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Being just green is no longer enough, the market and demand decide, says the head of the Innovation Department of CzechInvest

19.03. 2026
line-arrow Being just green is no longer enough, the market and demand decide, says the head of the Innovation Department of CzechInvest

– The SME EnterPRIZE competition is looking for companies and startups that can connect business and sustainability.
– The “green” sticker is no longer enough, the real demand and the ability to compete on the market is decisive, says Filipa Krůta from CzechInvest, who is also a judge of the competition.
– Czech startups lack stronger market penetration and capital for expansion, especially in demanding technology projects.

The article was taken from the E15 portal.

The SME EnterPRIZE competition , sponsored by Generali Česká pojišt’ovna, once again opens up the space for small and medium-sized companies, sole traders and start-ups that take sustainability as a natural part of their business. According to Filip Kruta from CzechInvest, it is the ability to turn a “green” solution into a functional and scalable model that determines success today. According to him, sustainability is gradually moving from the area of grants to the standard market, where real demand and business logic win. “This can be seen especially in deep tech projects, which require a longer payback period and closer cooperation with industry,” says the director of CzechInvest’s Innovation Department, who is a judge of the competition, in an interview with e15.

When do you think sustainability stops being a “grant topic” and starts functioning as a real market business model for a startup?

Sustainability is not, in my view, an inherently grant-based topic. Almost every more complex innovation, not just clean tech, behaves that way in the early stages. The real business comes when the solution is proven in practice, gets its first customers and shows that it can work without relying mainly on public support. In energy management, materials technology, recycling or water management, the economic logic is often present from the start.

Do you see Czech startups as more motivated to solve climate problems or as a reaction to regulation and investor pressure? What is the stronger driver today?

Stronger than ideology, I think there is still a real problem and a business opportunity. Regulation and investors give it an extra push, but few people build a company today just because something is “green”. That alone is usually not enough.

Many deep-tech and climate-tech projects face long payback times. How to change the investor mindset to give these companies a chance to grow?

The biggest mistake is to evaluate deep tech through the lens of the fast software business. For these companies, longer paybacks are normal and they need a different type of capital, different milestones and stronger connections to the industry. Therefore, in addition to money, good communication between startups, investors and corporations is important. And at the same time, we have to acknowledge that without a stronger link to more developed venture capital markets abroad, some of these companies will run into the limits of the Czech environment.

EcoTech Hub often helps startups bridge the critical phase between research and market. Where do Czech projects fail most often today? In technology, business model, or scaling?

It’s case by case, so I wouldn’t generalize. But if I see a recurring weakness, it is that Czech projects often fail not on the technology itself, but on commercialization. The hardest thing is to verify real demand, get the first projects and customers, set up the business model correctly and then scale the solution. Moreover, in deep tech, there is still a challenging intermediate phase between a working prototype and commercial deployment, which requires capital, an industrial partner and time.

Can the Czech Republic become a leader in any segment of sustainable technologies, or will we be more of an application economy adopting foreign solutions?

In my opinion, the Czech Republic does not have to be a leader across the board, but it can be very strong in selected segments. Where industrial tradition, technical know-how and growing demand meet, we have a real chance to be more than just an application economy.

The SME EnterPRIZE competition , organised by Generali Česká pojišt’ovna, is entering its sixth year and focuses on small and medium-sized companies, sole traders and start-ups that link business with sustainability principles. The aim of the initiative is to reward projects with a real impact on the environment and society, while showing that a responsible approach can be a competitive part of business. The winners will be announced at a gala event in Prague in early September. Details here

How is the profile of a sustainable startup founder changing? Are more scientists, corporate executives, or classic startup entrepreneurs coming forward?

What is changing is the type of startup. In the past, startup was often synonymous with SaaS, but today there is much more involvement of hardware, material innovation and more complex products in sustainable technologies. This naturally brings in more founders with a technical, research or industrial background. This is also evident in our country, where over 40 percent of the startups in Technology Incubation have a connection to research organizations.

Sustainability is often a hotly debated political issue. Does this polarisation translate into investments, partnerships or customer interest in eco-tech solutions?

Politically it is polarized, business-wise much less so. With a quality eco-tech solution, companies don’t usually decide on ideology, but on whether it will help them with costs, performance, customers or future competitiveness. ESG or impact story can play a positive role there, but more as an extra plus than as the main reason for the investment.

How do you know a startup that has a real environmental impact, and not just well managed ESG marketing? Are there already clear criteria?

You can tell by the fact that the impact is not just in the presentation, but in the core of the product itself. We look at what problem the startup is solving, what technology or solution it has, what value it brings to the customer, and whether it can realistically demonstrate its impact. It’s not enough to say something is green. It has to be clear what exactly is being improved and whether the startup can back it up with data. In this, it’s basically just a more technical way of distinguishing real impact from greenwashing.

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