Abstract

Innovativeness of the Czech economy (as assessed for instance by European Innovation Scoreboard) is questionable. The main weaknesses are as follows (Office, 2004): low number of patent applications per capita; the very small number of innovation companies; the low volume of seed capital, i.e. support for the first phase of establishing spin-offs. Besides the facts mentioned here there are another very important factors: spirit or culture of enterprise, knowledge management etc.

Many documents (including National development plan, National strategy of human resource development and National innovation strategy) as well as researches and analysis declare interplay between innovativeness and continuing education and training in enterprises. This fact has become an important part of strategy of innovation companies, while standard enterprises give priority to education and training as a tool for performance improvement. Innovation companies are searching for their own ways how to guarantee learning of employees. Workplace learning is considered to be a very promising alternative.

In policy terms, workplace learning has not been a priority topic for major Czech institutions working in the fields of lifelong learning and human resource development (National Training Fund, National Institute of Technical and Vocational Education, Institute for Information on Education). Nor has it been dealt with in any detail in any important study or conceptual document. Furthermore, employee development is only rarely defined in terms of learning and development; it is more often referred to under the label of education/training, whether formal or non-formal.

Methods

The aim of the article is critical reflection of all available data.

The lack of data is an obstacle for understanding the situation in the field. Typically, the material that is available relies on interviews with human resources managers (personnel officers and other managerial staff dealing with education/training and employee development as part of their job) or with employees of those companies who do provide C(V)ET opportunities. The information yielded through these channels focuses on company policy on workforce development and the ways in which a company organises its education and training activities. This means that much relevant information is missing, not least, for example, the extent and nature of the resources invested in education and training by companies. These features limit the potential for interpretation and evaluation of the material to hand.

Results

Positive intercorelation of innovations and workplace learning in enterprises in the Czech Republic are obviously under researched and probably underestimated by practitioners too. Further research is needed.

Bibliography

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