As part of the international Smart Cities Symposium Prague, which took place on May 28 and 29, 2026, the organizing Faculty of Transport, together with the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics (CIIRC) at the Czech University of Technology, signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Prague Boats company, the main goal of which is to create a concept of sustainable river transport in Prague.
On Friday, May 29, a trilateral memorandum of cooperation between the Czech Technical University in Prague, represented by the Faculty of Transport and CIIRC, and Prague Boats was symbolically signed on board the electric ship Anna Carolina.
The main goal of the newly established cooperation is primarily the effort to create an environment for building intelligent urban water transport in Prague using smart technologies and digital twins in accordance with the needs of the transport, energy, digitization and quality public space.
This is primarily about cooperation in creating a concept of sustainable river transport, or, described more specifically, an ecological, digitally controlled and touristically attractive water transport for Prague. In practice, this new activity can be perceived as using the Vltava river as a natural laboratory for the concept of sustainable river transport, the so-called Living Lab.
The partnership, by combining the top scientific environment of the Czech Technical University in Prague and the leading river transport operator in Prague, Prague Boats, offers a unique path to the development of innovative solutions not only for tourist river transport with an emphasis on ecology, but especially on electric propulsion systems and their subsequent integration into smart city systems.
The Faculty of Transport offers a unique opportunity for students to engage in the above-mentioned topics in the form of student internships, professional practices and topics for final theses using the operational background and data of Prague Boats.
At the same time, it can be expected that this new cooperation will increase the visibility of the topic of sustainable river transport, not only through conferences, workshops and publications, but above all through pilot projects demonstrating the potential of electric ships and ecological concepts suitable for smart cities.
