The Česká Hlava Project

The Česká hlava Project, whose aim is to support scientific and engineering intelligence, was publicized in March, 2002. It is made up of several intertwined activities aimed at popularizing science and improving the social prestige of our engineering and scientific staff as main contributors to our country’s financial prosperity. Its annual climax is the national “Česká hlava” awards’ ceremony; these awards are handed over to the best scientific and engineering personalities. Our ambitious objective is to achieve general awareness, to the point of making it a kind of “national Nobel Prize.”

The need for such a project arises from the demand for research jobs in both fundamental and applied research, which has been decreasing steadily in the Czech Republic. One of the reasons is the low social standing of such professions. At the same time, scientific and engineering understanding has been growing at an unsatisfactory rate among Czech population, and this is becoming a burden preventing faster economic and social development in our country. Therefore, the purpose of the Česká hlava Project is to create awareness that our country can prosper only if it is able to educate new Heyrovskys or Wichterles, and give them what they deserve in terms of both financial reward and social recognition.