Representatives of both institutions confirmed this on Wednesday 7 May by signing a memorandum in the presence of the Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček, other members of the Government and the Rector of CTU.

"The centre will connect Czech and Korean researchers and companies in the automotive sector. Expert teams from several faculties can participate in the activities. Many of them are already cooperating, for example, with Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech or its direct suppliers. Now we expect a strong deepening of cooperation with Korean companies and universities," said Václav Snášel, Rector of VŠB-TUO, who signed the memorandum.

"We will focus on applications for connected intelligent transport systems and applications for connected, cooperative and automated mobility. One of the key themes is so-called software-defined vehicles, i.e. future generations of cars that will be primarily controlled at the service and application level, similar to what we know in smart mobile phones," said Petr Šimoník from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at VŠB-TUO and scientific director of the Industry 4.0 & Automotive Lab of the REFRESH strategic project, which is intensively focused on this issue. Petr Šimoník is also an expert guarantor of the prepared centre for VŠB-TUO, his Korean counterpart is the head of KATECH Choi You-jun.

The mission of the centre will be not only the now specified activities focused on experimental development and research, but also the joint search for international cooperation opportunities in the field of advanced C-V2X communication systems, AI applications for advanced assistance systems and automated driving and last but not least remote control systems. Cooperation is focused on EUREKA, Horizon Europe and Czech-Korean bilateral research projects.

KATECH - Korea Automotive Technology Institute is a South Korean research institution focused on the development and innovation of automotive technology, including electric vehicles, autonomous driving, batteries and other related technologies.

A Letter of Agreement declaring the international partnership between VŠB-TUO and KATECH was one of the documents signed at the ceremony in Prague. Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček, other representatives of the Czech government, universities and other institutions or companies signed a series of strategic documents aimed at strengthening cooperation in the fields of nuclear energy, modern automotive industry and robotics.