Publication date: 
2022/07/01
In June, the European Commission published the results of the evaluation of the submitted candidates for the establishment of European Centres for Digital Innovation (EDIH). CTU had already been successful last year when it participated in two projects out of six candidates at the national level - CTU EDIH and CYBESECURITY INNOVATION HUB. In the case of EDIH CTU, even in the position of coordinator. Both proposals involving CTU have now been selected at European level.

EDIHs serve as one-stop contact points to help SMEs in particular, but also public sector organisations with their digital transformation. They provide their clients with a range of services, training as well as their know-how or testing research infrastructure.

"This is a great success, as we have managed to create a broad consortium of partners, including such as the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic or the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and Tradesmen of the Czech Republic," says Jaroslav Lískovec from the National Centre of Industry 4.0 (Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics of CTU), which coordinated the application of EDIH CTU. "The current economic and political situation in Europe has only highlighted the need for companies to be resilient, flexible and competitive, and EDIHs can make a significant contribution to this," adds Lískovec, who is the CTU-wide EDIH coordinator on behalf of the Rector.

CTU, which has world-class research teams in the field of artificial intelligence, succeeded as coordinator of this EDIH in a two-round application, also at the European level, which some of the favoured entities abroad failed to do. Most faculties of CTU participated in the preparation and this coordinated effort succeeded in obtaining a funding mechanism of 3 million euros/3 years. This will primarily serve SMEs and public administrations and provide concrete and meaningful tools including testing of solutions before actual investment and knowledge transfer.

EDIH CTU focuses on providing services in the implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning elements, especially in the fields of industry, healthcare, transport and energy. The aim is research towards greater digitalization of small and medium-sized enterprises and public administration. Other partners who will contribute to the successful achievement of the ambitious goals set are the Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic, the Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Tradesmen of the Czech Republic, the Research Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Prg.ai, the Prague Innovation Institute, the Innovation Centre of the Ústí nad Labem Region and the Czech-Moravian Centre for Breakthrough Technologies.

Similarly, the European Commission supported the CYBERSECURITY INNOVATION HUB from the South Moravian Region, where CTU is one of the partners. It specializes in cybersecurity research and industry, technology commercialization and implementation. Among other things, it deals with awareness and education in the field of cybersecurity. The Cybersecurity Innovation Hub's remit covers both the public and private sectors.

"First and foremost, I would like to thank and acknowledge Jaroslav Lískovec from NCP4.0 and other colleagues from most of our faculties and institutes - without their work, commitment and knowledge, CTU would not have achieved such a significant success on a European scale. And thanks also to Vice-Rectors Veronika Kramaříková and Radek Holý, who devoted a lot of effort to the approval of EDIH. Once again, it shows that our University is moving in the right direction in the areas of development, research and cooperation and is becoming a truly excellent institution," said Vojtěch Petráček, Rector of CTU.

EDIH closely links academia and industry and creates conditions for improving the innovativeness and competitiveness of European and Czech enterprises - especially SMEs. The project is supported by the European Commission and the Czech Republic.

The main coordinator of the Digital Europe Programme for the Czech Republic is the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, which will also participate in the co-financing of these centres from the National Recovery Plan.

The European Centres for Digital Innovation play a key role in the Digital Europe agenda. Their main objective is to create a network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs) covering all regions of Europe. In addition to the Czech candidates, applicants from Austria, Estonia, Ireland, Poland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Romania, Croatia, Finland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Cyprus, France, Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden took part in the call. A total of 283 proposals were evaluated under this call.

More on EDIH CTU at https://www.edihctu.eu/cs_CZ/

Contact person: 
Name: 
MGR. ALENA NOVÁKOVÁ
E-mail: 
ALENA.NOVAKOVA@CVUT.CZ