What is IT4Innovations
Information technologies play a key role in industry in the Moravian-Silesian Region and in the development of the Czech Republic as a whole. The requirements of the application sphere and foreign investors are connected with the rapid growth of IT technologies, yet science and research have not responded adequately to this newly emerging situation. Research and development activities in IT are scattered and piecemeal, and there is no de facto unified platform for the support of these activities that could act as a high-quality partner for the application sphere and the IT industry, including its customers. Additionally, the growing complexity of the tasks solved in the application sphere – in industry and society – brings with it a growing need to create a modern computer infrastructure based on high-powered supercomputers, including the development of related scientific disciplines. The lack of a supercomputer centre represents a key competitive disadvantage of the Czech Republic. The IT4Innovations Centre of Excellence will solve this problem and respond to these needs, representing a tool for the integration and development of IT research. The infrastructure, created by IT4Innovations, will thus not only function as a high-quality partner for the application sphere, but will also motivate industry to develop new and innovative products and solutions based on the effective use of these modern technologies.
The overall aim is to create a mutually interlinked, closely cooperating workplace focusing on the following 4 key areas of activity:
- IT4People (Information for People) – focusing on improving quality of life in society via the development and provision of new services based on modern information technologies.
- SC4Simulations (Supercomputing for Simulations) – focusing on supercomputing and research into the development of new methods and algorithms of computational mathematics with subsequent application in multidisciplinary simulation tasks (stress and deformation analysis of complex systems, shape optimization, fluid flow problems, materials design, biomechanical simulations, etc.).
- EC4Innovations (Embedded Computing for Innovations) – focusing on the research and development of sophisticated embedded systems applied in mechatronics and innovative medicine.
- Theory4IT (Theory for Information Technology) - focusing on basic research into the development of new and non-traditional computing methods, based on disciplines such as soft computing, formal methods, knowledge-oriented and biologically motivated algorithms.
Main areas of centre’s activity
Strategy
The project to establish the IT4Innovations Center of Excellence involves the area defined in the Czech Republic’s long-term strategy for the development of science and research as the development of the information society. The partner institutions submitting this joint project can draw on a rich research and scientific background in information science, information technologies and computational mathematics. In addition to these key fields – which are at the core of the planned Centre of Excellence – other modern emerging scientific disciplines are currently undergoing rapid development: mechatronics, embedded systems, biomedical engineering, safety engineering and nanotechnology. These disciplines have become an integral part of long-term research programs, not only in basic research, but also in the practical application sphere. All of these technologies – whether established or emerging – share one key common denominator: the effective use of powerful computer technology and supercomputer methods. It is evident that the development of new, non-traditional computation methods and their implementation in sophisticated software systems represents a key factor in the development of all of the above-mentioned scientific disciplines. It is the need to pool resources and create a research infrastructure focused on developing computation methods (IT as the subject of research) – including the search for ways of effective application (IT as a means in research) – that forms the basis of the proposed project to establish the IT4Innovations Centre of Excellence.
Benefits of IT4Innovations
One of the key goals of the planned Centre of Excellence is the unification of a wide range of fields of knowledge and science around the central theme of information technologies, thus not only achieving developments in informatics and computational mathematics as such, but supporting the development of all fields involved.
The IT4Innovations Centre of Excellence project represents a fundamental opportunity to strengthen the competitiveness not only of the involved regions, but of the Czech Republic as a whole. The potential offered by the Centre lies in its unique combination of several mutually complimentary factors: the existence of a base for high-quality research workers offering international experience and contacts; the creation of products and services to meet current and future needs in the application sphere, whether public or private; and the determination of Moravian-Silesian and South Moravian regions’ representatives to create an internationally renowned centre of excellence focusing on IT – a highly progressive field of knowledge.
In recent years, the Moravian-Silesian Region is increasingly being perceived as a region offering a strong base in information technologies (reflected in the influx of investors such as TietoEnator, Bang & Olufsen, ASUS etc.). The IT4Innovations project would enable this base to develop fully within a region where information technologies are and will remain one of the main pillars of future continued economic growth. The region’s future – just like that of most other EU regions – will depend on its ability to become an attractive location for investments with higher added value. The proposal to set up the IT4Innovations Centre of Excellence represents a clear response to this challenge.
South Moravian Region is in the framework of the Czech Republic on a long-term perspective considered to be a region strongly supporting the development of innovative entrepreneurship, which is to a considerable extent connected with exploitation of information technologies. This region succeeded in attracting a significant amount of important players in the field of advanced usage of electrical engineering and IT – as examples can serve e.g. establishment of Honeywell development centre, or presence of Microsoft laboratories. Participation of partners form the South Moravian Region will thus bring not only expansion of territorial field of activity, but also the top capacities from the research field, as well as long-term links to clients from application sphere.
The uniqueness of this Centre of Excellence lies in the high degree of diversification among the potential clients of the research and development activities generated by the Centre. Future clients from the private sector will range from small businesses to large corporations operating in various sectors: IT, mechanical engineering, automotive industry, construction, pharmaceuticals, etc. Examples of applications include commercial software packages, new embedded control systems, modelling of nanosensors, shape optimization, and many others. An equally important consumer of the Centre’s research & development results will be the public sector, especially with regard to the modelling and simulation of crisis situations. In this connection it must be emphasized that these solutions will not only lead to considerable cost savings for the public sector (by avoiding potential negative effects), but will also contribute to significant social effects manifested in increased quality of life (saving human lives, improving traffic flows, etc.). The project will also lead to a deeper interconnection and cooperation between universities and the application sphere – which will bring more rapid and more frequent technology transfers (and an increased number of spin-off companies).
The IT4Innovations CE project will lead to a significant concentration of research capacities in information technologies. Under one roof, the Centre will bring together a range of research teams consisting of experts currently (with only a few exceptions) working separately as part of the individual members of the consortium. Another aspect that should be emphasized is the synergic effect of cooperation among research workers from various fields (using SC4Simulations within IT4People, etc.). The project will also create approximately 110-120 new jobs, of which 100 will be on full-time contracts – further accentuating the formation of a critical mass. We also expect that the Centre of Excellence will attract research workers who do not work directly at the IT4Innovations Centre of Excellence, but will become involved in other forms of cooperation. The Centre of Excellence will place particular emphasis on the training and professional development of young research workers, with doctoral students or post-doctoral staff forming around 50% of the total research team (200 staff in total). The clear vision of the IT4Innovations Centre of Excellence, its solid foundations for cooperation with the application sphere and international partners, and above all the future opportunities for the use of IT in most areas of economic and social development – all of these factors combine to create excellent conditions enabling the Centre of Excellence to win an international reputation on the European and global stages.
The main benefit of the IT4Innovations project is its creation of a unique structure with both national and international significance, focusing on key areas of science and research such as the development of the information society, the development of embedded systems, innovative medicine and nanotechnologies – and of course information technologies themselves. Additionally, the IT4Innovations project represents an exceptional synergy of scientific, research and development capacities in computer science and computational mathematics, with the goal of stimulating the development of a wide range of modern and progressive technologies. The potential establishment of this Centre of Excellence creates increased demand for new, sophisticated services which cannot be created or implemented without the existence of a research infrastructure of national importance. In this way, we are creating a base for the closer interconnection of basic and applied research, with a clearly specified impact on innovations.