Olomouc has to be unique in the field of innovations. Not Brno, not Prague, advises a Škoda Auto expert

Two days, thirty-three scientific contributions, and speakers from ten countries. These are the statistics of this year's IDS conference, traditionally held in Olomouc. This year, it was devoted to the theme of innovations for sustainable development. However, it was not the only focus of the conference. Five thematic blocks were devoted to innovation ecosystems, sustainability, smart healthcare, digitalisation in education and the connection between geoinformatics and economic data.

The last two themes are related to the professional focus of René Glas from the University of Utrecht, whose focus for a long time has been gamification and its use in teaching. The creation of various simulations may be an ideal way to develop students' skills, but not only those of students’. Simulation elements are easily applicable in everyday life.

“At our university in Utrecht, we use artificial intelligence to simulate the movement of people during big events where various unexpected incidents can occur, such as fires or terroristic attacks. At our university, we are able to create a true simulation of a city and release thousands of artificial intelligence units into the streets. Then, we can test various crisis scenarios and observe how people behave,” says R. Glas.

R. Glas was involved in the international Spationomy project, which is one of the pilot research projects of MVSO. Since the Czech-Israeli Innovation and Partnership Centre has been established, the next profile themes of innovation ecosystems and smart healthcare have been under development. These topics were addressed primarily by Israeli experts, but also by Michal Štefan from the DEX IC Innovation Centre in Liberec and Tomáš Dostál from the Innovation Centre of the Olomouc Region.

Particularly inspiring was the speech of Ludmila Prokopcová, the technology scout of the Škoda Auto Digilab in Israel, who focused on the Czech view of the Israeli culture of innovative start-ups. “The Czechs should learn to know the value of their ideas from the Israelis. The market for innovations is the whole world. Olomouc must be unique in the field of innovation if it wants to succeed. It should not aspire to become a copy of Brno or Prague.,” said L. Prokopcová.

“This year's conference confirmed the importance of interdisciplinary projects,” added Jarmila Zimmermannová, the rector of MVSO. “Our international partners confirmed us in the decision to also focus on family businesses and start-ups in the region.”-

This year's IDS conference was supported by the Embassy of Israel in the Czech Republic, the Czech-Israeli Mutual Chamber of Commerce, the Czech-Israeli Innovation and Partnership Centre, TESCO SW, MVSO, BEA Production, the City of Olomouc, the Olomouc Region, Bioeconomy Platform, and the European Union + the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.