In June, the European Commission published the results of the evaluation of the candidates sent for the establishment of the European Centers for Digital Innovation (EDIH). CTU was already successful last year when it participated in two projects out of six candidates at the national level – EDIH CTU and CYBESECURITY INNOVATION HUB. In the case of EDIH CTU. Both proposals with CTU participation have now also been selected at the European level.
EDIHs serve as one-stop-shops, in order to help small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, but also public sector organizations with their digital transformation. They provide their clients with a full range of services, training as well as their know-how or testing research infrastructure.
„This is a great success, as we managed to create a broad consortium of partners, including such as the Union of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic, the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic or the Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Tradesmen of the Czech Republic,“ says Jaroslav Lískovec for the National Center for Industry 4.0, which coordinated the EDIH CTU application. „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 school-wide coordinator of CTU EDIH.
CTU, which has world-class research teams in the field of artificial intelligence, succeeded as the coordinator of this EDIH in a two-round application, also at the European level, which some of the favored entities abroad failed to do. Most of the faculties of CTU participated in the preparation, and through this coordinated effort, it was possible to obtain a financing mechanism of 3 million euros/3 years. It will primarily serve small and medium-sized enterprises and public administration and provide concrete and meaningful tools, including testing solutions before own investment and knowledge transfer.
EDIH CTU focuses on providing services with elements of artificial intelligence and machine learning, especially in the areas of industry, healthcare, transport and energy. The goal is research towards higher digitization of small and medium-sized enterprises and public administration. Other partners who will participate in the successful achievement of the set ambitious goals are the Union of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic, the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and Tradesmen of the Czech Republic, the Research Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Prg.ai, the Prague Innovation Institute, the Innovation Center of the Ústí Region and Czech-Moravian center of breakthrough technologies.
Likewise, the European Commission supported the CYBERSECURITY INNOVATION HUB, where CyberSecurity Hub, z.ú. is the leader, from the South Moravian region and where CTU is one of the partners. It specializes in cybersecurity research and industry, commercialization and technology implementation. Among other things, it deals with awareness and education in the field of cyber security. The Cybersecurity Innovation Hub’s remit covers both the public and private sectors.
„First of all, great thanks go to 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 pan-European scale. And I also thank to vice-rectors Veronica Kramaříková and Radek Holý, who devoted a lot of effort to the approval of EDIHs. Once again, it shows that our university is going in the right direction in the areas of development, research and cooperation, and it is becoming a truly excellent institution,“ said CTU rector Vojtěch Petráček.
EDIH closely connects the academic and industrial spheres and creates conditions for improving the innovativeness and competitiveness of European and Czech companies – especially small and medium-sized companies. The project is supported by the European Commission and the Czech Republic.
The main coordinator of the Digital Europe Program 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 centers from the National Recovery Plan.
The European Centers for Digital Innovations play a key role in the Digital Europe programme. Their main goal is to create a network of European Digital Innovation Centers (EDIHs), which should cover all regions of Europe. In addition to 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 participated in the call. , the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. As part of this call, a total of 283 submitted proposals were evaluated.
More about EDIH CTU at https://www.edihctu.eu/cs_CZ/