Four private donors have decided to support interdisciplinary research. In addition to Pale Fire Capital, they also include the Credo Foundation, the Wood & Company Foundation and the IOCB Tech Group. Together, they managed to raise CZK 24 million. “ČVUT INFC will support solutions to key interdisciplinary challenges that we will face in the coming years and will enable active cooperation between top young researchers from various fields,” says Pěchouček. He believes that cooperation across fields will help bold and breakthrough projects.
“Private funding makes the most sense in science where it complements public funding with speed, flexibility and a willingness to support new directions before they are fully established in regular grant schemes. ČVUT INFC gives researchers the space to embark on projects that connect individual scientific disciplines before they become mainstream,” comments Barta. He believes that such a layer of support can be crucial for the emergence of new teams, fields and scientific excellence. “Thanks to interdisciplinary cooperation, we are in contact with interesting startups, for example those that connect drug development with AI,” adds IOCB Tech Director Milan Prášil.
The CTU INFC is intended for scientists from various faculties or institutes of the university, who should target high-risk projects that cross the boundaries of established fields. This year, there should be a maximum of ten selected scientific teams, and they have up to six million CZK to draw on for up to two years.
The CTU INFC complements the CTU Starting Grant pilot project, which Prague Institute of Technology finances with an amount of 50 million CZK per year. Its goal is to attract young talents from abroad to CTU.