Federal President Steinmeier visits the RICAIP Research Center

During his state visit to the Czech Republic, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife visited the RICAIP Centre at the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague on 27 August 2021. The center is the result of many years of Czech-German scientific cooperation in the field of Industry 4.0.

During his state visit to the Czech Republic, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife visited the RICAIP Centre at the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague on 27 August 2021. The center is the result of many years of Czech-German scientific cooperation in the field of Industry 4.0. At the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics CIIRC CTU in Prague, the President met representatives from science and business involved in the research and development of modern technologies for industry. The Research and Innovation Centre for Advanced Industrial Production (RICAIP) connects industrial testbeds in the Czech Republic, CIIRC ČVUT and CEITEC BUT in Brno, with the testbed of the German research centres DFKI and ZeMA in Saarbrücken. For example, the experimental workplace Testbed for Industry 4.0 at CIIRC CTU has been equipped with the latest technologies for smart factories from European and national funds for a year and a half.

"The opportunity to welcome the President to CTU is a great honour for us and a confirmation of the importance of our jobs for the development of international cooperation in Industry 4.0," said Vojtěch Petráček, Rector of CTU.

“The visit of the Federal President at this time is symbolic for us. Five years ago, almost to the day, we signed the agreement on scientific cooperation in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel together with Prof. Wolfgang Wahlster, then Director of the DFKI," emphasised Prof. Vladimír Mařík, Scientific Director of the CIIRC CTU. "I am pleased that, after five years of hard work, we will be able to present in the same place the concrete results of our joint RICAIP centre, which cross the borders of our two countries and demonstrate strong cooperation in Industry 4.0 at a truly international level."

The president saw a total of six robot experiments in the test bed, some of which were prepared in cooperation with industrial companies. Among others, he was welcomed by Prof. Radimír Vrba from CEITEC BUT and Prof. Michael Valášek on behalf of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University, which is involved in the construction of a test bed and contributes to the connection of teaching and industrial application.

"Both large multinationals and Czech start-ups are involved in joint projects", said Ondřej Velek, Director of CIIRC ČVUT. "Together with companies, we are developing innovative solutions that can help transform Czech industry towards higher quality production, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises."

The meeting with the President was therefore attended by partners of the National Center for Industry 4.0, namely Eduard Palíšek, CEO of Siemens CR, Michael Oeljeklaus, Member of the Board of Škoda Auto, and José Perdomo Lorenzo, CEO of T-Mobile Czech Republic and Slovak Telekom.

"The demonstrations we have prepared for the President's visit cover a wide range of research by our teams at CIIRC CTU and RICAIP," said Tilman Becker, RICAIP Director. “For example, with the DFKI team, we connected the operator in Prague with the robots in the testbed in Saarbrücken remotely to check the feasibility of the principles of distributed production and remote human-robot cooperation.”

RICAIP – Research and Innovation Center on Advanced Industrial Production – is a newly established International Centre of Excellence for Distributed Research (CoE) based on a strategic partnership of four leading Czech and German research institutions. Founding partners are CIIRC CTU together with CEITEC BUT in Brno, DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence) and ZeMA (Center for Mechatronics and Automation Technology) based in Saarbrücken.

RICAIP focuses on research in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics for advanced industries and develops new production concepts for geographically distributed production and production as a service. The center will connect Testbeds in Prague, Brno and Saarbrücken and enable a rapid adaptation of production to the current needs of the customer or available means of production. RICAIP was created in two phases under the EU Horizon 2020 funding called WIDESPREAD Teaming, while in the second it was assessed as the second best project in 2019. As a result, it received funding totalling EUR 48.25 million for the period 09/2019 – 12/2026. RICAIP also supports small and medium-sized enterprises and facilitates technology and knowledge transfer from science to industry.

More information in English can be found here.