Officials from the Slovak Ministry of Investment, Regional Development, and Informatisation visited the REFRESH and its living laboratories to seek inspiration and explore activities funded by the Just Transformation Fund. The purpose of the visit was to share knowledge and potentially gather ideas that could benefit their initiatives in the future.
The Slovak delegation visited the REFRESH project at VSB-TUO as part of their three-day trip. “The aim was to share knowledge and showcase examples of good practice. We selected REFRESH because it is the largest and most comprehensive project in the Moravian-Silesian Region,” said Marketa Benesova from the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic which organized the visit.
“The project aims to establish a connection between universities and businesses to drive transformation in the region and create a new innovation ecosystem. This initiative is a significant challenge and a crucial tool for fulfilling the Smaragd strategic vision of turning the Moravian-Silesian Region into a smart and green area. It is gratifying that we are not alone and the number of collaborative projects aligning with this vision is increasing,” said Igor Ivan, Director of REFRESH and Vice-Rector of VSB-TUO, in his introduction.
The concept of living laboratories, which serves as the foundation for REFRESH, was presented by Radek Zboril, the Scientific Director of the Materials & Environment Lab at the CEET Nanotechnology Centre. “Since the beginning, the living labs have involved ongoing collaboration between researchers, students, representatives of companies, and public administration who respond to the current needs of the region to offer specific solutions. We want to utilize the generous financial support, which we greatly appreciate, for research that can be applied in real-world scenarios,” explained Zboril.
Slovak colleagues highly appreciated the collaboration between researchers and companies. “The visit met our expectations and was very beneficial for us as we are preparing a call for research, development, and innovation in September this year. We also want to set it up to connect universities, research and development, and private companies in the process of decarbonization,” said Matej Puzder, Director General of the Regional Development Section of the Ministry of Investment, Regional Development and Informatisation of the Slovak Republic.
One of the stops at VSB-TUO was also the innovation polygon CEETe – Centre for Energy and Environmental Technologies – Explorer. “CEEte is a precursor to the REFRESH project and is closely linked to it. We are addressing here the main task of the Energy Lab of the REFRESH project, i.e. the development of new methods and technologies for decarbonization and their rapid implementation in practice,” pointed out Stanislav Misak, Scientific Director of the Energy Lab and Director of CEET.
The main tasks of the Industry 4.0 & Automotive Lab were presented together with other colleagues by its Scientific Director Petr Simonik from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The guests visited the state-of-the-art Smart Factory lab which is designed for teaching, demonstration, testing, and research of technologies used for industry digitalization, and also learned about the activities of the Mobility Lab at FEI. ” The focus of the project is on investing in people rather than constructing buildings. The aim is to expand teams with top-notch researchers and secure future projects for sustainability,” Simonik added.
The REFRESH project began its activities in 2022 and was awarded a CZK 2.5 billion grant in February, making it the largest project in VSB-TUO’s history. The project involves collaborations with the University of Ostrava, the Moravian-Silesian Innovation Centre, and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
