet Automotive, Bosch, Continental, Faurecia, Hella, Honeywell, Horiba, Siemens, TRW, TÜV-Süd, ZF Friedrichshafen and many others (see Case Studies). University in Prague and other technical universities in Plzeň, Liberec, Pardubice, Brno, Zlín and Ostrava closely cooperate with these companies, providing them with the workforce and know-how they need.