Services for testing AI solutions for enterprises are offered by the testing facility of the VSB-TUO

In the Czech Republic, a total budget of CZK 200 million has been set aside for this purpose, giving SMEs access to cutting-edge infrastructure and the services of expert teams at technical universities in Prague, Brno and Ostrava.

Three Czech entities (CTU in Prague, Brno University of Technology, Brno University of Technology, Ostrava University of Technology) are part of the broader AI-MATTERS consortium, which brings together major organisations from eight European countries in the framework of the European Reference Testing and Experimentation Facilities in Artificial Intelligence (AI TEF) project for industrial production. AI-MATTERS consists of 25 excellent technology sites, which together form eight national centres, providing the unique, location-specific professional services needed for the development of the European AI sector.

The Czech team is led by the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics of the Czech Technical University in Prague (CIIRC CTU), while other members of CEITEC BUT in Brno and VSB-TUO offer a wide range of services focused on key topics such as data collection and analysis, smart factories, optimisation of production processes, Internet of Things (IoT) systems, human-machine-robot collaboration or industrial 5G communication. Experienced experts and modern technologies for artificial intelligence and advanced robotics are available at the RICAIP TestbedPrague, RICAIP Testbed Brno and Smart Factory Lab Ostrava.

"We help companies that already collect data from production to process it in order to best set up production systems for efficient production planning and predictive maintenance," says Petr Šimoník, Vice Dean for Cooperation with Industry at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics of VSB-TUO. "Using virtualization and integration of the digital twin of manufacturing, including the deployment of artificial intelligence, we can identify opportunities for optimizing manufacturing processes, including resource and material management."

With a total budget of €60 million (approx. €1.5 billion) over five years, the aim of the network is to ensure a sufficient supply of European AI solutions to increase the resilience and flexibility of the manufacturing sector through AI, robotics and intelligent autonomous systems. Within the Czech Republic, a budget of CZK 200 million is earmarked for these activities. The call for applications for testbed services has just been published and is available on the AI-MATTERS and CIIRC CTU websites.