IT4Innovations is a research and development centre with strong international links, it is involved in all activities of EuroHPC Joint Undertaking and in a number of prestigious international organisations (PRACE, ETP4HPC, EUDAT, BDVA, EOSC).
IT4Innovations is currently a National Centre of Competence for HPC, a member of the MaX and Space Centres of Excellence and a partner in more than 10 other international projects of Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe or Digital Europe, coordinating the EXA4MIND project. It also collaborates on the European Space Agency (ESA) project called AIOPEN (Platform Extensions with AI Capabilities).
The implementation of national projects financially supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of the Interior, the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic or the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic is also important. Some of the projects are carried out in the form of contract research with commercial entities.
TOP 5 IT4INnovations PROJEcTs
2023–2026
Project ID: LM2023054
Provider: Large Infrastructures for Research, Experimental Development and Innovation project
e-INFRA CZ is a unique e-infrastructure for research, development, and innovationin the Czech Republic, which represents a fully transparent environment providing complex capacities and resources for scientific data transfer, storage, and processing to all entities focused on research, development, and innovation across sectors.
It creates a communication, information, storage, and computing platform for research, development, and innovation both at the national and international levels. It also provides an extensive and comprehensive portfolio of ICT services for conducting modern research, development and innovation.
The main components of e-INFRA CZ include:
→ high-performance national communication infrastructure,
→ national grid and cloud infrastructure,
→ the most powerful and state-of-the-art supercomputing systems in the Czech Republic,
→ high-capacity data storage facilities.
Other tools and services, such as access control to ICT resources, tools to support remote cooperation, and tools to ensure secure communication and data protection, are also an essential part and an added value of this infrastructure, contributing to its efficient and diverse use.
EXA4MIND
EXtreme Analytics for MINing Data
2023–2025
Project ID: 101092944
EXA4MIND project will build an Extreme Data platform which brings together data storage systems and powerful computing infrastructures by implementing novel automated data management and effective data staging. The project is driven by four application cases from molecular dynamics, advanced driver assistance systems, smart agri-viticulture and health and social Big Data. The EXA4MIND proposes innovative solutions to complex everyday data-processing problems and addresses critical challenges like data analytics, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence at scale; effectively democratising access to and enabling connectivity across EU supercomputing centres.
LUMI AI Factory – Service Center
2025–2028
Project ID: 101234208
As AI technologies and methodologies continue to advance swiftly, Europe has been actively developing and strengthening the ecosystem of frameworks, environments, tools and services required to boost innovation. This comprehensive approach aims to harmonise AI strategies across the continent, addressing the technology’s challenges and opportunities while assessing its impact on public and private sectors and society at large. The LUMI AI Factory Service Center project is a part of the broader LUMI AI Factory ecosystem leveraging the current LUMI supercomputer but gearing up for the upcoming LUMI-AI system, and the related AI-optimised quantum experimental platform LUMI-IQ.
Center for Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing in System Brain Research
2024 – 2030
Project ID: 101136607
CLARA, the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing in System Brain Research, represents the interdisciplinary center of excellence focused on the next generation of artificial intelligence/machine learning applications and quantum-centric supercomputing tools to push the frontier of neurodegeneration research, particularly Alzheimer's disease. The CoE seeks deep field knowledge and processing of large-scale biological and clinical data that will enrich the collective understanding of these emerging technologies and solve real-world challenges, thus accelerating innovations and the future of computing for the benefit of society.
High-level specialized application support service in High-Performance Computing (HPC)
2024–2028
Project ID: 101139786
EuroHPC Joint Undertaking is deploying a European-wide High-performance Computing infrastructure comprising a number of supercomputers from small petascale to exascale systems. Nowadays, the Hosting Entities offer support services to users, mainly providing help desk support for day-to-day operational issues and problems. The EPICURE project aims to operate a high-performance computing application support service for European scientists and researchers. Application Support Teams will provide services aimed at application porting, optimisation and execution of key applications and organisation of specialised training events and workshops in the context of high-profile international HPC events. Finally, developing a single point of contact will allow European HPC users to retrieve information on the systems, their architectures, access mechanisms, and available support services.
MAterials design at the eXascale
2023–2026
Project ID: 101093374
Materials simulations have become one of the most intensive and fast-growing domains for high-performance computing worldwide, with a recognized European leadership in developing and innovating the ecosystem of quantum simulation codes. MAX project will target these lighthouse codes to address the challenges and leverage the opportunities arising from future exascale and post-exascale architectures, and to offer powerful paths to discovery and innovation serving both scientific and industrial applications.
OTHER IT4INNOVATIONS PROJECTS
2025–2027
Project identifier: FY01010025
Provider: MIT CR (TWIST programme)
The project, based on a partnership of Activair s.r.o., IT4Innovations, and Charles University, aims to use artificial intelligence (AI) for advanced analysis of data from materiál surface measurements (thin films of epitaxial graphene and bone samples) using atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM extracts extensive information about surface topography, as well as electrical, magnetic, or mechanical properties. Processing such a large amount of data is time-consuming and operator-dependent (including the human factor). The unique combination of AFM measurement data output with a high-performance computer cluster (supercomputer), where machine learning and AI automate data processing, will result in significant improvements and speed-ups in data analysis, leading to substantial financial savings. Data processing will include noise reduction, distortion correction, automatic classification of the observed phenomena, and anomaly detection.
2024–2026
Project identifier: CZ.01.01.01/01/22_002/0001028
Provider: MIT CR
Current commonly available imaging methods such as MRI and CT provide relatively simple visualisation of results and it is up to the specialist to evaluate what they see, usually based on black and white images only. It is his expertise that is required to understand the composition of the tissues. In this project, we will use artificial intelligence methods to automatically recognize different structures in tissues, such as a bloodstream, healthy organ tissue, a tumor, a mechanically damaged part of an organ, etc. At the same time, we will create visualization tools to present the results in virtual reality for teaching. Not only visualization techniques will be developed, but also haptic control with feedback and manipulation (controllability) of objects in virtual reality.
2023–2026
Project ID: CZ.01.01.01/01/22_002/0000436
Provider: MIT CR
The project, based on the cooperation between Apollo Data s.r.o. and IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center at VSB-TUO, aims to combine the innovation of medical systems in the field of refractive cataract surgery and standard cataract surgery together with a mobile application for patients enabling elementary indication of vision disorders in the comfort of their home. It also aims to simplify the process of initiating treatment, supporting the treatment process that has already started with follow-up care and long-term monitoring of the condition. In particular, IT4 Innovations will provide research and development of complex algorithms for diagnosing eye disorders from acquired images.
2023–2026
Project ID: CZ.01.01.01/01/2 2_002/0000605
Provider: MIT CR
The project, submitted under the OPTAK (Technologies and Applications for Competitiveness) Operational Programme and the Applications call, builds on the successful, more than 10-year cooperation of ZEBR s.r.o., Palacký University in Olomouc, and VSB-TUO in developing an instrument for spectral analysis of substances using Raman optical activity (ROA) detection. IT4I will be involved in developing a spectrometer for the measurement of Terahertz optical activity and circular dichroism, in particular, the development of a polarisation-sensitive device for time-domain THz ellipsometry, a terahertz optical path, and a polarisation state modulator.
2021–2023
Project ID: CZ.01.1.02/0.0/0.0/20_321/0024953
Provider: the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation for Competitiveness
The aim of the joint industrial research project of Optaglio a.s. and VSB-TUO is to develop new products in the field of security holography that will be competitive on global markets. These are entirely new types of anti-counterfeiting features. In the framework of the presented project, we will focus on two original approaches to security holography, combining a high technical production level and advanced nanostructure design methods.
2021–2022
Project ID: CZ.01.1.02/0.0/0.0/20_321/0024308
Grant Provider: MIT CR
The project focused on the research and development of a new generation of modular control units for advanced aviation electromechanical actuators, which will find use in the next generation of aviation platforms known as More Electric Aircraft (MEA) and in the next generations of Full Electric Aircraft (FEA). These should contribute to making air transport more environmentally friendly by significantly increasing the use of electricity, which entails several changes, including a switch to a substantially higher voltage on-board network.
2021–2023
Project ID: CZ.01.1.02/0.0/0.0/21_374/0026707
Provider: Projects of the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation for Competitiveness
The project aims to create SW for the effective evaluation of catalytic processes and for comprehensive support in designing SCR technologies for industrial applications. The research and development activities solve the overall DeNOx process by reducing nitrogen oxides from the exhaust gases when reacting with gaseous NH3. The SW will be based on machine learning algorithms and flow calculations (CFD). The SW has a direct commercial application in nitrogen emission reduction solutions in power plants in both the Czech Republic and abroad.
2021–2023
Project ID: CZ.01.1.02/0.0/0.0/20_321/0024896
Provider: Projects of the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation for Competitiveness
The project goal is to create a SmartFleet platform, which should enable optimisation of company car fleets in terms of their composition and utilisation to maximise the share of cars that use alternative fuels (especially electric cars). The solution will be developed as interdisciplinary and open, which allows flexibility in terms of new inputs (e.g., location of hydrogen stations in the future) and enables iteration when considering modification of the car fleet and solving complete car fleet lifecycles.
2021–2023
Project ID: CZ.01.1.02/0.0/0.0/ 20_321/0024591
Provider: Projects of the Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation for Competitiveness
The project aims to conduct research and development activities in the area of cloud and printing solutions. The project will be implemented in effective collaboration of Y Soft Print Management Solutions, a.s., with VSB-TUO and the Czech Technical University in Prague.
2019–2022
Project ID: CZ.01.1.02/0.0/0.0/17_176/0015651
Provider: The Operational Programme Enterprise and Innovation for Competitiveness
The project aimed to research and develop the digital twin product at Siemens, s.r.o. The project was divided into two parts; the first part, i.e., the research and development of the digital twin product, an asynchronous electric motor, was conducted at the Siemens branch s.r.o. Elektromotory Frenštát.
2018–2021
Identifikátor projektu: FV30104
The project objectives are as follows: 1. Development and verification of a multiphase numerical computational model utilising cavitation and free surface. 2. Experimental research of flow in the model intake and discharge objects and the creation of an experimental results database for verification of numerical computational models. 3. Utilisation of shape optimisation for the design of new pump and turbine stations, including intake and discharge objects.