Dolní Břežany. The president of the Czech Academy of Sciences Eva Zažímalová has attended the tapping of the foundation stone ceremony for the construction of the Brain4Industry innovation centre today. The centre to be built has recently become part of the European Digital Innovation Hubs.
“If we want to continue being a developed country that plays no minor role in the European Union, then the only way for us to go is that of the advanced technologies for knowledge economy. Therefore, it is important that we actively interface with industry and research domains,” said the president of the Czech Academy of Sciences in her opening speech, emphasizing the leading role of the Institute of Physics among the institutes involved in the Brain4Industry innovation centre.
The new centre is being constructed in the close vicinity of the HiLASE and ELI Beamlines laser centres, which have been operational in Dolní Břežany for over ten years now. “During that time, we built a strong connection to Dolní Břežany; what takes years to arrange in Prague, goes a lot smoother and takes just a few months to complete here,” said the Director of the Institute of Physics Michael Prouza. “Without the strong support provided by the Czech Academy of Sciences we wouldn’t have been able to do anything in these strange and complex times,” he observed, emphasising also the merits of the recently deceased mayor of Dolní Břežany Věslav Michalik, one of the enablers of the B4I innovation centre.
In his address the Director also mentioned a major change that is about to take place in ELI Beamlines this year. The laser centre is expected to become a full member of the ELI Eric Consortium in late 2022, and, as he said, “We, at the Institute, have always thought of ELI as of our child that we have accompanied from its first steps to its first step to adulthood, and that is now leaving us, going its own way.“ In contrast to ELI Beamlines, the B4I Centre should serve as a proxy to continuously link small and medium companies and academic institutes in the long term.
The foundation stone tapping ceremony was attended, among others, by the representatives of the Czech Technology Agency, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Deputy Mayor of Dolní Břežany.
Brain4Industry was co-funded by the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Thermomechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Central Bohemian Innovation Centre, Cardam Solution and the science and technology STAR Research & Innovation Cluster.