Czech business mission to Belgium for artificial intelligence has been successful
Our college David Lukeš was part of a Czech business mission to European Parlament in Belgium focused on AI!
A total of 12 Czech companies and 3 representatives of the Academy spent 2 intensive days in Belgium. During the business mission, the Czech representatives met their Belgian partners, heard about Belgium’s very successful projects in the field of artificial intelligence and recognized the environment of the EU institutions.
The business mission took place 9th-10thOctober 2018 thanks to the project to support economic diplomacy of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Brussels, with the support of MrsMartina Dlabajová in cooperation with CEBRE – the Czech Business Representation to the EU and the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic.
Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Brussels Jaroslav Kurfürst evaluates the mission as very successful: “Belgium is at the forefront of science and research, how Czech companies and scientists could see with their own eyes. Whereas the Czech Republic is very strong in IT, even though it isn’t very well known in the Belgian environment. The main goal of the project was to connect experts on both sides and, according to the first reactions of the participants, it really did. I believe that in the following years, some interesting Czech-Belgian projects in the area of artificial intelligence could be created.”
The first day of the mission was launched at the campus of Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The present persons welcomed the Ambassador of the Czech Republic Jaroslav Kurfürst, accompanied by his representative, Tamara Katuščák. The Vice-President Irena Bartoňová Pálková said hello to the participants for the Czech Chamber of Commerce. Czech companies and institutions had the opportunity to introduce themselves to around 20 Belgian counterparts and compare the focus of their projects. All participants have seen samples of robots developed at VUB in scientific laboratories (BruBotics), and some of them have tried how learn robots through interactive glasses and programs. Czech representatives also visited the Brussels incubators and IoT Factory, which creates a working environment for creative teams of people and works with partners within the industry 4.0. After the presentation of highly successful Belgian Artificial Intelligence projects – iCity.Brussels, VUB Technology Transfer Office and Molengeek – followed by B2B at the BECI Brussels Chamber of Commerce.
The second day of the mission had mainly EU dimension. Czech participants visited the European Parliament, learned about the work of Mrs Martina Dlabajová, who is the Member of the European Parliament and discussed with Daniel Braun from the Cabinet of Commissioner Věra Jourová the topic of the new EU Strategy in the field of Artificial Intelligence and discussed possible EU financial resources in this area. The entire delegation took then part in the fifth anniversary of the European Parliament of Enterprises, where they had the opportunity to discuss and vote on the key initiatives of the EU institutions affecting entrepreneurs and to taste the work of a Member of the European Parliament for one day. Vladimír Dlouhý, President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic, also attended the plenum, with which the members of the mission had a personal meeting and a discussion on topical issues for Czech entrepreneurs.
Article authors: Tamara Katuščak, Deputy Ambassador, Embassy of the Czech Republic in Brussels, and Trainee David Broul