The Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union began a few days ago, and with it, the first accompanying events related to this prestigious role. One of them is the traditional visit of ambassadors sitting on the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the Council of the EU, which is taking place in the Moravian-Silesian Region from 7th to 9th July.

Immediately after arriving in Ostrava, almost seventy guests visited VSB – Technical University of Ostrava, where they visited, among other things, our supercomputing centre. During the one-hour excursion, they learned the most interesting things about IT4Innovations and our supercomputers. The lecture, accompanied by a discussion, was led by Tomáš Kozubek, scientific director of IT4Innovations, who also emphasized the involvement of our supercomputing centre in European projects. At the end of the visit, the delegation looked at the data room, where colleagues from the Supercomputing Services Department presented our infrastructure.

During the three-day tour of the Moravian-Silesian Region, the motto of which is "green transition in black", the ambassadors of the EU Member States will successively visit other interesting places in Ostrava, Karviná, Dolní Vítkovice, Kopřivnice, Třinec, Dolní Lomná, Karlova Studánka, and Bruntál. The event is organised by the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the Moravian-Silesian Region, and the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic.

On the same day, 7th July, the Conference on Synergies in the Research and Innovation Funding in Europe took place in Prague. The keynote speaker in the conference session "Synergies in practice" was Vít Vondrák, IT4Innovations Managing Director. The conference, the outcome of which is the "Prague Declaration on Synergies in Research and Innovation Funding in Europe", was also attended by high-ranking representatives of the EU Member States and the European Commission, led by EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, who has innovation and research under her responsibility.