The second Czech-Taiwan Science and Technology Days

The Czech-Taiwan Days were held for the second time on 3-5 November 2008 in Prague.  The first “Days” took place in November 2007 in Taiwan. The CzechInvest Agency undertook the organisational and preparatory work again, in co-operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Czech Technical University.

The 12-membered Taiwan delegation was led by Deputy Minister of National Science Council (NSC) C.H.Chen. Representatives of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) , Information Technology Institute and the CPC Corporation (energy and environment) were also in the delegation, as well as the leading officials of three important  universities (including the Taiwan National University), which are active in industrial applications of the results of research and development.

The programme of the event was split into three days. An all-day seminar, attended by all participants, was held the first day (3 November) in the conference room of Hotel Art Deco Imperial, Na Poříčí 15 in Prague 1.

Before the seminar, a dinner was given by the Taiwanese side on Sunday 2 November in the Kinski Palace Restaurant. The dinner was attended by all 12 members of the Taiwan delegation and, on the Czech side, by Deputy Minister of Education  V. Růžička, President of the Academy of Sciences V. Pačes, First Deputy Chairperson of the Research and Development Council M. Kopicová,  President of the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic J. Syka and Mrs Syka, Director General of CzechInvest A. Rudyšarová, representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade A. Uchytil and representatives of other Czech organisations and institutions.

During the first day the head of the Taiwan delegation Mr. Chen met the Director General of CzechInvest A. Rudyšarová, Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Sport V Růžička and (in the afternoon) President of the Academy of Sciences V. Pačes.

The same day, an agreement on co-operation in the area of science and research between the National Science Council of Taiwan and the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic was officially signed by Mr. Chen and Mr. J. Syka, respectively.

LIBEREC  4 November 2008

The second day the Taiwan participants visited Liberec – the city and the Technical University. Prof. Louda, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, informed about the Faculty’s activities in the areas of nanotechnologies and energy and the use of non-conventional energy sources and engineering technologies. He expressed interest in the possibilities of co-operation with industry. Then the delegation saw a presentation of the Elmarco Company and visited its plant, which makes equipment for nanofibre production (nanospider).

BRNO  5.11. 2008

The last day of the event, the participants visited the South Moravian Innovation Centre in Brno. Director J. Hudeček informed them about the Centre’s activities. A number of companies, besides the Centre itself, were introduced to the Taiwan delegation. These companies, located in the Centre, are currently working on ten international projects, using EU funds successfully.

The following companies presented themselves in detail:

• Microsoft Innovation Center – M.Vacek (support to emerging enterprises – start ups; project of a “navigation white stick” for the blind)

• Optimsys – P. Kuba (project of automatic voice recognition). The Taiwan guests expressed their wish to co-operate in this area

• Inveatech – J. Tobola (high-speed monitoring networks). The company’s representatives offered to co-operate in the production of modules and in the distribution of these systems in South-east Asia

• Strokom – T. Kubala (process optimisation, precision engineering, fuel injection nozzles, special bearings …)

• Viditech – Martin Doseděl (vibrodiagnostics).

E. Janouškovcová of the Masaryk University’s Technology Transfer Centre introduced the Masaryk University, its faculties and its new Integrated Biotechnology Laboratory (ILBIT). She informed about the newly developed technologies for which they offer licences.

She also mentioned the International Clinical Research Centre (ICRC), which co-operates with the Mayo Clinic (USA). The Taiwan participants were informed about the Central European Institute of Technology, which is being built in Brno.

Then followed a visit to the Brno Technology Park and its presentation by Director R. Barker.

Afterwards the delegation visited the Information Technology Faculty of the Technical University in Brno. Former President of the University J. Vrbka in his presentation explained the activities of the technology transfer centre and described the results of the University’s research in the fields of new materials (bone and tooth implants), biopolymers, nanocomposites, space telecommunication, ultralight aircraft and new types of turbines. M. Drahanský and J. Černocký of the Information Technology Faculty informed about the results of research in the field of intelligent systems. The Taiwan visitors expressed their wish to co-operate in these projects.

At the end J. Vrbka accompanied the delegation to the restored university buildings and lecture halls of the Faculty, located in a former monastery.

Technical seminar on 3 November 2008

As agreed with the Taiwan side, the seminar was focused on the following priority areas:

• Information technologies (ICT)

• Precision engineering, robotics, cybernetics

• New materials

• Energy, new sources, energy savings.

The following participants gave their talks in the introductory part of the seminar: M. Kopicová – First Deputy Chairperson of the Research and Development Council; C. H. Chen – Deputy Minister of NSC; Peter Kalaš – Advisor to the Czech Prime Minister;  C. K. Liu – Head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Prague; and J. Nykodým – Deputy CEO of CzechInvest.

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