INDRC, a strategic partner of IP Lab Ventures, was represented at the launch in Prague. The announcement came from First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček, alongside European Investment Bank (EIB) Vice President Marek Mora, who confirmed that the EIF, part of the EIB Group, is committing roughly CZK 656 million (€27 million) to the fund through the Czech National Recovery Plan. With additional private capital, IP Lab Ventures Fund I is targeting a total size of more than CZK 1.2 billion (€50 million), all of it earmarked for transferring technology out of universities and research institutions and into the market. The fund’s focus reads like a map of where Czech research is already strong, including artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, robotics, smart mobility, biotechnology, and cybersecurity, with room to back promising work in semiconductors and advanced manufacturing as well. The goal is to support around 40 projects over the fund’s lifetime, the large majority based in the Czech Republic and the remainder drawn from across Central and Eastern Europe.
Deputy Prime Minister Havlíček framed the fund as the piece that’s been missing from the Czech innovation pipeline: the link connecting strong research coming out of Czech universities with the capital and business expertise needed to actually build a company around it. It’s a gap the fund’s managing team already has a track record of closing. According to Mora, the partners behind IP Lab Ventures have worked together since 2023 and helped seven technology projects through commercialization and spinoff formation in that time. The team has also spent recent months deepening formal partnerships with Czech universities and research organizations, work that will underpin how the fund sources and vets future deals.
Source: Czech Republic Launches First Dedicated Technology Transfer Fund Focused On AI And Other Advanced Technologies | Clara Center
