Prepared and implemented projects such as a recruitment application for the army or the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in the environment of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and also the capital city of Prague. This and more were discussed today by the participants of the specialized workshop „AI for public administration“, which was organized by the prg.ai association, the European Center for Digital Innovations EDIH CTU and the Digital and Information Agency (DIA) as part of the „AI Days“ at CTU. Almost a hundred representatives of ministries, authorities, regions, municipalities, as well as other parts of public administration and state-owned enterprises met at the Prague technology. They discussed the areas into which artificial intelligence and new digital technologies can best be introduced.
At today’s event, which took place at the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics CIIRC CTU, concrete case studies of digitization of public administration from the Czech Republic and abroad were presented. It turned out that the biggest challenge is not only the technological solution itself, but the ability to identify suitable projects from the beginning for maximum use of the benefits of artificial intelligence. When implementing and implementing innovative solutions into practice, public institutions as well as companies encounter the readiness and willingness of employees to work in a new digitized environment and identify with the necessity of changes.
„The services and programs that we provide in cooperation with other partners involved in the European Center for Digital Innovation EDIH at CTU are focused on overcoming barriers in the implementation of AI,“ states Jaroslav Lískovec, director of EDIH CTU, and adds: „Like other EDIHs in the Czech Republic, we help small and medium-sized companies. At CTU, we also focus on projects for public administration and self-government. Thanks to EU funds, we can provide most of our services for free.“
The development of artificial intelligence in recent months is fast and it is almost impossible to keep track of current events. That is why this year’s AI Days, which take place successively over four weeks in October and November in four cities, focused on presenting concrete examples from practice. „We felt it was important to prepare specialized blocks for public administration and institutions, because they are the ones who are offered a whole range of opportunities for the use of AI,“ emphasizes Lukáš Kačena, who heads prg.ai, and clarifies: „We wanted to show a wide range solutions that are already in use in public administration or are being implemented. We think it is useful to share examples of good practice and be inspired by others. And also introduce EDIH CTU, which can adapt AI tools to the situation and needs of the public contracting authority. This can be a ministry, a regional office or even a smaller municipality.“
Through tailor-made services, EDIH CTU offers, for example, solutions focused on transport at the local and regional level, where appropriate models can analyze and predict traffic, congestion, and thus prevent accidents or other complications. EDIH CTU adapts advanced automated systems to help in such areas as maintenance of public assets, planning of repairs or prevention of infrastructure problems in public spaces. Specific needs then arise for specialized public operations, such as repair, processing or production workplaces of state or municipal companies, as well as the army or police. For these purposes, interested parties can also use the experimental environment of the RICAIP Testbed for Industry 4.0 at the CIIRC CTU, where contractors can test the solution before it is put into operation.
„Digital transformation and digitization of public administration is our main task. It not only leads to higher efficiency, process improvement, but also to savings as a result. Artificial intelligence is thus one of the tools that can help us in this process in the future,“ says Martin Mesršmíd, director of DIA. „Since digitization is being addressed across all levels and components of public administration, cooperation with EDIH CTU and prg.ai makes a lot of sense for us.“
Photo: Prg.ai, Jakub Čihák
