Czech Digital Innovation Hubs: who’re they and the way can they assist?

By Tereza Šamanová

Within the Czech Republic, the preliminary community of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) in 2016 was very small – it included solely two pioneer hubs raised from Horizon 2020 European initiatives targeted on assist of digital manufacturing (DIGIMAT situated in Kuřim was the primary one) and high-performance computing (the Nationwide Supercomputing Centre IT4Innovations situated in Ostrava was the primary DIH registered in CZ). Since then, the Czech community has enlarged as much as twelve DIHs and their specialisation varies from manufacturing, cybersecurity, synthetic intelligence, robotics, high-performance computing as much as sectoral focus similar to agriculture and meals trade, well being or sensible cities and sensible areas growth.

These days you will discover at the least one DIH in every area of the Czech Republic:

How are the Czech DIHs constructed and structured? They’re based mostly usually on a number one competence centre, analysis organisation, technical college, science park, expertise centre or probably the most energetic innovations-supporting NGOs who’ve created an environment friendly consortium of different companions round them, all the time following the chosen subject of specialisation. The DIHs in Czechia, in addition to all around the Europe, haven’t been constructed “on a inexperienced meadow” – as we are saying in Czech, however based mostly on a document of initiatives, actions and customary references which have created the optimum combination of the DIH`s experience and capacities. The scheme developed by TNO in 2015 illustrates the everyday place of a DIH as an “orchestrator” and cross-point of the regional actions targeted on growth and implementation of digital innovation:

In 2021, based mostly on the Digital Europe Programme, there have been – among the many current DIHs and different gamers – a number of an preliminary community of European Digital Innovation Hubs – DIHs with European relevance, serving not solely shoppers coming from their area and/or nation, however offering additionally cross-border companies within the subject of their specialisation.

The fundamental companies of DIHs and European DIHs don’t differ an excessive amount of, their principal distinction lies within the European and cross-border nature of their companies. Due to this fact, with regards to the association of companies of a regular DIH, you may think about the combination of various components that collectively make a Digital Innovation Hub as a “satellite tv for pc” revealed in 2019 by the European Fee:

How do DIHs within the Czech Republic deal with the mission to assist SMEs and public organisations with their digitalisation?

• Explaining that superior digitalisation means working with information and complicated interconnection of individuals, units, and applied sciences, not merely transferring paper or analogue-based information to digital ones.
• Organising widespread occasions – regional roadshows, consciousness elevating actions and brainstorming amongst Czech DIHs to replace info at nationwide stage on superior digitalisation, and sharing examples of finest practices.
• Sharing details about initiatives and recommending them to the suitable beneficiaries with the target of making probably the most added worth for the nationwide progressive ecosystem.
• Attracting conventional non-tech SMEs and smaller public organisations and communities (i.e., farmers and/or service suppliers) to speak with DIHs to allow them to provide them a beginning plan of digitalisation in an acceptable manner.
• Together with all the brand new gamers (those that are thinking about making a DIH or cooperating with an current one) contained in the Czech DIH neighborhood and Central European Platform for Digital Improvements – CEEInno, organising an annual overview of Czech Digital Innovation Hubs and common conferences for Czech DIHs, all the time with the assist of our Ministry of Trade and Commerce because the governmental supervisor of DIHs.

How can Czech DIHs turn into helpful for international companions, particularly working within the subject of robotics or thinking about a few of the sectors, i.e., agriculture?

• Figuring out related companions to your mission within the Czech Republic (CZ) and bordering international locations. Overseas companions will be capable to cooperate not solely with the Czech Digital Innovation Hubs, but additionally with the DIHs and different gamers of the encircling international locations inside our Central European Platform for Digital Improvements, CEEInno.
• Offering all of the DIH companies to shoppers not solely from CZ, we’re strengthening our forces within the close to future underneath the Digital Europe Programme and inside the European Digital Innovation Hubs preliminary community.
• Serving to to contact Czech SMEs and public organisations, by means of members and cooperating organisations of the CEEInno Platform.
• Organising, co-organising or internet hosting your mission in case you intend to draw the Czech contributors.

Amongst related initiatives of the Czech DIHs targeted on robotics and agro-robotics, there may very well be identified the next:

• RICAIP (Analysis and Innovation Centre on Superior Industrial Manufacturing), which as a global distributed analysis centre of excellence specializing in analysis in robotics and synthetic intelligence. The mission consists of Czech and German companions, being hosted at CIIRC CTU and Nationwide Centre for Trade 4.0 as one of many Czech DIHs. Its goal is to strengthen analysis in industrial manufacturing and to attach robotic and AI testbeds in Prague, Brno and Saarbrücken.
• Sensible Agri Hub CZ-SK (AgriHub made in CzechoSlovakia), becoming a member of eight Czech and Slovak companions on widespread mission aiming to advertise digital innovation within the agri-food area and to facilitate set-up and realisation of Innovation Experiments (IEs) within the area. Actions similar to progressive hackathons, matchmaking actions for companions from completely different sectors and consciousness elevating occasions will happen inside forthcoming 12 months, the worldwide neighborhood (not solely from CZ and SK) is invited to take part as properly.

If you need to know extra concerning the Czech Digital Innovation ecosystem you may contact me, Tereza Šamanová (LinkedIn, e-mail), DIHNET Ambassador and casual coordinator of the “Czech DIHs Neighborhood” within the DIHNET neighborhood platform.

tags: c-Analysis-Innovation

---