Czech President Petr Pavel visited Brno University of Technology

As part of his working trip to South Moravia, the President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel visited Brno University of Technology on Wednesday 9 October. On the agenda was a debate with students of the university and a presentation of student creative activities in technological areas, mainly focused on automotive, aerospace and robotic applications.

Even before President Pavel arrived at the auditorium of Professor Brauner at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication of BUT, where the meeting took place, he had a busy agenda. In addition to visiting Brno institutions, he did not miss the ongoing International Industrial Fair at the Trade Fairs Brno. There he also visited the BUT stand where he was impressed by the system of unmanned drones and ground robots controlled by artificial intelligence.

Wednesday evening at the BUT also offered a demonstration of drones. It was backed by the university's newest student team, BUT Drone Research Centre, who presented the President with the interconnection of different types of drones with intelligent software to control them. Demonstrations of models for international competitions were offered by the Chicken Wings and Brno Mars Rover teams. The former is dedicated to drones, while the latter has prepared an autonomous Mars rover.

The YSpace student team also kept to the space theme with their own designs of CubeSats for real scientific missions in Earth orbit. Automotive technology was represented by the Pneumobil Racing Team Brno with a model of a compressed air car and TU Brno Racing with a Dragon electric formula monopost with a built-in racing simulator, which the President tried out with interest. For the strojLAB student team it was the second meeting with President Pavel after the summer presentation of their activities in Lány, Prague. Also this time they impressed with the ARGO submarine project.

Over 300 students of the BUT then waited in the crowded auditorium for the arrival of the guest and the planned discussion. Its main topic was the promotion of technical education and innovation, but President Pavel was also ready for questions from other areas, including those related to current issues of legislation, digitalization or bureaucracy.

After appreciating the number of discussants who came to the meeting in the evening, the President described BUT together with the South Moravian Innovation Centre as a nest where what the Czech Republic needs is being created. "This country needs innovative approaches, flexibility, entrepreneurship, courage, resilience to overcome obstacles. And I believe that this is concentrated at BUT," he said, adding that he bows to what the student teams presented to him in the previous section.

To be more successful in an international environment, Petr Pavel said Czechs lack not only better English language abilities, but also the courage to present and sell their skills. According to the president, this is also related to the fact that in investment projects we sometimes settle for support or production work. This must change if we want to be successful. "For example, in connection with the ongoing nuclear tender, we have been emphasising from the beginning that we do not want to be involved only in production, but above all in development," he said.

Other discussants asked about the role of universities for the development of the Czech Republic. "We should be clear about which fields we consider to be truly promising, what we want to build our prosperity on. We should set four to five directions we should follow and start working on it at least five years ahead," the president responded. As an example, he offered the demand for experts in the fields of semiconductor and space technologies, which are also strategic fields for BUT, which is already responding to the demand.

One of the questions was also directed at exaggerated fears of mistakes. "The aim of the preparatory period is that we discover mistakes and correct them, which will allow us to react to them when we need to. We should get this way of thinking not only into the preparation of students, but also into the workplace - it is on mistakes that a particular person grows, but also the company. If we take this approach, people will not be afraid to take controlled risks," President Pavel encouraged the audience, adding: "For example, support for startups cannot be judged by the fact that it is economically inefficient. We can't play it safe just to avoid making a mistake."

"The President's visit was a great encouragement. Trust and hope are what the President inspires with his demeanor, concern, insight and humanity. His words about the needs of the Czech economy, its productivity and competitiveness resonate with the view that we, as the country's leading technical university, share with our industrial partners. The industry's call for graduates in technical and scientific fields is heard at all meetings and was one of the main theses of the Assembly of Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic at this year's 65th International Industrial Fair. "Ladislav Janíček, Rector of the BUT, said and added some other observations:

"I am extremely proud of our students, their skills and the presented results of their creative activity. These require the ability to apply acquired knowledge, to accept and solve really complex technological tasks, to divide and organize work, but also presentation skills. They also assume a high level of entrepreneurship and courage to take on more than just technological challenges. I also very much appreciate the absolutely relevant questions raised by our students to the President. We very much appreciate the attention he paid to us with his visit both at the BUT stand at the Brno Exhibition Centre and at the evening meeting at our university. His comments and answers during the discussion reinforce our sense of our mission and the role we have as a leading technical university in the field of technical education and research and as part of a value-added economy built on knowledge and innovation," concluded the Rector of the BUT.

The text was published as a press release.