Four Paths from a Single Crossroads: Supporting the Innovation Development in the Visegrad Group

This study examines how the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia support innovation in business within EU cohesion policy. Although these countries share a similar pre‑1989 history, they differ in their economic development and in how they implement cohesion policy. Existing studies mainly examine how public support relates to economic outcomes.This study addresses this research gap by examining how four Central European countries implement innovation support. This paper aims to analyse and compare the approaches of the Visegrad Group countries to supporting innovation in enterprises from EU cohesion policy funds in the programming period 2014-2020. The comparison focuses on operational programmes, financial allocations, supported projects, institutional arrangements and monitoring indicators. The primary data for this study comes from the European Commission’s Cohesion Open Data Platform. The results indicate that the Czech Republic and Hungary apply a similar approach to the structure of their support programmes. Poland, by contrast, adopts a more regionally differentiated model, reflecting the principle that “one size does not fit all.” The Czech Republic has also established a strong institutional framework for programme implementation. The greatest number of limitations was identified in Slovakia.