18. May 2019

About 150 participants, 4 scientific panels and 2 days of lectures and discussions. Guests from the Czech Republic and Germany started their program by visiting laboratories at the CEITEC VUT, Brno Institute of Scientific Instruments and TESCAN and Thermo Fischer Scientific, followed by lectures and discussions on scientific topics such as advanced nanotechnology, functional engineering, digitization in mobility and Industry 4.0 or research infrastructure topics for nanotechnology and advanced materials research.

The Czech-German Scientific Conference on Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials was organized at the end of last week at the CEITEC BUT, thanks to the main organizers, The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in Brno. Among those who initiated the conference, the State Secretary of the BMBF, Georg Schütte, and the Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Science and Research, Pavel Doleček, were in charge.

“There are already a number of examples of excellent collaboration in research and development between Czech and German research organizations and innovative businesses. The task of the Ministry of Education, which is the coordinator of the Czech-German strategic dialogue in these areas, is to create new, new opportunities for further development of this cooperation. That is why we will continue in this trend and scientific conferences such as this one are undoubtedly one of the tools through which we can support our cooperation with our German partners, ” said Doleček at the beginning of the conference.

Each of the four scientific panels was led by one representative from CEITEC BUT and his German counterpart. For example, panels responded to nanotechnology topics as a fast-growing science with innovative potential, discussing possible engineering applications and applications of light functional materials in practice, the very up-to-date theme of Industry 4.0, and automation in transport Initial ideas for possible cooperation in building a new consortium of research infrastructures focusing on nanomaterial research.

“From our latest cooperation with Germany, we could mention the very prestigious RICAIP project, thanks to which a center of robotic testbeds will be created at the CEITEC BUT in Brno, Prague's CIIRC CTU and the German institutes ZeMA and DFKI. Or, for example, the collaboration of our research infrastructure CEITEC Nano with institutions such as the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology to exchange expertise, how to manage the institution or scientific projects. I believe that this conference will contribute to further development of such successful cooperation and new projects, ” said Radimír Vrba, Director of CEITEC BUT.