Specialization of the region – RIS3 domains

Due to the different branch structure and focus of research organizations and companies in the Hradec Králové Region, the proposal of specialization domains is based on three types of situations:

(a) the presence of innovative business disciplines with a supercritical amount of R&D expenditure, reflecting the existence of their own R&D center or the purchase of R&D results from companies and research organizations outside the region. These R&D inputs are subsequently used by companies in production, which is reflected in the economic indicators of the region,

or

b) the presence of research specialization directions that cooperate more with the application sphere/end users outside the region (e.g. because there are not enough suitable companies in the region); however, they can contribute to the competitiveness of the region through production/attracting quality R&D human resources, employment, revenue from commercializing their R&D results or applying them to public users (e.g. military or health care),

or

c) the consensus among the focus of research organizations and economic specialization in the region, which occurs in only a few niches.

The following primary and secondary data were used to update the fields of specialization:

• Indicators classified according to CZ-NACE economic activity
  • Business R&D expenditures (reflects critical mass of companies with R&D-based strategy)
  • Industry sales
  • Number of emplyees (R&D, total)
  • Investment incentive statistics
  • Calculated location quotients (company sales, employment)
• Success of the implementation of domestic and international RDI projects
• Trends in the professional publishing performance of research organizations in the Czech Republic (IDEA CERGE)
• Bibliometric data (RIV points)
• Data on the activities of the Technology Transfer Center
• Conclusions of the mapping of innovation capacities of the Hradec Králové Region
• Outcomes of negotiations with representatives of research organizations
• Outcomes of negotiations of Regional Innovation Platforms
• Conclusions of ad hoc working group meetings for updating regional RIS3 domains
• Comments of the Council for Research, Development and Innovation of the Hradec Králové Region

The development of specialization domains is cross-sectionally focused on individual strategic/specific objectives defined within individual horizontal key areas of change A to D in the propositional part.

1 Production of vehicles and their components

The production of passenger cars and the ecosystem of suppliers in the Czech Republic are concentrated in the areas of Prague - Liberec - Hradec Králové and Uherské Hradiště - Olomouc - Ostrava triangles. This domain has a high share in regional industry and employment sales. It significantly contributes to the volume of realized investment incentives in the region (66.2%) and exhibits a higher share in corporate research and development expenditures. The main trends include continuing pressure from companies to reduce costs and increase production efficiency in their own factories as well as suppliers' facilities through continued robotization, automation and digitization of production. Industry 4.0 elements are deployed the fastest in this domain of all areas.

The domain is based primarily on companies, not research organizations in the region. In terms of content, it primarily focuses on the development/production of passenger cars, research/development/construction and production of their components (e.g. gearboxes, brake systems, body parts, locks, airbags, electronic components, upholstery, ambulance modifications), the development and production of rubber and plastic products, and the development (including prototyping), construction and testing of units and subcomponents using information technology. Another segment is the development of new composite materials and the development and production of ultralight aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.

2 Mechanical engineering and investment units

Mechanical engineering has a long tradition in the region in many fields that, despite some heterogeneity, can be grouped into the following areas. This domain has a high share in regional industry sales, employment and R&D expenditures of companies. In the field of mechanical engineering, current trends include the deployment and expansion of multifunction machines, robots and the ability of machines to communicate with each other and with the data center of the company/cooperating company. In the field of manufacturing machines, industry 4.0 now focuses on the production and sharing of big data, the use of sensor technology, and machine condition monitoring and diagnostics. The domain is based primarily on companies (cooperation with the external environment), not research organizations in the region. The first segment is the development and production of parts (e.g. hydraulics, gearboxes) and machinery, especially textile, printing, agricultural (including utilization in precision farming), forestry, metalworking and mining, quarrying, construction and welding machines. The second area is engineering, design, production and supply of investment units especially for construction, the pharmaceutical and food industries, chemical and petrochemical industry, energy (e.g. wind power plants, heat exchange systems, boilers), environmental systems and food industry. A specific area is foundry, machining of alloys and metalworking products. The domain cross-sectionally focuses on the development of new mechanical engineering materials/structures and prototyping using advanced methods (e.g. 3D printing).

3 New textile materials for new multidisciplinary applications

This domain has a high share in regional industry sales, employment and R&D expenditures of companies. It is primarily based on companies (cooperation with research organizations and companies from mostly the Liberec and Pardubice regions, interconnection of textile triple helix across three NUTS 2 Northeast regions; it covers the entire research-development-international marketable production chain and represents a significant share of employment and sales in the textile sector and, to a lesser extent, research organizations in the region (strengthened by research and academic workplaces of neighboring cooperating regions). The domain primarily focuses on research, development and production of textile materials using functionalization (including nano and biotechnological processes), a way to emerging smart textiles and new environmentally friendly finishing and dyeing processes. Textile weaving, textile finishing, including ready-made processing, and the area of technical and non-woven textile is another segment. It addresses the sustainability of raw material resources and the emergence of a circular economy. Links to the European TOP development strategy are provided through participation in the European RegioTEX network. The domain additionally also focuses on providing expert advice on exports to specific foreign textile markets.

4 Electronics, optoelectronics, optics, electrical engineering and IT

This domain has a high share in regional employment and R&D expenditures of companies. It is based on both companies and research organizations in the region with high product structure diversification. In terms of current technological trends, the domain focuses on the Internet of Things, big data and automation/digitization of production or services.

The first segment is research/development and production of mostly electrical (e.g. electric motors, rotary machines, generators, transformers, wires, cables, distribution and control equipment, switching technology), electronic (capacitors, microelectronics) and wiring devices and components. It additionally focuses on the development and production of rubber/plastic products for the electrical engineering industry. The next segment is industrial automation, including measuring, control, testing and navigation instruments. Another segment is the area focusing on the production, development and research of special optical and optoelectronic components, modules and devices, including mostly fiber lasers, research and development of passive elements for diagnostics and therapy with optical waveguides, including optical sensors and visible light communication (substitute for microwave wireless optical communication). Stable cooperation with institutes of the Academy of Sciences and other research organizations is ongoing.

In IT this mainly includes the development of software solutions (e.g. B2C, controlling, MIS, database systems), big data processing, application of knowledge and mobile technologies in various fields, smart sensors and their applications. Interdisciplinary ICT collaboration in biomedicine is starting out in the region, focusing on cloud solutions in biomedicine, parallel computing, artificial neural networks and medical device development.

5 Pharmaceuticals, medical devices, health care and health protection

The key capacities of the region's public research are concentrated in this area. Results are applied by both private and public users (e.g. military and health care). This domain is also based on several companies with their own research/development, covering specific market niches; it has a higher share of corporate R&D expenditures. There is intensive cooperation between research organizations and companies.

The first segment mainly consists in research and development of pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical forms, dietary supplements (including functional foods) and toxicology (e.g. analysis of toxins in food, air and drinking water).  There is cooperation with the application sector, technology transfer and contract research, including joint patents.

Another segment is the area of medical devices, aids, medical and diagnostic tools and instruments. There are several companies successfully covering market niches in the region, and it is also the focus of some research organizations conducting contractual research and technology transfer.

Another segment is military medical research, where the Army of the Czech Republic and the health system are the end users, but there is also cooperation with companies. This particularly includes the area of antidotes (research and development of antidotes against chemical weapons), where research is also carried out outside the military segment. It also includes biodosimetry (research of new markers for quantification of radiation), vaccination (research of new vaccination procedures based on nanotechnology) and detection devices (research, development and production of chemicals of warfare detection devices).

A related segment is the area of medical care, which mainly consists in research in the field of lifestyle diseases affecting the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal system, oncology, oncosurgery, hematology-oncology and the area of personalized medicine and age-related diseases. These outputs are used by the health service and the results are also transferred to the application sphere. The domain also focuses on research activities in the field of elderly care.

The segment of medical applications of nanotechnologies and biotechnologies is shared with the Pardubice Region. The common segment of specialization focuses on regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, drug carriers and nanoparticle health safety assessment. Regional activity in the field of medical applications, nanotechnologies and biotechnologies is one of the strongest and most successful in the whole Czech Republic. Several pharmaceutical and nano and biotech companies whose importance often exceeds the borders of the Czech Republic have been established or are based in the region. In the Hradec Králové Region, the Faculty of Medicine at Charles University, the Faculty of Pharmacy at Charles University, the Faculty of Military Health Sciences at the University of Defense, the University of Hradec Králové and the University Hospital Hradec Králové are active in research and applications of medical biotechnology. The activities of the public and private spheres interfere in the fields of new drug production, preclinical research, medical devices, nanotoxicology, informatics in biomedicine and, last but not least, a vivarium with the possibility of testing medical applications on laboratory animals (including large laboratory animals).  The Pardubice Region traditionally has a strong biochemical industrial base in the field of medical applications, both in the field of synthetic chemistry and in technologies for the preparation of bioactive materials. The University of Pardubice also traditionally contains unique departments and institutes for the spinning of biologically active polysaccharides and their joining with biologically active substances, world renowned bioanalytical laboratories, possibilities of testing in biochemical laboratories, etc. Nanobiomedical technologies also require the construction of new technological apparatuses, such as apparatuses for the spinning and preparation of fabrics from micro and nanofibres, apparatuses for the preparation of wound dressings, scaffolds, diagnostics, data processing, etc. In addition to these tools, nanobiomedical technologies also require advanced methods for assessing the health safety of manufactured products and for their elimination from the body. The active industrial and R&D base of the region in the area of textiles, textile machines, special production equipment, electrical engineering and ICT creates good conditions for the development of these applications, and there is also an opportunity for the future development of new innovative companies in technological domains based on related variety. Bio and nanotechnologies and their applications in medicine are one of the fastest growing markets worldwide. Given its socio-economic potential (aging population, treatment/prevention of lifestyle diseases, safety, etc.), this is also one of the priorities of the ongoing Horizon 2020 program.

6 Advanced agriculture and forestry

This domain is based on the activity of research organizations with application potential in both the private and public spheres. It also exhibits a higher share of corporate R&D expenditures. It primarily focuses on pomology research and development (breeding, gene pools, cryobank, biotechnology, molecular genetics, molecular testing of pathogens). The transfer of breeding results has a great impact on the market and innovation on an interregional, national and mostly world scale. An export policy with licenses for the cultivation of modern varieties of cherries is the most successful. The network of partners is now represented on all continents. With regard to the fact that pomology research based in our region is the only one of its kind in the Czech Republic, it can be said that sectoral expenditures on pomology research go almost exclusively to the Hradec Králové Region. It also focuses on biotechnology and applied research in forestry, where the end user is mostly public administration (Ministry of Agriculture, Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture, Pomology Union of the Czech Republic, The Forest Management Institute). Users of mostly publicly accessible outputs also include forest owners and forest managers (Lesy ČR, Vojenské lesy a statky s.p. (Military Forests and Farms, state enterprise), private owners, forest property of towns and municipalities, etc.). The following arguments support the inclusion of the domain:

• Applied research and development (e.g. use of nanotechnology and precision agriculture in pomology) with a direct impact on the user sector
• The need for the development of the Pomology Research Institute
• Transfer of innovative technologies and new varieties at home and abroad
• Certified methodologies for pomology and forestry practice are published cyclically
• Based on international agreements, newly bred varieties are tested under different conditions of EU and world countries
• Options of interdisciplinary cooperation in biomedicine (functional food) and the textile sector (growing of fruit trees), agriculture (agroforestry) and landscaping (environment in municipalities and in the open countryside)

                                                                                                                                                                           

The focus of domains should be viewed as a dynamic process where regional implementation structures of RIS3 continuously monitor the real development of research and economic specializations and can update this chapter as needed.