PRAGUE

Digital Hotspots in the Czech Republic

Overview

General Facts&Figures www.nationmaster.com/country/ez-czech-republic

“A small proud
nation with a
good sense of
humour, highly
educated labour
force, and track
record of
invention (from
propeller to
contact lenses)
and high quality
products (cars,
beer, glass)”
(Easylink).

The Czech
Republic is a
favourite tourist
destination –
particularly
Prague, Karlovy
Vary and Český
Krumlov are the
top 3. This is
what the
international
community
somehow
knows – but not
much more,
and in this
respect the country shares its fate with its neighbours, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary.

In fact, the Czech Republic has certainly been the fastest and most
efficient nation to reintegrate into Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain in
1989. The country has a stable political foundation (despite numerous scandals
and even an interim government during the country’s EU presidency in 2009), a
prosperous economy, high export rates and a growing and very interesting ICT
industry which sold goods and services for € 12 billion in 2007. In fact, the Czech
Republic covers about 20% of the new EU member states’ ICT business. A
range of multinational ICT and electronics companies have moved their production
and research units there, mainly in the two main cities, Prague and Brno, and
some of them run their regional or sectorial headquarters there, such as IBM,
Accenture, Hewlett-Packard, Logica CMG, Honeywell, CSC or Red Hat. Several
large hardware manufacturers such as Foxconn or Asus run production units
there, and the country is also the home for a range of very interesting
semiconductor and Nano technology companies, games producers and software
developers.
 “The Czech Republic’s telecoms market is one
Czech Republic (2009) of the best developed in the Central and
Eastern European (CEE) region.”
ICT Usage Czech Republic Telecommunications Report Q1 2009
(Business Monitor International)

Internet penetration total 49% (households)

Although the Czech Republic has an
Internet usage 65% (population)
excellent reputation as an outsourcing
Comprehensive Czech destination, rising prices and salaries will
information on the Czech Telecommunication
Republic’s telecom sector soon force the Czechs to re-think their
Office www.ctu.eu
position and shift towards providing and
All statistics below:
www.budde.com.au/Research/Czech-Republic- marketing their own technological
Telecoms-Mobile-Broadband-and-Forecasts.html and competence. The background for such a
www.czso.cz/csu/redakce.nsf/i/telekomunikacni_a_int transition is more than favourable, as
ernetova_infrastruktura there is sufficient talent (approx. 20,000
Mobile phone penetration 123% (population) ICT students), entrepreneurial spirit, an
existing and increasingly successful local
Broadband access (fixed 22% (households)
line)
ICT industry and rising consumer
Broadband access 18% (households)
awareness.
(mobile)
Broadband access total 44% (households) Despite the long lasting neglect of
technology transfer (i.e. the collaboration
PC penetration 53% (households) between research and business, a
phenomenon typical for Europe, especially
Central and Eastern
Europe), the struggle for funding has
ICT Production (2008) brought an approach of the two sides
during recent years. Due to increased
Companies ~ 24.700 IT
awareness, recent legislatures have
~ 1.300 Telecom-/
Broadcasting dedicated more funds to ICT related
~ 7.000 Electronics projects, mainly from EU resources, to
Total 33.000 enable projects and create new
of which 830 > 20 employees
institutions. There are also plans for a new
Employment ~ 69.000 IT
~ 40.000 Electronics
science park close to Prague, and several
~ 22.000 Telecom-/ small cluster and incubator projects for
Broadcasting start ups went operative during the last
~ 131.000 Total years.
Total revenues € 30 bn. (ICT services +11%
Software +8,6%
ICT manufacturing +24% Especially Brno, the country’s second
vs. 2007) largest city and one of Europe’s younger
Domestic market € 14.7 bn. ICT hotspots, has profited from numerous
Export investments, and companies like IBM or
€ 12.5 bn.; +5,8% (Products &
services) Microsoft have initiated large collaboration
Whereto 88% Europe
projects together with the local
10% North America universities. The number of university
2% Other spin-offs has been steadily increasing, and
What Computer hardware, ERP and the small, but numerous clusters and
industrial software, niche technology parks are growing. The
products
economic relapse 2009 has not caused too
much damage. A symbol for the prevailing
spirit might be, that In September 2009 ČVUT Prague, one of Europe’s oldest universities
of technology, inaugurated its faculty of informatics, which meant a major upgrade from
the former institute status.
1. Prague: ICT Boom
Town after ‘89

Prague, the Czech Republic’s

largest city and capital, is a place
full of history and has been
frequently the stage for important
events, good and bad. The
beautiful city attracts almost two
million tourists every year, and the
local purchasing power is
approaching Austria’s and
Germany’s levels. The city is
clean, safe, and well administered.
With approximately 4% (Feb. 2010) Prague Castle. To reach it, Prague citizens send a three-
unemployment is considerably lower letter SMS to the city’s public transport company and get
than in other parts of the country, an SMS ticket back. Photo: CzechTourism
and is also low on an international level.

Public transportation, education and health services are efficient, prices off the touristic
centers are lower than in other (Western) European countries.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 the country profited of the chance to redevelop
its traditionally excellent engineering capacities. The Czech economy is oriented towards
manufacturing - the value added in manufacturing is the highest in proportion to the size
of the economy out of all EU countries.
Today’s spending on ICT as percentage of
the GDP exceeds that of most European
countries. Prague competes with the Czech
Republic’s second largest city, Brno, for
being the country’s ICT hotspot.

Two factors make Prague a hotspot in

Europe’s digital landscape:

• The local ICT industry and the

research sector deliver impressive
results, and export and investments
abroad are increasing and

• Prague is an attractive location for

multinational ICT companies. If this
was in the past mainly due to low
cost outsourcing, the country now
shifts more and more towards the
status of a technology partner, not
only, but certainly also, because of
rising salaries. Prague is also
Vienna’s strongest competitor in the
race of attractive locations for
regional CEE headquarters.
Microsoft’s Prague headquarters.
Photo: Microsoft CR.
TESLA is the successor of one of the first electrotechnical enterprises in former Czechoslovakia. It was founded
under the name ELEKTRA in 1921. After 1989 many of its divisions became independent ICT and
electrotechnical companies and research organisations. Today’s TESLA specializes on supplies of transmitting
technology, military telecommunications, water treatment solutions, solar technology and industrial plants. The
above photo is part of a glass mosaic in a shopping arcade in downtown Prague.
Photo: CzechInvest

ICT and Electronics here are looking back on a long history. Prague was the first city in
the Austro-Hungarian empire to run an electric tramway, and in the 1920s, when the
new born republic (at that time Czechoslovakia) was booming, Tesla launched its
production of radios and later on more advanced electronics including the first electron
microscope in 1950, a steadily growing giant, operative as a nationalised company until
its privatisation in 1991. It was the source of a range of highly qualified new companies
and research organisations which stand for the high level of electronics in this country
nowadays.

The following examples are no singular phenomena – they just stand paradigmatically for
the institutions and activities in informatics in this country.

Today, Prague is the home of numerous research institutes with the Czech University of
Technology ČVUT and the Academy of Science AV ČR as the leading institutions and the
background of the former nationalised electronic manufacturer Tesla. The probably most
exciting departments of ČVUT in ICT terms are the Faculties of Information Technology
and of Electrical Engineering. The latter is also the roof organisation for the renowned
Department of Cybernetics.

The Department of Cybernetics conducts high-quality research in artificial intelligence,

machine perception, robotics and biomedical engineering with the focus on multi-agent
systems, machine learning, data mining, pattern recognition, knowledge-based systems,
medical data processing and collaborative robotics. The research is carried out in two co-
operating centres, the Gerstner Laboratory for Intelligent Decision Making and Control
and the Centre of Machine Perception.

The Gerstner Laboratory was

founded in 1996 as an extension
of the Joint Research Centre of
Czech Technical University in
Prague and FAW, University of
Linz, Austria. The laboratory was
named after Franz J. Gerstner, the
first president of the Czech
Polytechnical School (later ČVUT).
The 130 staff carries out basic
research in distributed artificial
intelligence, multi-agent systems,
machine learning and system
diagnostics, knowledge-based
systems, data warehousing & data
The Intelligent and Mobile Robotics group at the Gerstner
Laboratory focuses on the design and development of intelligent
mobile robots - self-guided vehicles. The overall goal is to
develop highly robust cognitive control system for this kind of
robots and to bring novel ideas into particular solutions.
Photo ČVUT
mining, evolutionary computing,
intelligent robotics and
biocybernetics. The areas of
applied research include computer
integrated manufacturing,
software testing and software
diagnostics, and system
diagnostics.

The Gerstner Laboratory is

structured into four research
groups:

• - Agent Technology Group

• - Intelligent and Mobile Robotics The new Technical Library at ČVUT.
• - Intelligent Data Analysis Photo: Siemens Building Technologies
• - Knowledge-Based and Software Systems
• - Nature Inspired Technology Group

The research activities in the laboratory are primarily funded by local/European research
projects and industrial contracts. The laboratory co-operates extensively with both
international and local industrial companies. The laboratory has established links with
many universities and institutions worldwide via bilateral agreements, networks of
excellence and joint projects:

Foreign partners:

• Rockwell Automation, USA: Multi-agent systems, machine learning and diagnostic

algorithms, intelligent motor and pump diagnostics, expert systems, machine vision etc.
• Vitatron, NL: Software development, intelligent testing of software for pacemakers
• Honeywell, USA: Automatic video surveillance
• Denso, JP: Agent-based on-board diagnostics of cars
• Cadence, DM: Architecture of a planning and scheduling tool for IC designers
• TeleDataElectronics, D: Development of algorithms based on machine learning for gas
consumption prediction
• Grundfos, DK: Intelligent pump design
• Air Force Research Laboratory, USA: Coalition formation, meta-reasoning and
inaccessibility in multi-agent systems, air-traffic control deconfliction
• Office of Naval Research, USA: Agent-based techniques for optimization of logistics
• US Army, CERDEC, USA: Modelling in multi-agent systems, reflec2tion and cognition
• IHMC/NASA, USA: Agent-based root cause detection in hydrogen production

Local partners:

• AŽD Praha s.r.o., CZ (Automation of Railway Transport): Software testing, safety critical
software for line-block control
• CertiCon a.s., CZ: Intelligent systems development, mission critical software development
and testing
• Gedas/Škoda Auto/Volkswagen, CZ: Production planning system fomotor assembling
• IKEM, CZ: Design and implementation of intelligent methods for analysis of measured
biosignals
• Glass Service, a.s., CZ: Evolutionary computation techniques
• Laboratory of Intelligent Systems, Czech Railways: Robust sensor fusion for navigation of
trains
• ProTyS, a.s., CZ: Software testing methodologies
• Siemens -Transportation Systems, CZ: Planning and scheduling for in-store logistics
Two more research groups at the
Gerstner Laboratory are IDA, the
Intelligent Data Analysis Research
Lab and the Agent Technology
Center

In IDA the researchers try to make

computers discover knowledge in
data. To this end they have
developed data mining and machine
learning algorithms to detect
regularities (frequent patterns,
strong associations),
construct predictive models, and Eyedea, a ČVUT spin-off, produces real-time audience
ultimately identify the phenomenon measurement and people counting systems based on state-of-
that generated the observed data. the-art computer vision algorithms. Photo Eyedea

One of their projects is XGENE.ORG,

a free public tool for integrated analysis of gene expression data collected from diverse
microarray platforms, possibly pertaining to various organism species with different
genomes.

The Agent Technology Center (ATG) is a university research center performing

fundamental and applied research in the field of agent-based computing, multi-agent
systems and agent technologies. ATG researchers work on various cutting edge research
projects, have unique set of skills and broad international experience. The main objective
of ATG research is to contribute to: Applied agent research mainly in manufacturing,
automotive industry, network security and defense, fundamental research in agent-based
computing and multi-agent systems and large scale prototype and demonstration
systems development.

The Center for Machine Perception (CMP) (extensive descriptions, links) is a research
group active in the fields of computer vision, pattern recognition, and mathematical
modelling of uncertainty. The CMP is funded partially by the CTU and a number of
national, European and industrial grants. Its main research interests are:

• Reconstruction of 3D-models
from multiple images
• Omni-directional vision, non-
classical cameras
• Reconstruction of 3D models
from unorganised 3D points
• Stereo matching and surface
reconstruction
• Multi-camera systems for
recognition
• Object recognition
• Medical imaging
• Statistical pattern recognition
and learning issues
• Mathematics of uncertainty,
quantum and Fuzzy logic

AAA project of the Institute of Information Theory and

Automation of the Czech Academy of Sciences: the Evaluation
of the mosaic conservation at St. Vitus’ southern portal, the
famous “Golden Gate” of the cathedral in Prague castle.
Photo: GK
Machine Perception is an ongoing topic in areas such as automation or security. Tracking,
licence plate recognition or face detection are only a few of the numerous tasks. Several
spin-off companies such as Eyedea Recognition originated from CMP and the
collaboration with the business sector is extensive. On Eyedea’s website users can test a
face detection application themselves.

Image processing and pattern recognition are also topics of two scientific departments of
UTIA, the Institute of Information Theory and Automation of the Czech Academy of
Sciences. Among their numerous projects is also one that links back to Prague’s historic
past: Applications in cultural heritage and art restoration, in particular the Evaluation of
the mosaic conservation at St.Vitus’ southern portal, the famous “Golden Gate” of the
cathedral in Prague castle.

The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Akademie věd České republiky, AV ČR) was
established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as a Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak
Academy of Sciences. The Academy is the leading non-university public research institution in the
Czech Republic. It conducts both fundamental and strategic applied research.

It has three scientific divisions, namely the Division of Mathematics, Physics, and Earth Sciences,
Division of Chemical and Life Sciences, and Division of Humanities and Social Sciences. The Academy
currently manages a network of sixty research institutes and five supporting units staffed by a total of
6,400 employees, over one half of whom are university-trained researchers and Ph.D. scientists.

The Head Office of the Academy and forty research institutes are located in Prague, the remaining
institutes being situated throughout the country.

Source: Wikipedia

The Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic is an internal body of the AS CR
which issues dedicated funds to projects resulting out of competitive tenders in the field of research
and development from the Academy budget and/or other sources.
The Grant Agency is an open institution. Any legal persons with permanent residence in the Czech
Republic, physical entities with permanent or long-term residence in the Czech Republic, government
or municipal authority organizations are entitled to apply for awarding of a purpose-built support.

Source: GAAV

Informatics or information and telecommunication technologies are, of course, also

subjects at Prague’s Charles University. Their agenda is more theoretical. A good
example is the Automated Reasoning Group at the Department of Theoretical Computer
Science and Mathematical Logic at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, which is
developing and improving tools for working with large formal (mainly mathematical)
knowledge bases (KBs). A special focus are tools for automated reasoning over such KBs,
especially the largest available - the
Mizar Mathematical Library (MML).
Their systems MaLARea and SINe
have won two categories in the world
automated reasoning championship
(CADE) in 2008, and the first two
places in the commercially sponsored
SUMO Reasoning Prize in 2008.The
group’s future plans include further
novel combinations of inductive (e.g.,
machine learning) and deductive
(e.g., automated theorem proving)
reasoning.

Systems Integration, the most important annual event on

ICT business and the Czech Republic’s competitiveness in
ICT in Prague. Photo Katedra informačních technologií a
Česká společnost pro systémovou integraci
At the University of Economics VŠE, in
particular its department for informatics
and statistics, teaching and research
are mainly focussed on business
informatics. The department’s institute
for information technology and the
Czech Society for Systems Integration
(CSSI), organise the annual conference
“Systems Integration” in Prague, which
in June 2010 dealt with “The Role of ICT
in Improving International
Competitiveness”. It is the most
important conference on ICT business in
the country. Two of this year’s key note
presentations (Excellent facts & figures
on ICT in the Czech Republic) were
delivered by Martin Mana from the The Faculty of Biomedical Engineering is the youngest
Czech Statistical Office and the creator faculty of the ČVUT in Prague. It was established in 2005.
and brain behind the conference, the Its Biomedical Data and Signal Processing Group is to
head of VŠE’s information technology carry out advanced research in the field of theoretical
institute, Prof. Ing. Jiří Voříšek, CSc. foundations and applications of intelligent biomedical data
(The presentations can be downloaded processing. Photo: ČVUT
from the conference website or requested
(free for subscribers) from ITBeurope.

The recent upturn in science-business co-operations is, on one hand, the result of a
learning process, but on the other hand also the consequence of public and private
efforts to enhance technology transfer. ČVUT runs the Centre for Business Cooperation
CSP, an organizational unit of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. It is a gateway for
companies interested in using the research and human potential of the university for the
benefit of their business development. Scientists take advantage of CSP’s support system
to better manage their industrial projects and commercialize their know-how and
inventions. The range of services offered extends from administrative and legal support
to marketing support. CSP is able to work on a particular industrial problem and proposes
an efficient model for cooperation.

In addition to the CSP ČVUT also runs the Research and Development Centre for Mobile
Applications (RDC), a laboratory focussing on applied research in the area of mobile
networks and services in close collaboration with industrial partners (Vodafone, IBM).
Since its establishment in 2001 by Vodafone, Ericsson and ČVUT, RDC has contributed
several solutions into live operation within Vodafone’s network. Its members have
participated in various EU funded projects as well as numerous other mobile networking
projects. RDC facilities include a fully functioning Ericsson experimental GSM network and
an IBM experimental automated voice-applications server. The main research focus areas
are in location-based services, automated voice services and web interaction, 3D mobile
Internet and next-generation network infrastructure. Special focus is given to technology
for the handicapped, thanks to the support of the Vodafone Foundation Czech Republic.
One of the centre’s developments, Voice2Web, got the IFIP/IEEE MMNS 2009 Best Paper
Award. The paper describes the architecture for managing voice application access to
web resources.

Also private organisations work in this field, such as Innovation Leadership Advisors. The
company was originally founded in 1994 as a privatization consultancy agency. Since
2000 it focused its operations on consulting services for innovation investing, start-up of
new high-tech companies and the restructuring of problematic SMEs. The main success
of ILA has been the consultancy support of launching and further developing the Central
European Data Agency, a.s., focused on the creation and maintenance of digital map
data of the Czech and Slovak Republics.
It has been growing successfully and
has created significant value to its
shareholders since its incorporation in
2000.

Other ICT related research

organisations and relevant institutions
are listed in the appendix at the end of
this chapter.
Foxconn Pardubice, major investment in 2000 and
meanwhile one of the largest companies in the Czech
Republic, producing hardware for other trademarks.
Photo: City of Pardubice

Not Just Sugar Cubes And Contact Lenses

The Czech Republic has been an industrialised and innovative country long before its
actual existence, when the country was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. It is
the birthplace of the inventor of the sugar cube, the contact lense, the ship’s propeller,
the lightning rod and many more. This tradition has a follow-up in today’s high tech
economy. Today the country is a fertile ground for foreign high tech investments. Even if
the “cheap workforce” label is about to disappear, the quality and reliability of the local
engineers and skilled workers justifies considering investments. The country is full of ICT
and electronic companies which moved production facilities to the local centres or opened
subsidiaries.

The largest ICT multinational to come to the country by far is certainly Foxconn. Foxconn
is a registered trademark of Hon Hai Precision Industry from Taiwan. Its products range
from consumer electronics to communication and electronic device components. Foxconn
produces all PC parts with the exception of chips. During the ten years of its existence in
the Czech Republic, Foxconn CZ has become the third largest company in the Czech
Republic with revenues around € 3.6 bn. (2008) and the second largest exporter with an
export rate close to 100%. Its production facilities are in Pardubice and Kutná Hora, a
few kilometres East of Prague.

Bang&Olufsen operates its only R&D site abroad in the Czech Republic. About 70 specialists work in the new
facilities at the industrial park of Kopřivnice – Vlčovice, not far away from Ostrava. Photo: B&O
Sitronics is one of the numerous ICT multinationals
who also profit from R&D opportunities in the
Czech Republic. The Russian producer of telecom
applications for providers and the public
administration has a significant expertise in
wireless solutions for national operators, has
offices and subsidiaries in 30 countries and is
exporting products and services to more than 62
countries. The company currently employs about
9,000 staff. Their international headquarters are
located in Prague. Their research centres are
located in Russia for microelectronics, in Greece
and the Czech Republic for telecommunications
(Sitronics Centre, a co-op with ČVUT, Faculty of
Electrical Engineering, Department of
Telecommunications Engineering), and in the
Ukraine for IT. The centre works with project
teams from ČVUT and Sitronics, focusing on new
solutions for testing of current products, problems
of speech signal quality for VoIP transmission,
future application trends, technologies and
services for 3G mobile telecommunication solutions, One of Honeywell’s facilities in Prague
networks of circuitry for equipment and prospective Photo ECM
applications, verification of properties as well as design of prototypes including software.

Honeywell has been active in the Czech Republic respectively Czechoslovakia since 1962.
Honeywell is a diversified technology and manufacturing leader of control technologies
for buildings, homes and industry; power generation systems and aerospace products
and services. Over the years the company has established a significant presence in the
country with, among other centres, the Honeywell Prague Laboratory, Honeywell’s first
R&D unit outside the US, and the Global Design Center in Brno. Currently Honeywell
employs over 1,600 employees in Prague, Brno, Olomouc and Ostrava.

In 2003 DHL moved its UK and Swiss operations to Prague to establish its new
Operations Centre from where it supports its entire European IT infrastructure.

Logica has its regional headquarter for Central and Eastern Europe in Prague, extended
its development centre and opened a software development center in Brno. The company
was rated 4th best employer in the country in 2009.

Computer Associates has established its first worldwide Mainframe Center of Excellence
in Prague. The Center focuses on
software development, maintenance,
validation and quality assurance for the
mainframe computing environment. CA
chose Prague because of its highly
educated workforce and the
strong mainframe education offered at
Czech universities as well as Prague's
strategic location in Europe.

In 2006 Bang&Olufsen decided to

extend its R&D activities abroad and
chose the Czech Republic as the only
location. About 70 specialists work in
the facilities at the industrial park of
Kopřivnice – Vlčovice, close to The Park office center in Prague 4, home of many
Ostrava. local offices of ICT multinationals. Photo Europe Re
 ICT investments in the Czech Republic (Selection)
Accenture Ireland multi-lingual BPO centre, Prague
Pegatron (ASUS) Taiwan Production, European centre, Kopřivnice
Computer Associates USA Mainframe Centre of Excellence, Prague
CSC USA World Sourcing Services Center
Foxconn Taiwan Production. Pardubice, Kutná Hora
GTS Data center, Prague
Hewlett Packard USA Computer technology supply chain headquarters
Hitachi Data Systems Japan
Honeywell USA Several production & R&D centers
IBA Group Belorus Headquarters
Logica UK Regional HQ for CEE; development centers
Microsoft USA First world-wide center for mobile applications
Monster Technologies USA Development of web software for Monster worldwide
Red Hat USA Software Development Center
SAP Germany SAP Business Services Center Europe
Skype USA Application Development Center
SRA Int. USA Production, Pardubice
SUN Microsystems USA development and technology center
TietoEnator Sweden Software development, Ostrava
Verizon USA ISP, Prague
ICT (-related) investments including R&D in the Czech Republic
AMI Semiconductor USA Chip design
Bang&Olufsen Denmark R&D Center, Ostrava
Ericsson Sweden Telecoms software
FEI USA Microscopes
Freescale Semiconductor USA Chip design
Quadbase Systems USA software R&D center
Matsushita / Panasonic Japan Digital TV sets
On Semiconductor USA Chip design
Rockwell Automation USA Industrial machinery
Roper Industries USA Technology centre f. lab instruments, Ostrava,
Sitronics RU Headquarters, R&D
ST Microelectronics France Chip design
IBM USA CEE HQ; IBM Innovation Center, Voice Technologies
and Systems Group, Prague,

ICT (-related) Investments in the Czech Republic: Locations. © CzechInvest

Enlarged version: www.czechinvest.org/data/files/electro-95.pdf or click on the map.
The ESA project Iris aims to develop a new air-ground communication system for air traffic management. It is
the satellite-based solution for the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) programme carried out by the
SESAR Joint Undertaking. By 2020, it will contribute to the modernisation of air traffic management by
providing digital data links to cockpit crews in continental and oceanic airspace. Part of the large European
consortium are also Czech air and space communication specialist Iguassu and NASA experienced data mining
company evolving systems consulting. Image: ESA

Source: Letectví.cz

The domestic industry

After 1989 the number of ICT companies virtually exploded, and today the Czech
Republic counts more than 30,000, of which, of course, the majority are one person
enterprises or SMEs. Even if small, quite a number of them deliver and export
outstanding products and services, many of them in market niches. Prague
accommodates the majority of ICT and electronic enterprises in the country.

A Czech and Prague based company with a long tradition working closely together with
universities is ASICentrum, producing design services and complete turn-key solutions
for any electronic system design requirement, focussing on design and IC production.
Established in 1992, ASICentrum emerged as a continuation of the late Microelectronics
Division of the state-funded Research Institute, TESLA VUST Praha. ASICentrum exports
worldwide and is in touch with numerous foreign partners ranging from IT companies to
universities and also takes part in several EU projects. Among their success stories are
the world’s first software based real-time single-mode Bluetooth low energy data transfer
and the world’s first fully integrated single-cell battery 2.4 GHz transceiver. In 2001,
51% of ASICentrum has been acquired by EM Microelectronic, Switzerland, a subsidiary
of the Swatch group.
Iguassu Software Systems is a
prototype for success in highly
specialised niches. The company
designs and develops technology
software applications for the
aerospace industry in Latin America
and Central Europe. Its core business
is with the European Space Agency
(ESA) and other space customers.
During 2005-2008 ISS was the most
successful Czech space company.
Since the Czech accession to ESA
Iguassu was awarded three projects in
the ESA Czech industrial incentive
scheme in 2009 and won in
competitive tenders in 2010. This
success is based on the company’s Award winning business intelligence specialist Adastra’s
space experience going back to 1994 Prague headquarters in fancy Nile House, Prague. Photo
when Iguassu was the Czech subsidiary www.praha.eu
of Science Systems.

Another specialist eligible for ESA projects is GISAT, established in 1990 and the first
privately run remote sensing and geo information service company in the Czech Republic.
Since its inception GISAT has been working in the geomatics field with a specific focus on
the advanced technology of remote sensing and GIS. The company maintains long term
partnerships with all existing world wide satellite data providers. The list of satellite data
available through GISAT’s distribution channels includes QuickBird, Ikonos, WorldView-1,
OrbView, Kompsat, EROS, Formosat, SPOT, IRS, Aster, Landsat, Hyperion, Kosmos,
Resurs, TerraSAR-X, Radarsat, ERS, JERS, Envisat, etc. GISAT processes the data and
integrates them into existing tools and databases. All methods applied are updated and
improved according to recent developments in the EO domain worldwide and verified
with both domestic and foreign institutions, such as: the European Space Agency (ESA),
the European Environmental Agency
(EEA), the Joint Research Centre of
the EU (JRC), the Czech Academy of
Science and dozen of national and
European Universities and Research
Labs. In particular GISAT has an
excellent understanding of specific
environmental situations in the CEE
countries. Furthermore GISAT also
works with none European based
clients and has worked with clients
from all over the world.

At first sight CertiCon’s company

profile as an outsourcing company for
software design, development
services, complementary ASIC design,
simulation and semiconductor test
solutions doesn’t trigger too many
emotions, but a closer look shows GISAT processes satellite data. Here: Forest areas near
more: An export rate close to 100%, Blatno as seen from the QuickBird satellite - QuickBird
among their locations a subsidiary in acquires data with a spatial resolution of 60 cm. Colour
Silicon Valley, their customers ranging data also include the near-infrared band, which allows
many applications based on vegetation monitoring. Source:
GISAT, © EURIMAGE [2003]
from Medtronic, a US healthcare technology company; Frequentis, Austrian market
leader in aviation communication; Bosch, Germany; Cadence, USA, offering EDA
technologies and engineering services; Teradyne, USA, semiconductor test solutions to
Grundfos, Denmark, pumps and pumping systems, etc. In research, CertiCon co-
operates with ČVUT’s Gerstner Laboratory and is a founding member of the Czech
Academy of Sciences’ Center for Applied Cybernetics.

Adastra is a successful software producer and exporter. The company started with data
warehousing and business intelligence and has extended its portfolio to data
management, data quality and enterprise integration. Adastra was founded in Prague and
has now offices in London, Frankfurt, Ostrava, Bratislava, Sofia, and in Toronto. In April
2010 Adastra opened an office in Montréal.
Adastra has about 550 employees and had revenues of € 43.6 mill. in 2008. One of its
founders is Jan Mrazek, an internationally recognized expert in the data warehousing and
business intelligence industry. During his career, Dr. Mrazek delivered a number of
leading edge solutions, some of them recognized with top international awards such as:
TDWI 2001 Best Practices in Data Warehousing; RealWare 2000 Best Data Warehouse;
and 1999 DCI Excellence in Business Information Award. In 2008, he won the Ernst &
Young Entrepreneur of the Year® Award in the technology category.
The company is very active in charity.

Another spin off of ČVUT’s Center of Machine Perception is Neovision, a company

specialized in practical applications of machine vision methods. Neovision offers research,
custom development, design, implementation, installation, and service in:

• optical quality assurance/inspection

• precise online 2-D and 3-D non-contact measurements
• image processing and visualization
• software (including drivers) for Windows or Apple operating systems

Neovision develops turn-key systems for precise optical 2D and 3D measurement in

mechanical engineering, software for cameras, and OBR software for optical recognition
of Braille. Its customers are manufacturers of digital cameras, electronic components,
jewellery, steel, in polygraphy, the textile industry and universities and research
institutes.

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The backbone network of ČD Telematica, now also a carrier of IPTV infrastructure. For details click on the map.
Image: ČD Telematica

Electronics in transportation is a growing market. The Czech national railways České

drahy ČD have a very dense network which naturally needs a range of special suppliers.
One of them is UniControls, founded in 1991 by a group of engineers in industrial control
systems with a wide experience in the development and supply of hardware and software
for process control. The company is specialised in the design and supply of complete
dispatching control systems, in particular for extreme operating conditions and large
plants and has a reputation for its
control and communication systems
for rail vehicles. They also produce
electronic modules and equipment for
civil and military aircraft. Unicontrols
exports to Italy, Slovakia, Canada or
Russia and has a long tradition in co-
operation with ČVUT’s Faculty of
Electrical Engineering, the Faculty of
Electrical Engineering at the University
of West Bohemia in Plzeň (Pilsen) and
the VŠB, the Technical University of
Ostrava.

There is also ČD Telematika, a

specialist in complex
telecommunications, telematic and ICT
solutions and services. The company is,
among other minor shareholders, a
daughter of Czech Railways and AŽD,
The new Š 109E by Škoda Transportation is the flagship
locomotive of Czech Railways ČD. Electronics and
infrastructure for ČD come from UniControl, AŽD and ČD
Telematica. Photo Škoda Transportation
another large railway telecommunications company (See below). ČD Telematika runs one
of the largest ICT infrastructures in the Czech Republic, possesses extensive central data
storage facilities and server farms, and operates over 3,500 km of its own fibreoptic
cables throughout the Czech Republic. Its backbone data network with the capacity of
STM-16 (2.5 Gbit per second) comprises six closed optical circuits with over 100 key
nodes. Czech Railways and its subsidiaries are naturally the company’s biggest
customers. Other important customers include many telecom operators including
CESNET, the Czech academic network, public administration bodies and other major
companies with decentralized administration.
Only recently the company’s extensive backbone network has become the wholesale
infrastructure for the introduction of IPTV in the Czech Republic. Together with
technology providers ProZETA broadcasters and Sloane Park as well as content provider
HDD ČD Telematica offers the infrastructure for 50 channels.

One of ČD Telematika’s shareholders is AŽD Praha, a leading Czech supplier of

transportation, signalling telecommunications, automation and information technology.
Due to its long tradition and history, dating back to 1954, the company has gained the
leading position among the suppliers of this technology on the Czech market and focuses
on railway traffic, underground operation and plant transportation, telecommunications,
information and radio systems, telematic applications, road, signalling and parking
systems and new phone and public address systems for railway traffic control and
passenger information.

The Czech Republic is a major automobile

producer. Around this industry a range of
companies have grown that specialise in
automotive and railway electronics and traffic
telematics. Beside the Czech subsidiaries of US
car electronics manufacturers TRW and CTS
there is a growing range of local producers
such as e4t electronics for transportation which
develops hardware and software components
for diagnose and testing. It is a subsidiary of
TÜV SÜD Central Eastern Europe and
ŠkodaAuto and provides products and services
to its mother company and clients such as
Audi, Volkswagen or Bugatti, but also to the
Czech Ministry for Transportation.
To speed up the testing of instrument consoles,
e4t electronics has designed the KI-Tester. It
can simulate functions of the display elements
on instrument consoles – i.e. indication symbols,
positions of the indicators, the display of
information or warning messages. Photo: e4t.

Two major and internationally active companies must be mentioned, when it comes to
traffic and transportation: Princip and Eltodo.

Princip’s major activities include the development and production of electronic devices for
the automotive and health care industries, together with system integration in the
segments of transportation telematics and electronic toll. The company has more than
ten years of experience in satellite and communication technologies. Their products have
been sold under the trademark LUPUS all over Europe: Princip’s electronic vehicle
logbook LUPUS on-line/off-line counts among their most successful products. It was
repeatedly awarded the quality brand “Czech Made” and the Czech prize for quality. More
than 70,000 vehicle units for transport logistics and protection of cars and trucks were
sold in the Czech Republic and the European Union. Today, Princip is producing the sixth
generation of these mobile units.
Princip has been a world leader in the
development of satellite and hybrid units for
electronic toll collection since 2005 and was
awarded the Galileo Masters 2006 Prize for the
development of the first hybrid unit for
electronic toll collection by the European Space
Agency ESA. Princip’s logistic solution
Webdispečink (webdispatching) is the most
successful Czech portal service for fleet
management and was awarded the prestigious
Grand Prix Autotec 2006. Princip exports to
Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Denmark, the UK,
Germany, Slovakia and Poland.
A modern on-board toll unit with integrated
antennas and quick installation support. It
utilizes all available technologies (GPS, GSM,
DSRC) used in toll applications today. Photo:
Princip a.s.

The Eltodo Group is one of the leading companies in the Czech electrotechnical industry.
Founded in 1991, the company today employs about 1,500 people. Initially focused on
traditional businesses such as power engineering, transport, and public lighting, Eltodo
has increasingly become engaged in telecommunications, development projects and
intelligent building management systems. The group’s major markets are the Czech
Republic and Slovakia, while exports to countries like Bulgaria, Russia, and Ukraine are
increasing.

Road transport systems were among the very first business activities of the Eltodo
Group. In 1992, Eltodo gained a contract for the control and signalling system for the
Strahov Tunnel in Prague. Today, the Eltodo Group is one of the leading suppliers of
tunnel technologies on the Czech market and is also successful abroad. The largest
project abroad is the supply of technologies for the Sitina Tunnel in Bratislava.
Eltodo is also successful in control and information systems designed for urban public
transport, traffic lights and systems of variable road signs, toll systems or comprehensive
traffic control systems for large towns and cities. The Eltodo Group collaborates with the
Faculty for Transportation and Traffic of the Czech Technical University ČVUT on the
technological development of telematics. Their specialists work in a number of national
and multinational associations and standardisation commissions.
The group also offers complete light safety systems for airports and heliports, as well as
technologies for parking areas and multi-storey car parks and their operation.

In 2008, the Eltodo Group

purchased Vegacom, one of the
most significant Czech suppliers of
security and telecommunication
technologies. The company offers
solutions for telecommunication,
industry, power utilities,
construction, state administration,
and local government.

Eltodo supplied Prague’s transport

management center. Photo: Eltodo
The EuroMISE Centre

Information technologies are a

horizontal discipline with highly
specialised vertical spin offs. Two of
these are medical informatics and
bio informatics, which are the focus
of the European Centre for Medical
Informatics, Statistics and
Epidemiology (EuroMISE Centre)
established in 1994 as a joint
project of the Faculty of
Mathematics and Physics at Charles
University in Prague and the
Institute of Computer Science of the
Academy of Sciences of the Czech
Republic with the support of EC The Institute of Computer Science at the Academy of
funding. Within Charles University Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague is hosting the
the Centre initiated its activities in EuroMISE Centre and the Centre of Biomedical Informatics
the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics (CBI). Photo: AV CR.
and within the Academy of Sciences in
the Institute of Computes Science. During the years 1994-2004 the activities of the
EuroMISE Centre were significantly supported by several European grants and during the
years 2000-2004 as project LN00B107 within the national programme for research
centres of the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic. This support enabled
extending interdisciplinary cooperation with the University of Economics in Prague, the
General University Hospital in Prague and other institutions.

Since the beginning the activities of the EuroMISE Centre are based on interdisciplinary
co-operation of computer scientists, statisticians and physicians in the field of education
and research. On the national level the EuroMISE Centre co-operates with many other
faculties of Charles University in Prague, especially with the First Faculty of Medicine and
the Faculty of Natural Science, and with other institutes of the Academy, especially with
the Institute of Information Theory and Automation, the Institute of Experimental
Medicine, and the Institute of Molecular Genetics. The Centre cooperates closely with
hospitals, research institutes and other universities and professional societies, e.g. the
Municipal Hospital in Čáslav, the Central Military Hospital in Prague, the Institute for the
Care of Mother and Child, the Czech Technical University in Prague, the Society for
Biomedical Engineering and Medical Informatics of the Czech Medical Society of J. E.
Purkyně, the Czech Society for Cybernetics and Informatics, and the Czech Statistical
Society. On the international level the EuroMISE Centre cooperates with universities and
research institutes from Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Croatia,
Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Austria (UMIT), Romania, Greece, Slovenia,
Spain, Switzerland and Great Britain and with international societies, e.g. IMIA, EFMI,
ISCB, and EHTEL.

The EuroMISE Centre has gradually created a new field of biomedical informatics in the
Czech Republic. In 2001 the cooperation of the Department of Medical Informatics of the
Institute of Computer Science of the Academy of Sciences and the First Faculty of
Medicine at Charles University in Prague led to the establishment of a new scientific
board of “Biomedical Informatics” in the system of postgradual doctoral studies of
biomedicine. Since 2006 the position of biomedical informatics has been strengthened by
the foundation of the “Centre for Biomedical Informatics” (CBI) within the research
centres programme of the Ministry of Education.

The Centre of Biomedical Informatics (CBI) works on developing and verifying a protocol
for the preparation of an oligonucleolytic chip with the optimal set of genes for
diagnostics and prognosis of cardiovascular diseases, on the verification of the developed
technology and the addition of gene sets in the express chip with new knowledge and
markers. A system for decision support, computer-assisted diagnostics and
individualisation of health care in cardiology will be designed and verified as well as a
system for decision support in stomatology with a focus on a temporomandibular joint
with elements of interoperability. Further goals are the verification of the suitability of the
developed methods for decision support in stomatology and the enhancement of quality
in postgraduate PhD. studies in the field of biomedical informatics. The results of the
project will be accessible in the form of papers in reviewed journals, presentations during
prestigious international conferences and in the form of prototypes of software systems.
The CBI provides a unified scientific platform for connecting various disciplines of
biomedical research. Interdisciplinary collaboration performed under the umbrella of CBI
features multiple intertwined research interests, all aiming at improving safe and efficient
collection of medical data, their storage and transfer, the sharing of the information
gathered at different stages of patient care and related biomedical research,
complemented with advanced statistical data analysis.

One of the EuroMISE projects illustrates the institute’s activities very well:
Voice-controlled Data Entry in Dental Electronic Health Record (2008)

The EuroMISE Center focuses on new approaches in the field of electronic health records
(EHR) and, among other issues, systematically studies the structured health documentation
in dentistry in the form of an EHR. This paper describes the evolution of the EHR developed
at the EuroMISE Center, named MUDRLite, and its graphical component for dentists, called
DentCross. The summary of features of the DentCross component is followed by a brief
description of automatic speech recognition and an ASR module. The problems with data
insertion into EHR during the examination of a dental patient lead to further research in the
area of the automatic speech recognition in medical practice. The co-operation of
engineers, informaticians and dental physicians resulted in an application called DentVoice,
which is a successful application of the ASR module and the DentCross component of the
MUDRLite EHR. The junction of voice control and graphical representation of dental arch
makes hand-busy activities in dental praxis easier, quicker and more comfortable. This will
result in a better quality of the data stored in a structured form in dental EHR, thus
enabling better decision making and use of decision support systems.

Source: EuroMISE Center, Department of Medical Informatics, Institute of Computer

Science, AS CR, v.v.i., Prague
Department of Paediatric Stomatology, 2nd Medical School, Charles University, Prague
Department of Cybernetics, University of West Bohemia, Pilsen
Abstract from Voice-controlled Data Entry in Dental Electronic Health Record

The DentCross Component – a Case Study Example and the Corresponding Tomograph Picture. Image: EuroMISE

On the business side of bio informatics is CleverTech, an interesting spin off of the
Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at ČVUT in Prague. Clevertech is specialised in
biomedical engineering and produces applications for telemedicine, e.g. “Senior Inspect”,
a service designated for surveillance services on elderly people at home. The device
monitors and processes various environmental and medical parameters describing the
senior’s health status. All information is transmitted to the monitoring center which
provides immediate and optimal feedback to the clients by several means - phone call,
alert to the family, rescue service, police, etc.

Digital Hotspot Prague in a Nutshell

• Large industrial enterprises in the area
• High degree of technology transfer activities
• Fast approach to “Western” standards
• 1st class universities and research institutes
• High number of international ICT investments
• Growing number of local “hidden champions”
• International orientation
• Higher growth rates than in EU-15
• High export rates
• High quality of life

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