Prague, May 5, 2022 – The winners of the eleventh year of the Visionaries competition personally received their awards after the winter covid break. This year, environmentally oriented innovations and those that respond to social and economic developments after the onset of the pandemic scored significantly. Six entities received the title of Visionary 2021, honorable mentions were awarded by an expert jury to ten innovative works, and Tomáš Mocek, head of the HiLASE center of the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, became the Personality of the Visionary 2021 project.
The results of the competition were announced by the CzechInno association at the end of last year, and the laureates met in person to receive the award yesterday at a ceremony organized by CzechInno at the Caffesion Gallery on Střelecký Island in Prague.
The Visionaries competition, in its last announced year in the title with the suffix “2021”, focuses on finding, appreciating and visibility of exceptional innovative actions in Czech business and cooperation of applied research with practice, which have a significant technological or social benefit, or are their combinations. The expert jury of the Visionaries 2021 project consisted of representatives of renowned organizations and companies. In its decision-making, the jury emphasized the breadth of the societal benefits of the awarded innovations, as well as the benefits of putting them into practice in connection with the economic stimulus and the development of society during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The holders of the title Visionary 2021 are:
- Červenka Consulting s.r.o. received the Visionary 2021 award for its ATENA software (Advanced Tool for Engineering Nonlinear Analysis) – a tool for modeling 3D printing of concrete structures and simulating the behavior of such structures under stress conditions and their technological and economic benefits in the use of 3D printing in construction.
- Consortium of the Center for Alternative Environmentally Friendly Highly Effective Antimicrobial Agents for Industrial Applications (AlterBio) led by SYNPO, a joint-stock company and further associating companies Biomedica, spol. s r.o., Center for Organic Chemistry s.r.o., Fatra, a.s., I N O T E X spol. s r.o. and Palacký University in Olomouc / Faculty of Science, Tomas Bata University in Zlín / The University Institute and the State Institute of Public Health in Prague succeeded in the Visionaries 2021 competition thanks to research, development and implementation of the Complex of Innovations Based on Modification of Selected Chemical Substances polymer matrix, which includes, for example, the FreshDye functional dyeing system, the development of the AgNOS acrylate copolymer for use in he Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic was awarded for the activities of the HiLASE center and its Pulsed Laser for Medical, Industrial and Space Applications (which is currently the most powerful laser in the world) and its technological, economic and social benefits for medicine and industry.cosmetic applications or a new system for anchoring silver nanoparticles on a polyurethane carrier. It has also succeeded thanks to its technological, economic and societal contribution to the transfer of research results into practice, environmental protection and public health.
- The Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic was awarded for the activities of the HiLASE center and its Pulsed Laser for Medical, Industrial and Space Applications (which is currently the most powerful laser in the world) and its technological, economic and social benefits for medicine and industry.
- OptiSolutions, s.r.o. became the Visionary of 2021 thanks to the development and marketing of the System for visual inspection and quality improvement of machined parts using artificial intelligence and its technological, social and economic benefits for the field of industrial production and health protection of workers in production.
- ŠMT, a.s. won with its Multifunctional Workplace S-200 MT for machining complex and large workpieces of a rotary nature and its technological and economic contribution to the field of engineering production.
- VIA ALTA, a.s. succeeded with the POLYBET system – a technology for the production of composite products from waste plastics and waste inert fillers and their technological, economic and social benefits in the field of waste recycling and circular economy.
The holders of the honorable mentions of the expert jury are:
- ApiCo, s.r.o. for the online platform ApiVčelař 4.0 and its technological, economic and social benefits not only for the field of beekeeping, but also in the field of environmental protection and global food production.
- Bonmedix Holding, a.s. for their Algorithms for the diagnosis of retinal diseases and their technological, economic and social benefits for medicine and for the protection of public health.
- CEDA Maps, a.s. for its Comprehensive Roads Graph and Intermodal Route Planning System, including functionalities for the disabled and their technological, economic and social benefits in the field of mapping applications and the promotion of alternative modes of transport in practice.
- ČEZ Energy Products, s.r.o. and its Sorfix – a universal binder with a declared zero carbon footprint, for its technological, economic and social benefits in the construction industry, environmental protection and health protection of construction workers.
- Protector Gate, s.r.o. for its PROTECTOR GATE – a universal disinfection and monitoring gateway and its technological, economic and social contribution to the protection of public health and the fight against the covid pandemic.
- Regional Center for Advanced Technologies and Materials of Palacký University in Olomouc for NANOBIOWAT – a system for groundwater groundwater treatment and its technological, economic and social contribution to the protection of water resources and the environment.
- cz for MyCello – a hybrid of classical and electronic cello from a 3D printer and its technological, economic and social contribution to the production of musical instruments and the development of culture and the art of music.
- ÚJV Řež, a. S. For its long-term technological, economic and social security of low-emission energy sources.
- Brewing and Malting Research Institute, a.s. and the Faculty of Agronomy of Mendel University in Brno, for the Old Beer Taste Analyzer – a unique method for effective beer quality control and its technological, economic and social benefits for the beverage industry and restaurants.
- Agricultural Research, spol. s r.o. for its long-term technological, economic and social in the field of agricultural production and breeding.
This year, the expert jury also selected the Personality of the Visionaries project, which became:
Ing. Tomáš Mocek, Ph.D., Head of the HiLASE Center of the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, for his long-term contribution in the field of connecting applied research in the field of laser technologies with the needs of practice.
We congratulate all the winners and look forward to further cooperation.
Contact for journalists:
David Kratochvíl
Chairman of the Steering Committee of the CzechInno Association
kratochvil@czechinno.cz, tel. 774 220 272
Tereza Šamanová
executive director of the CzechInno association
samanova@czechinno.cz, phone 723 074 150
About the Visionaries project:
The goal of the Visionaries project, which has been running for eleven years this year, is to reward Czech companies, entrepreneurs and research organizations – specific authors of innovative products, products, processes or services. The purpose of the Visionaries project is to mobilize the innovation potential of Czech companies and organizations and to help the successful commercialization of innovative ideas that they came up with in the past period. In this respect, the CzechInno Association considers it important that the general public learns about innovations in the field of innovation and that they penetrate as much as possible into practice.
The expert jury of the Visionaries project includes organizations focusing on long-term support of innovation in business and applied research, namely: Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic, Czech Export Bank, Czech Statistical Office, Czech Telecommunication Office, Technology Center of the Academy of Sciences The Czech Republic, the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the Association of Innovative Entrepreneurship of the Czech Republic, the Association of Research Organizations of the Czech Republic, the CzechInno Association and representatives of the general and main professional partners of the project – Komerční banka and České Radiokomunikace.
About CzechInno:
The CzechInno Association (CzechInno, z.s.p.o.) is a Czech non-governmental non-profit organization founded in 2011 to support innovative business, which acts as an innovative matchmaker connecting the private, public and academic spheres in its projects. Since 2015, it has specifically focused on topics related to Industry 4.0 and the implementation of digital innovations into business practice and everyday life.
In 2017, CzechInno became the founder of the Central European Platform for Digital Innovation CEEInno, which brings together more than 140 digital innovation players from the Central European region and other countries as of April 2022, who collaborate on specific projects to increase digital maturity of business and society. . The platform includes, among others, all officially registered Czech digital innovation hubs (centers for digital innovation), the co-founder and partner of two of them is the CzechInno association.
CzechInno is already a traditional announcer and organizer of the Visionaries competition, which aims to annually recognize innovative achievements in Czech business, organizes the Smart Business Festival project subtitled Smart Business Festival, a project to support international cooperation in digital innovation called Smart Export Hub and annual series regional events aimed at promoting advanced digitization in business, called Digital Transf