Ivo Říha is a graduate of Charles University. He has over 20 years of experience in regional and strategic development and innovation. After holding managerial positions in regional government, he became head of a division at NEXIA AP.

He subsequently had the opportunity, together with partners, to design and coordinate for four years the Smart Specialisation Strategy of the Central Bohemian Region. He co-founded the Central Bohemian Innovation Centre, which he also led from 2015 to 2017.

For more than six years, he has been active in the field of digitalisation and cybersecurity. In June 2019, he became Vice President of the National Cluster Association for the second time, with responsibility for development and digitalisation.

He contributed to localisation activities in Liberec and serves as co-coordinator of the “European Digital Innovation Hub Northern and Eastern Bohemia.” He is also Chairman of the Board of the Central European meta-cluster for digitalisation and progressive environmental technologies, CEDEG.

Maroš Barabas graduated from the doctoral study program at the Faculty of Information Technology of Brno University of Technology, specializing in security and focusing on the behavioural aspects of network communication, where he still works as a researcher. In 2006, he joined the newly emerging Czech branch of Red Hat, where, since 2008 until 2011, he worked in the team focused on the security of Linux systems. Since the beginning of 2012, he worked as a Senior IT Security Consultant at AEC and since 2014 he led a team of specialists focused on security technologies. Currently, he is in the position of Head of Product Management being  responsible for the strategy and innovation of the AEC product portfolio. He specializes mainly in the field of security technologies, design, implementation and audit of security architectures and systems. Last but not least, he is involved in disseminating security awareness through professional and scientific publications at security conferences, in professional and scientific journals, including vocational training at universities.

Luboš Komárek is an enthusiast leading for the last five years a nanotechnology cluster organisation Nanoprogress that helped the Czech nanotech sector to flourish by boosting the competitiveness and innovativeness of national SMEs and R&D entities.

Since 2016 he is actively participating in National Cluster Association CZ that strongly supports the national cluster ecosystem. Furthermore, he is very actively involved in the European cluster community and by close collaboration created over the last decade personal bonds with more than 10 leading European cluster organisations that encompass more than 10 000 SMEs and innovation actors linking multiple sectors towards new global opportunities. In 2020 Lubos Komarek accompanied the establishment of highly innovative company Nanotech dynamics with the objective to foster the development of high TRL technology and product innovations and to introduce new nanotech products to the global market. 

Petr Stoklasa is the Marketing and Corporate Communications Director of the Czech investment group TTC, which currently consists of more than 30 technology and real estate companies. He has specialized in the communication and marketing field for more than a quarter of century, holding a range of senior positions that include Managing Director, Partner and Marketing & Business Development Director. Petr has worked with many companies over the years as a Senior Consultant, assisting with their strategic and crises communication activities. He founded and managed the Czech branch of one of the three largest global communication agencies, Weber Shandwick, and subsequently was a partner of the leading Czech communication agency Native PR for over 15 years.  As part of the international network of Hauska & Partner agencies, he was a member of a global team that helped clients integrate the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into their business practices. For more than a decade, he was on the Ethics and Conciliation Committee of the Czech Association of Public Relations Agencies.

 Robert Keil is the Director of the National Centre for Industry 4.0, which contributes to the development of Industry 4.0 in the Czech Republic. He is a co-author of the publication Industry 4.0: The Foundation of the Economic Transformation of the Czech Republic.

His main areas of expertise include technology transfer, science and innovation management, and digital transformation.

Previously, he worked at CzechInvest, where he was responsible primarily for the development of the investment environment in the advanced manufacturing technologies sector and later in nanotechnologies.

An expert in the field of computer modelling and numerical simulations of the technology processes with a strong focus on application of finite element method into industrial processes such as welding, casting, working and heat processing. After graduating from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics, and Informatics of Comenius University in 1986 she worked as a researcher and university teacher in the Faculty of Materials Science and Technology STU in Trnava. From 2002 till 2004 she was employed as hosting researcher at the Chemnitz University of Technology. Between 2006 and 2015 she worked at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of West Bohemia in the framework of the R&D center FORTECH.Mária has vast experience with national and international projects and grants and is an author of more than 170 scientific publications from which 17 are in highly impacted journals and 50 in databases WoS/Scopus.Currently, she holds the position of vice-director of the R&D department at the Institute of Applied Informatics, Automation and Mechatronics MTF STU and is a leader of the laboratory for thermophysical measurements and calculations. 

Rudolf Černý is an experienced auditor and consultant with more than twenty years of practice in auditing and advisory services for a wide range of companies as well as public sector entities. He graduated from the Faculty of Finance and Accounting at the Prague University of Economics and Business, where he obtained the degree Ing. (Master’s equivalent).

He holds an auditor’s license from the Chamber of Auditors of the Czech Republic (Certificate No. 1992).

From 2005 to 2021, he worked at NEXIA AP a.s. as an Audit Partner. Since 2021, he has been Managing Director of AUDIT ONE s.r.o., a member of the NEXIA International network, where he also serves as an Audit Partner.

Jiří Herinek

Jiří Herinek