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.
In the 29th edition of Innovative Prague you can learn how Czechs are helping to search for a new Earth and replicate a solar eclipse. You will find out that Czech scientists can fight FOMO, analyze non-verbal communication, read cellular communication, or improve brain health. We will also introduce you to a robot with the mystical name Helhest and a new method for recycling rare earth elements.
Prague’s Footprint in Space
Did you know that a solar eclipse recently took place? And not just any. The European Space Agency (ESA) announced that it had succeeded, with the help of two satellites, in creating an eclipse artificially — the first satellite blocked the Sun, and the second recorded the solar corona. Prague scientists from the Research and Test Aerospace Institute (VZLÚ) were involved in developing the optical components of the second satellite. Czech scientists (specifically from the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences) are also working on hardware and software development in another ESA space project called PLATO, which will begin searching for planets similar to Earth in space in 2027.
However, the Czechs are not sending only their technology into space — in two years, Czech astronaut Aleš Svoboda will also head there. Among other things, he will conduct 14 experiments in microgravity and test devices prepared for this mission by Czech scientists. The E15.cz website reports about the individual projects.
Back on Earth, another space research project is underway — studying the composition and origin of particles that make up cosmic rays arriving from space. This international research team, which deals with this mystery of physics, is led by Jakub Vícha from the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. He recently re-evaluated existing models of particle interactions, which will significantly change the interpretation of measured data.
Generative AI Safety, Non-Verbal Communication Analysis, and Fighting FOMO — Czech Scientists Can Help with All of It
Generative AI safety keeps many experts awake at night, so it is no surprise that it was also the topic of the prestigious Amazon Nova AI Challenge, which attracted more than 90 university teams from around the world. The Prague-based coding team Alquist Coder, made up of students from the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at CTU in Prague, took home a beautiful silver place from this competition.
The Prague AI scene is also thriving in many other projects. Three new initiatives deserve to be mentioned:
- Waypoint AI — a startup by Americans Steve and Liam Boogar, who decided, in cooperation with Tomáš Polívka, to bring their project to the Czech capital and focus on developing a tool that uses AI to streamline the flow of information between teams in IT companies.
- Nonverbia — a startup developing software that, with the help of AI, can read and analyze body language from video recordings and flag non-verbal cues that may indicate a problem during in-person meetings.
- Aim — a startup creating its own AI agent capable of sorting information and delivering only relevant content to readers, helping to prevent information overload and FOMO syndrome.
The development of computing infrastructure for AI is also one of the priorities of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which is now bidding to become home to an AI Gigafactory in Prague — a huge computing centre whose construction the European Union plans.
How to Read Cellular Communication or Improve Brain Health?
Medical research is not lagging behind either. Czech experts have been making headlines lately with several projects. For example, the Prague-based company Tolion Health, which is launching the mobile app Tolion Brain Coach, has partnered with smartwatch manufacturer Garmin to provide users with predictions and recommendations for improving brain health.
Czech scientists, in cooperation with their international colleagues, have also recently described a way of communication between cells, including cancer cells. By “reading this communication,” scientists can not only better understand the stage of a particular disease but also use this communication as a carrier for drugs — offering significantly greater comfort for the patient and fewer side effects compared to standard chemotherapy.
Czech molecular biology has also achieved remarkable success. The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), which brings together over two thousand top scientists from around the world selected on the basis of exceptional scientific achievements, has welcomed 69 new members, including two Czechs — Jan Konvalinka, director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and Pavel Plevka, structural biologist from the CEITEC research center at Masaryk University.
Focus on Movement
In addition to reading cellular mail, Czech scientists are currently engaged in controlling the movement of electrons in solids, which will help in extraordinarily precise examination of the structure of individual materials.
Controlling movement — albeit more visible — was also the task of another group of experts from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at CTU in Prague. Local scientists have built a robot with the mythical name Helhest, which can skilfully handle difficult terrain and carry heavy loads, making it an ideal choice for search-and-rescue missions.
We will stay with movement partially in the conclusion of this issue of Innovative Prague. Prague scientists have invented a unique method for sustainably recycling rare earth elements, the extraction and production of which is highly unecological under normal conditions. Thanks to the new method, it is even possible to recycle metals that are widely used in electric vehicles.
Would you like to learn more interesting facts on innovation? Browse through the previous three issues of Innovative Prague: