A new National Center for Artificial Intelligence was officially opened in Prague on Wednesday, April 22, marking a step toward bringing academic research in AI into practical use across both the public and private sectors.

The project is built around cooperation between universities, companies and public institutions. One of its main goals is to support the use of artificial intelligence in state administration and other areas where digital systems are becoming more central to decision-making.

According to Tomáš Kroupa from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University, the center was developed over a period of three months with the involvement of seven technical universities across the country.

Rather than working in isolation, the center is designed to respond directly to demands from industry and public bodies. Companies are expected to define their needs, while universities and research teams will translate those requirements into applied solutions in the field of artificial intelligence.

The center will focus on several key areas, including industrial production, security applications, autonomous systems, biomedicine, energy, and construction. These sectors were selected due to their increasing reliance on data-driven systems and automation.

One of the first planned projects involves cooperation with a major cybersecurity company. The aim is to develop a system capable of explaining how artificial intelligence identifies software defects and evaluates whether a program is malicious.

Malware is understood as software or code designed to damage, disrupt, or gain unauthorized access to a device or system.

The initiative is backed by significant public funding through the SIGMA programme of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. The programme has contributed nearly 400 million CZK.

The overall budget for the center exceeds 500 million CZK, with additional financing coming from industrial partners involved in the project.

Would you like us to write about your business? Find out more