As the end of 2025 approaches, it is the perfect moment to reflect on the many successes and positive moments that RICAIP partners have experienced this year, opening the door to new ideas and opportunities. Let us take a look together at the key highlights and achievements of our work in 2025 – from major milestones and technological innovations to the teamwork that continues to drive our shared goals forward.
RICAIP Testbeds
The International Engineering Fair in Brno, where the Digital Factory 2.0 exhibition was created under the umbrella of the National Centre for Industry 4.0 and the RICAIP Testbed Prague.
The exhibition made it possible to showcase real applications of AI, robotics, digitalization, 5G, and modern technologies in practice — from production automation and intralogistics to energy monitoring and digital twins of industrial operations.
RICAIP Testbed Prague prepared technological showcases — flexible production control, collaborative robotics, autonomous KUKA AMR robots, 5G IIoT solutions, digital twins, automated quality inspection with AI, and other innovations.
The exhibition was presented in cooperation with partners — RICAIP Testbed Prague, the National Centre for Industry 4.0, Siemens, KUKA, Škoda Auto, T-Mobile, Smart Informatics, DEL, EIT Manufacturing, PHARIS, and others.
Five discussion meetings 8–12 September 2025 at the RICAIP Testbed Prague and focused on how artificial intelligence and digital technologies are transforming Czech industry, public services, and everyday life. Speakers included Jan Šedivý, an expert on large language models and conversational AI; Radoslav Škoviera, who works on how robots understand human instructions; and Pavel Burget, Director of the RICAIP Testbed Prague, who presented the testbed infrastructure and advanced robotics. The programme also featured Ondřej Beránek, Head of the Czech node of AI-MATTERS, who discussed practical applications of AI. The event was attended by Jan Kavalírek, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade.
The event opened the CIIRC CTU and RICAIP laboratories and testbeds, showcasing more than 20 technology stations focused on AI, robotics, and automation. The program began with the Open Innovation Breakfast organized together with EDIH CTU, RICAIP, AI-MATTERS, and EIT Manufacturing. Dozens of Czech companies from manufacturing, technology, and the startup sector took part.
From Testing to Real Deployment: RICAIP’s Ecosystem Shines at Fenomén Zlín.
Ondrej Beranek (AI Matters EU) and David Pešek (EDIH CTU) proudly represented CTU CIIRC at Fenomén Zlín conference on the Innovation Stage, sponsored by AIMATTERS and EDIHCTU, showcasing our RICAIP testbed ecosystem.
Inauguration of the new institute
- The event focused on the inauguration of the new MICARC (“Mařík Institute of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Cybernetics”) at NIMS University in India, held together with the international NIMS AI-Con 2025 conference (1 – 3 April).
- The aim was to launch international cooperation between India and the Czech Republic, enable knowledge sharing and joint research in AI and Industry 4.0, and expand the European testbed ecosystem beyond Europe.
- Among the invited speakers were prominent experts from around the world — including Ikuo Mizuuchi (Tokyo University of Agriculture), Vladik Kreinovich (University of Texas at El Paso), and A Min Tjoa (Vienna University of Technology).
- Representatives of CIIRC CTU attending the conference included, for example, Vladimír Mařík, Ondřej Velek, Josef Šivic, Jan Šedivý, and others.
RICAIP Testbeds partners’ achievements
- Thanks to the Testbed RICAIP Prague, Continental was able to validate key Industry 4.0 technologies and develop reliable solutions that significantly contributed to winning the Global Lighthouse Network award.
- You can find more details and a discussion of this achievement in the Forbes BrandVoice episode
High Level Visits
OECD DELEGATION
The event on 3 June 2025 brought an OECD delegation, GIZ, and experts from the Eastern Partnership to CIIRC CTU / the RICAIP Testbed Prague to present Czech capabilities in SME digitalization and demonstrate practical mechanisms for supporting Industry 4.0.
The testbed tour was guided by Pavel Burget, Director of the RICAIP Testbed Prague, who showcased advanced technologies for automation, robotics, and flexible manufacturing.
The visit of Minister Marek Ženíšek to CIIRC CTU focused on presenting the capabilities of CIIRC CTU and the RICAIP Testbed Prague as key centers for artificial intelligence, robotics, and Industry 4.0. The aim was to demonstrate the strong Czech research and technological capacities and to support discussions on research funding, innovation, and the transfer of scientific results into practice. The Minister was accompanied by Prof. Vladimír Mařík together with leading CIIRC CTU scientists — Josef Šivic, Josef Urban, Petr Kolář, and Petr Kadera.
AND MANY MORE
- RICAIP Testbed Prague welcomed a delegation from Korea and Taiwan.
- The T-Mobile visit at RICAIP Testbed Prague showcased how RICAIP and T-Mobile are leveraging 5G technologies to drive innovation in smart manufacturing and industrial IIoT.
- On October 2nd, we were pleased to welcome a delegation of leading Belgian companies to the RICAIP Testbed hashtag#Prague at CIIRC CTU.
- RICAIP Testbed Prague with CTU CIIRC joined the AI Festival at the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
- The Night of Scientists took place at the RICAIP Testbed Prague.
- This year marked the 10th anniversary of the Falling Walls Lab Czech Republic competition, where RICAIP director Tilman Becker was once again one of the jurors.
- The Vampire automated theorem prover, led by Martin Suda, achieved a historic success at CASC2025 by winning all eight competition categories for the first time ever.
- The distinguished delegation from Arizona visited the RICAIP Testbed Prague.
- RICAIP Testbed Prague participated in MSV – International Engineering Fair in Brno, in June.
- The RICAIP team in Prague welcomed the consortium partners of the AIRISE project.
- Artificial Intelligence for Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Research Center (AIMS) delegation visited the RICAIP Testbed Prague.
- The Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic, Jana Černochová, visited our RICAIP Testbed.
Research activities
RICAIP, together with its partners CIIRC CTU and AUMOVIO, developed a system that uses NVIDIA Omniverse to create a realistic “digital twin” of a production line — including camera system simulation, control logic, and AI.
Great stories of Women in science. Women are involved in RICAIP initiatives and many others.
Selected Events and Conferences
Activities towards connecting Industry 4.0 and Societal Topics:
- RICAIP Centre in collaboration with INDRC, CTU CIIRC and EDIH CTU organised the first scientific conference CLARA Symposium and Young AI Research Forum (with prg.ai).
- Technological literacy. We were glad to welcome curious groups of students.
- The AutoSAP Supplier Division meeting at the RICAIP Testbed in Prague brought together industrial companies and researchers who presented innovations in digital twins, flexible manufacturing, and autonomous robotics.
- RICAIP at Hannover MESSE. DFKI enabled us to join their stand and present the results of the RICAIP Testbed Prague.
- Teaming Club Conference at the BIOPOLIS-CIBIO in Porto, from October 15th to 17th.
- Open day for industry 4.0 was held.
- In October, the expert workshop was held in cooperation with the Czech Forging Association.
- GEOAI Camp at RICAIP Testbed Prague.
- In May, the conference Legal Aspects of AI and Robotics took place.
Annual Report
RICAIP Annual Report 2024
Browse through the RICAIP Annual Report 2024 to get an overview of the concept and context of our centre, objectives and progress that have been made.