On 8 November 2023, the Czech and Polish European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH) and their partners met in Ostrava’s IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center for the fourth EDIH Twister information, contact, and networking event. During the conference, they shared information about the structure, competencies, and functioning of the national EDIH networks, as well as the services, expertise, and experience of each Hub.
Tereza Šamanová from CzechInno welcomed the participants, guided them through the conference, and introduced the Czech EIDH network. The guests were also welcomed by Marcin Piaskowski from DG CONNECT of the European Commission and Markéta Melenová from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic. The conference was then introduced by Martin Duda, the EDIH Ostrava Coordinator, who informed the participants about the EDIH Ostrava’s interconnection with other IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center of VSB-TUO activities. The operations of digital innovation hubs in Poland were then presented by Tomasz Pytko from the Ministry of Digital Affairs of Poland.
The Czech representation included the EDIH Ostrava, EDIH-DIGIMAT, EDIH Brain4Industry, Cybersecurity Hub, EDIH CTU, and EDIH NEB. The Polish side was represented by EDIH hub4industry from Kraków, WRO4digITal EDIH from Warsaw, and red_ EDIH from Łódź.
Within the presentation blocks, these EDIHs presented their services in supercomputing, implementation of digital technologies in companies’ production processes, digitalisation of construction processes and documentation, cybersecurity, and the application of AI in practice. They also provided information about obtaining funding sources and other activities to support the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises.
As part of the practical part of the conference, the guests had the opportunity to participate in excursions to IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center facilities and the experimental testbed of VSB-TUO. The representatives of the EDIHs also met at a joint workshop where they discussed the possibilities of potential deeper cooperation between Czech and Polish EDIHs, especially in the direction of offering joint services and sharing experience and examples of good practice with each other or for the benefit of individual companies.