BUSINESS

Moravian-Silesian Innovation Center Asks…

prof. Ing. Ivo Vondrák, CSc.

Governor of the Moravian-Silesian Region

What do you consider to be the key innovation of the last

decade and why?

The last ten years have been marked by dynamic

technological development in various fields and without

any doubt digitalization is their common denominator. Any

innovation should always help us to improve our life. With

regards to the difficult times that we all are going through

right now, I consider health the most important field.

And the approach to health care has drastically changed

in the last decade. Surgery is performed by laser or even

by a robot with the use of high-performance computing

systems; telemedicine is also on the rise. These are the key

innovations that have moved us forward the most.

Ing. Ladislav Glogar

Managing director of

Automotive Cluster c.a.

the

Moravian-Silesian

What do you consider to be the key innovation of the

last decade and why?

I consider the enormous development of social networks

on the basis of using the internet with smartphones to

be the key innovation. This innovation (a change that

has spread across the whole globe at breakneck speed)

provided us the possibility to be in continuous contact

prof. RNDr. Václav Snášel, CSc.

Rector of the VšB-TU

What do you consider to be the key innovation

of the last decade and why?

A few years ago, I read an interesting article in

which experts in the field of mathematics searched

for new things that were discovered in this field in

the last 100 years. They found five fundamental

discoveries. This is why it is not easy to list the

key innovations in the last decade. Generally, we

can mark the combination of materials research

and artificial intelligence as the key innovations.

For example, LED lighting brought us brand new

opportunities in energy saving and lifespan. The

most visible changes are in the space industry-the reusable launchers, which are able to land

vertically, give a totally new dimension to space

research. Space research, together with industry,

influences us more than we usually think. The maps

in the mobile phones and navigations--we basically

cannot live without them-work only on the basis of

signals from satellites.

What innovations do you think that will influence

people’s lives the most in the upcoming decade?

We are slowly moving from the need to save something,

whether it is money or time, towards social needs, such

as the protection of the environment. In the next ten

years, the hydrogen economy will be on the rise and a

greater emphasis will be laid on a connection with nature

and its processes. I see the future, for example, in a more

intensive use of circular economy, net production and

mobility. Undoubtedly, our life will interact more with

artificial intelligence, but I still see it as a supplement for

making the things we do easier, not as a predominance.

Modern technology and innovations will help us to

return to basic values and respect for nature and its

resources in the end.

with the events in the world. It has a very positive

aspect, but also a more negative aspect, as it is related

to the amount of data and information that need to be

distinguished.

What innovations do you think that will influence

peoples’ lives the most in the upcoming decade?

New technology in the medical field (robotics,

miniaturization, remote monitoring, 3D printing,

enhanced reality, etc.); digitization and intelligent systems

in all spheres of human life.

What innovations do you think will influence people’s

lives the most in the upcoming decade?

The world around us is changing totally inconspicuously.

The machines in the books from Jules Verne were full of

clocks, buttons and valves. Gear shifting with a double

clutch, choke and lately also gear selectors gradually

disappeared. Autonomous steering without the driver’s

intervention is already a reality. Car propulsion will change

in the future. Electromobility is sometimes mistakenly

connected to batteries. The electricity in a vehicle can be

obtained from hydrogen through direct transformation to

electric energy. When comparing space modules from

companies like Boeing and SpaceX, we can see that Boeing

still believes in a large amount of control devices, contrary

to SpaceX. In the upcoming decade, artificial intelligence

will gain more ground, in a way that will lead to the easier

control of the devices that surround us. Energy issues will

gain more importance. The biggest challenge is energy

storage, the search for a supercapacitor. The method of

gene cutting, called CRISPR/Cas9, brings us brand new

possibilities of genetic manipulation. This method is used

in lung cancer treatment. It can prospectively be used

in the treatment of many human diseases. The future is

therefore in environmentally-friendly technologies.

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