Innovative Prague XXI
Prague is not only an amazing historical city with a wealth of monuments, excellent gastronomy, cordial residents, and a wide range of events. It is also a modern and innovative science hub. Prague excels in many fields, such as artificial intelligence and robotics, biomedicine, low-carbon technologies, data technologies and selected creative industries, providing ideal opportunities for holding conventions and conferences with the matching topics.
The 21st edition of Prague Innovation brings the perspectives and outlines the direction in which Czech science and research will develop in the coming years, introduces you to the achievements of Prague's innovators and shows you how the Czech start-up scene is doing. Don't forget to mark the date of the upcoming AI Days in your calendars.
What Should the Czech Republic Focus on in Science and Research?
What are current challenges in the dissemination of innovations and digitization, which technology trends are key for the Czech Republic? These and many other questions are answered in an analysis by the Prague Technology Centre. It has prepared an update of the priorities of the National Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialisation of the Czech Republic. The analyses has identified adaptation to climate change, demographic change and energy and digital transformation as the key priority. Details are available on the VědaVýzkum.cz website.
The financing of science and research should also go hand-in-hand with the new priorities. After two years of stagnation, it is good news that the government has approved an 8% increase in the budget for this sector. A total of CZK 43.3 billion will go to science and research, newly adding financing for so-called strategic technologies such as AI or quantum technologies. VědaVýzkum.cz website reported on the budget increase.
Prague's Innovators in the Spotlight Again
The fact that the support of science and research brings concrete results is also evidenced by the large number of new discoveries that have recently taken place in scientific institutions of Prague.
For example, scientists from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic have developed a new substance, similar to the one commonly present in the human brain. The substance is responsible for reduced appetite and may even contribute to protection against Alzheimer's disease. However, medicine is not the only field in which Czech scientists can boast of success. The Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals of the Czech Academy of Sciences has recently put into practice a device that stores excess energy from renewable sources in the form of hydrogen. In addition to stabilizing the power grid, the device will also help reduce the carbon footprint. Students of the Czech Technical University (CTU) can boast another technological success: their autonomous driving system attracted not only the jury of the autonomous vehicle competition in Toronto, but also the global professional community, which is ready to take a closer look at the local university know-how next year. This great achievement was reported by the E15.cz website. Students of the University of Chemistry and Technology (UCT) also brought gold from the international competition, after succeeding with the design of a sensor measuring the substance signaling kidney disease or failure. The project was described on the website of VědaVýzkum.cz. Not only university students, but also students of Czech secondary schools score points in the competitions. For example, five of them recently won a NASA competition and are now preparing to send their own satellite into space, which will remotely repair other satellites and deal with space debris.You can read about the project on the Czech edition of the Wired.cz website.
If you have already thought that some of these projects might deserve the Nobel Prize, you should know that the VědaVýzkum.cz server has already asked the question of which of the Czech scientists would most deserve this prestigious award.. Read a recent article presenting important Czech projects and their scientific representatives.
The Czech Startup Scene Is Thriving
According to the Hrot24.cz website, the Czech startup scene has had a successful year. Of the more than a billion euros that have been invested in emerging technology companies in the CEE region, the largest share has gone to the Czech ones. The main reason is the advanced investment climate in Czechia, strong investor confidence and a large number of technology companies with high added value. One of the newly established start-ups that recently finalized its first round of investments is Myriad AI, which is dedicated to regulatory compliance in financial institutions. It was also founded by Jan Špidlen, who has dedicated his career to technology companies such as Google and Dropbox. The creation of the new start-up was reported by the website CC.cz.
Look Under the Hood of AI
Mid-October, the AI Days will take place throughout the Czech Republic again. The program will focus not only on experts, companies, public institutions, but also on the general public, to whom it will introduce artificial intelligence primarily in terms of its interdisciplinarity.
Are you interested in more news from the world of innovation? Check out our previous issues of Prague Innovative: