3rd study visit in Ostrava, Czechia – a glimpse into the future

The 3^rd study visit of NES4WB project consortium held from 26^th – 28^th of March, 2025 in Ostrava, Czechia. It was organized and hosted by VSB-Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic.

It was an opportunity to meet, share results and achievements, and plan for the future.

The event was opened on 26.03. starting at 10 o’clock, with a welcome speech by Vice-dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Followed by prof. Miroslav Voznak and prof. Bojan Prlincevic – project coordinator, sharing the introduction and work plan for three days meeting presented in the agenda.

In the program that followed, participants had the privilege of watching a presentation by Prof. Ivan Zelinka on a very contemporary and extremely interesting topic: Artificial intelligence, cyberwarfare, and other security threats for critical infrastructures.

It’s worth mentioning that Prof. Zelinka is an eminent scientist. He was awarded the Siemens Award for his Ph.D. thesis and received an award from the journal Software News for his book about artificial intelligence. Being a member of the British Computer Society, IEEE (a committee of Czech section of Computational Intelligence), and serves on international program committees of various conferences and three international journals (Soft Computing, SWEVO, Editorial Council of Security Revue, prof. Zelinka is the author of numerous journal articles as well as books in Czech and the English language.

The first day was concluded with a round table discussion about the following topics:

Finalization of partnership (networking) agreement,
Collaboration with industry and strategic partnership,
Internship models,
Preparing teaching materials.

The second day of the study visit began with working meetings of the SC, PMC, QAC.

SC members analyzed project related activities while PMC discussed about the deliverables to be approved and submitted by the end of March.

QAC leader, prof Voznak presented the first annual quality report. The QAC meeting was focused on improving the quality of project activities and evaluating results (reports, events, promotional materials.

In addition, the first annual dissemination report has been presented.

The afternoon was reserved for visiting the CEETe (Centre for Energy and Environmental Technologies) https://ceet.vsb.cz/en presentation of energy research activities and directions for energy sustainability in EU and IT4INNOVATION National Supercomputing Center.

Consortium members had the opportunity to see state-of-the-art laboratories, including the latest generation of quantum computers.

Afterwards, project progress reports of the WB partners were presented and discussed.

The final day of the study visit was organized through a Guided tour in selected laboratories of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and presentation by Prof. Voznak.

The afternoon session concluded with prof. Voznak presentation on the topic Information security in the age of quantum computers and Cybersecurity in critical infrastructures and the latest recommendations of ENISA (European Union Agency for Cybersecurity).

We must mention hereby that prof. Miroslav VOZNAK (IEEE Senior Member) is a professor in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the VSB – Technical University of Ostrava. His research interests include IoT, QoS/QoE, wireless networks, network security, and big data analytics in networks. According to WoS, he has published more than 200 articles in SCIE journals such as IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications and IEEE Communications Magazine. He participated in seven projects within EU funding programs, mostly as an institutional coordinator and more than twenty national projects. Since 2020, he has been ranked regularly among the World’s Top 2% Scientists (Career Impact DB) by Stanford University in the subfield Networking & Telecommunications.

The visit to the VSB-TUO, in addition to fruitful work, represents a completely new experience for the members of the consortium, and especially the members of the WB HEIs. It was a unique opportunity to visit state-of-the-art laboratories in the field of information technology and digitalization, which is the key focus of the NESTWB project.

Lectures by professors and leaders in their scientific fields represent added value for all participants. Therefore, we can rightly say that a study visit to Ostrava represents a glimpse into the future.

We owe special thanks to Prof. Miroslav Voznak and his team for their efforts in organizing such an event. We also thank all consortium members for their contributions and commitment.

See you soon in Madrid, warm greetings to everyone!

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7.7
Title	Promotion at scientific conferences.
Description	Project results will be promoted at scientific conferences in the form of scientific and research papers. Presentation of the papers is planned at the scientific conference INFOTEH in Bosnia and Herzegovina (M33). The participation of representatives of all WB HEIs at the conference is planned, with the support of researchers from EU and AP HEIs.

7.6
Title	Promotion of e-knowledge platform.
Description	Established the e-knowledge platform will be created with thematic units that will promote the application of ICT in energy and synergy with the Green Agenda. The platforms will contain the most common questions and answers and knowledge quizzes. The promotion of the platform will be carried out on TV shows and through social networks.

7.5
Title	Promotion of training programs aimed at the economy and the wider community
Description	Promotional info events will be organized at all WB HEIs, two for each WB HEIs. These events will be organized in the second and third year of the project's life cycle, with the aim of promoting digitization in energy (rational energy consumption) and the green agenda. Promotional events will be of different types: announcements on TV stations and on billboards, brochures, and leaflets where details of the application of digitization in the energy sector will be presented. Business partners will also participate in the promotion of the application of ICT in energy and green weeks.

7.4
Title	Info days.
Description	In order to promote established study programs and enroll in them, 16 info days will be organized, two per each WB HEIs. Info days will be realized in the second year of the project. Promotional materials of WB HEIs will be printed to inform students about the developed bachelor's/master's degree programs.

7.3
Title	Promotion of study programs in media and on social networks
Description	Results and activities related to NEST4WB will be promoted on social networks such as: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Lindekin, Twitter... All WB partners will participate in the promotion and place hyperlinks on their websites to pages on social networks. Special attention will be devoted to the promotion of new/innovated study programs, through NEST4WB, and the enrollment of students in these study programs.

6.3
Title	Cooperation agreements between Western Balkans Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and interested parties from the economy.
Description	Agreements will be signed on long-term cooperation between WB HEIs, the economy, and the economic community on popularizing the rational use of energy in light of the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.

6.2
Title	Improvement of cooperation among Western Balkans Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) community.
Description	Communication channels will be created between WB HEIs, which will aim at regular exchange of information and examples of good practice. The goal of the community is to expand to other WB HEIs outside of NEST4WB partners.

WP6
Start Month	1	End Month	36
Objectives	Creating a sustainability plan. Enhancing WB HEIs community cooperation. Agreements on cooperation between WB HEIs and interested parties from the economy

5.3
Title	Quality control monitoring.
Description	Constant quality evaluation is ensured by continuous presentation of NEST4WB results and activities, as well as periodic review by experts teams after each year of the project's life cycle.