CESNET fulfils the role of NREN within the Czech Republic and represents it in international organisations such as the GÉANT Association (established through a merger between TERENA and DANTE), EGI and GLIF.

The CESNET e-infrastructure is a complex system of interconnected tools that provides a wide range of services necessary for transmission, storage and data processing.

Thanks to a direct connection with GÉANT, the backbone network for science, research and education, and also thanks to a connection to research networks in other world regions provided by GÉANT (Internet2 and ESnet in the USA, AfricaConnect in Africa, TEIN in Asia and CLARA in the Pacific and Latin America), the CESNET e- infrastructure even allows cooperation and operation of demanding and unique applications and data sharing in the multinational and international scientific community.

During the 1990s, the so-called national networks for science, research and education were established in the majority of European countries, the aim of which was to serve the specific needs of scientific and academic communities.

The CESNET e-infrastructure is being purposefully built according to the specific needs of the research, scientific and academic community in the Czech Republic (which differ significantly from ordinary corporate ICT support requirements).

CESNET, as a non-profit organisation, handled the actual transfer of research and development achievements into practice by establishing the spin-off companies INVEA-TECH a.s. and Comprimato Systems, s.r.o., and by concluding applicable licensing agreements.