The departure of the renowned AI expert Tomáš Mikolov from CTU has sparked a debate about the lack of transparency and inefficiency of the Czech grant system. Mikolov has not received any significant grants in five years, and he is not alone. Other top AI researchers, such as Michal Pěchouček and Josef Šivic, have similar experiences.
The problem is not just a lack of funding, but primarily the evaluation system – grants are often judged by people outside the field, without a deeper understanding of the subject. There is often a lack of a strategic approach, international overlap and a unified vision to support key directions of science such as AI.
