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This paper deals with allocation of financial resources from selected operational programmes among Czech regions and assess whether a regional innovation paradox occurs in the Czech Republic. Regional innovation paradox expresses a state when some regions with lower innovation performance and higher investment needs exist but at the same time these regions are not able to gain the offered resources. The article examines the relationship between amount of obtained resources and selected characteristics of regions through correlation analysis. The attention is focused on Operational programme Enterprise and Innovations and Operational programme Research and Development for Innovations. The analysis confirmed the existence of the regional innovation paradox in the Czech Republic. The paradox is apparent especially if the amount of subsidies is compared to the total regional gross domestic product. The paradox is in higher degree apparent at OP Research and Development for Innovations than OP Enterprise and Innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the use of financial sources from structural funds of European Union and with the focus on the operation programme of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the context of the regional development support in the troubled regions. The intensity of the absorption of the ent-repreneurial support is analysed according to the criteria set by the government and according to the troubled areas given by the individual regions of the Czech Republic. Whereas the regions sup-ported by the government are given centrally within the Strategy of the regional development of the Czech Republic. The regional level of the troubled areas is set ad hoc. Thus one of the crucial issu-es of this paper is to find potential preferences of the local authorities when deciding about the applications for the entrepreneur subsidies, loans and guaranties. The detailed analysis focuses on subsidies as the only non-profit form of the support. Further question is whether the regions with the intense government support get enough subsidies from entrepreneurial bodies in comparison with other (non-troubled) areas in the Czech Republic. The key documents for the research were the lists of recipients of subsidies in the first half of programme term 2007-2013 published by the Czechlnvest agency. In total there are more than three thousand approved projects. The analysis covered only those businesses which received the subsidies. This research sample comprised of almost fifteen hundred subjects. Given the fact that the Czech Ministry of Trade and Industry publishes the location exclusively on the regional level it was necessary to add the information about the municipality or the place of the business which received the subsidy, to the list of recipients of the subsidies. It was necessary to define the con-cerned areas on the district level or territorial areas of municipalities with extended competencies or territorial units of municipalities chartered by town halls. The data about municipalities was found in the trade register for each subsidised project separately. The relevant data concerning the rese-arch were found in the researcher's database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]