Czech Republic is heading the elite while introducing the AI strategy

The Czech Republic has joined the club of countries that have a clear plan on how to succeed and advance in the technology of the future – the artificial intelligence (AI). On Monday, the government approved the National Strategy of Artificial Intelligence in the Czech Republic, which is the basis for supporting the development of AI in the Czech Republic and also a prerequisite for the emergence of the European super hub. Europe's most advanced countries such as France, the United Kingdom and Germany, as well as the most technologically advanced countries in the world, have a similar strategy.

“A few months ago, I started working to help the Czech Republic get a European super hub for artificial intelligence and I am dealing with all the European Union leaders to convince them that we are world leaders in this area. Along with the Deputy Prime Minister Havlíček, we are now preparing the basic outline of the economic strategy and there will be an important place for artificial intelligence” emphasized Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

“We have a great chance to use the cutting edge Czech research in this breakthrough technology as a key tool for our future. This puts us among the European technology elite, which will not only lead the industry, but will also become a major global player in cyber security to face a major global threat such as the data theft” said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade, Karel Havlíček. “The National AI Strategy builds on the Innovation Strategy and is one of the first tangible steps to put the Czech Republic back among the world's most advanced countries” added Havlíček.

For the Czech Republic, , which has set itself the goal of catching up with the today´s lead of the United States and China, the new strategy is above all the ticket to engage in activities at EU level. “A key first step is to build a European Centre of AI Excellence in Prague in Prague, i.e. the seat of one of the upcoming four European research networks. This would help create one of the world's AI hubs in the Czech Republic and the whole region to the benefit of other industry centres in the Czech Republic and Central Europe” said Petr Očko, Deputy Minister for Digitization and Innovation, who prepared the strategy with his team. The Czech Republic has set itself the creation of a European Centre of AI Excellence as a short-term goal that is realistic to reach by 2021. The strategy generally envisages short-term (up to 2021), medium-term (2027) and long-term (2035) targets.

“In the long term, it is crucial for us to attract top talent from abroad to be followed by research centres of world companies and other investments along with the development of start-ups and innovative companies throughout the Czech Republic. In short, artificial intelligence cannot do without the real one” said Očko.

The priority topics of artificial intelligence in the Czech Republic are based on the results of our science as well as on industrial or public applications where we rank among the top. These include security and defence, industrial production and human-machine communication. We are focusing on both computer security expertise and industry 4.0 robotics, autonomous cars, or applications for image or language recognition. At the same time, it will increase the comfort of the population in everyday life, based mainly on quick and helpful communication with the state.

The strategy is divided into seven chapters and covers the areas of economy and society from support for science and research, through education and the social system up to the issues of regulation and international cooperation. In close cooperation with the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy has a leading role in AI. The aim is to interconnect both the public and private sectors, i.e. the state, companies and academia. They also actively participated in the preparation of the Strategy.

Source: Ministry of Industry and Trade