Research into the Potential Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Czech Republic Highlights Possible Issues

On 17th December, the Government Office published four reports from the study Research into the Potential Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Czech Republic, including a summary report. The study was prepared by a team from the Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, CTU, and the Institute of State and Law of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

You will read about how important AI is, how we lag behind the USA and China, and that the implementation of AI has significant benefits: “The immediate benefit of automation for both employees and employers lies in the transfer of routine and repetitive, as well as laborious tasks, to machines, thereby freeing up human resources for more creative activities with higher added value.”

It arrives at a similar conclusion to Alpha Industries, noting that implementing AI in the Czech Republic is not entirely straightforward for corporations: “However, the Czech Republic does not have particularly favourable starting conditions for the implementation of AI technologies. Most domestic companies are at the end of global value chains (GVC) or are under foreign control, and it can therefore be assumed that the control over the implementation of innovations will rest with foreign headquarters. For domestic R&D and especially companies supplying AI solutions, this means a strong orientation towards foreign markets, where they can deliver these solutions.”

The SWOT analysis is particularly interesting, revealing that a strong point for the Czech Republic is our science and research in the field of AI. Additionally, the Industrial and Transport Association has established a platform for AI, and there are about 40 AI startups in the country, among other things. In the weaknesses section, it highlights that the Czech Republic is a small market, that we lack a national strategy for AI development, and so on. I conducted a very similar SWOT analysis when I was founding my AI company.

What I appreciate is the overview of proposed solutions. There are steps that companies like mine are waiting for, such as support for the development and establishment of high-value-added startups in AI technologies. Personally, I do not quite understand how the declining planned expenditures relate to this strategy.

The largest public funds are allocated to Brno, Ostrava, and Prague – I must say that the specific distribution and number of projects were somewhat surprising to me.

Sources: https://www.cnews.cz/vyzkum-potencialu-rozvoje-umele-intel…/

https://www.vlada.cz/…/jaky-je-potencial-umele-inteligence…/