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On Sunday, November 16, 2025, the Josef, Marie, and Zdeňka Hlávka Foundation awarded the Josef Hlávka Prize. This prize is awarded annually to talented students in bachelor's, master's, or doctoral programs under the age of 33 who have demonstrated exceptional abilities and creative thinking in their field. This year, the award went to our faculty – it was personally accepted by Filip Macák from the Department of Intelligent Systems. The award, which comes with a financial grant of CZK 30,000, is regularly presented on the eve of the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution at Josef Hlávka's castle in Lužany near Přeštice.

Doctoral student Filip Macák has recently been particularly successful with his research work. Last year, he received the Distinguished Paper award for his article "Policies Grow on Trees: Model Checking Families of MDPs" at the ATVA 2024 conference in Japan. In May of this year, at the conference on autonomous agents and multi-agent systems AAMAS 2025 in Detroit, USA, he received the Best Student Paper Award for his article "Decentralized Planning Using Probabilistic Hyperproperties" (both articles were co-authored by Roman Andriushchenko, under the supervision of Associate Professor Milan Češka). In September, he received the Rector's Award for an exceptional conference contribution with a significant impact on the community for the same achievement.

Macák's field of expertise is formal verification in probabilistic models working within sequential decision-making with uncertainty. These are used, for example, in economics, medicine, and today especially in AI development (reinforcement learning). His areas of interest include, for example, the reliability and explainability of AI agents, which raise questions about the appropriateness of the agent's chosen strategies, or, in layman's terms, whether AI agents are doing what is appropriate and desirable in a given situation. Macák then deals with the formal, mathematical verification of systems with the aim of increasing their accountability and credibility—one of the great challenges in connection with the current massive development of artificial intelligence. And as he himself says, it's difficult mathematics. "But I've loved math since elementary school, and I spent my high school years in a math class. I also enjoyed computer science, so the choice of further study was pretty clear." He chose his research topic at the beginning of his master's studies, when he became very interested in the lectures of Milan Češka on probability models. Češka is now the supervisor of his dissertation.

Macák, who is currently studying at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, does not specifically seek awards; they are a result of the research work he focuses on. Of course, he appreciates awards, both those from the professional community (see the ATVA and AAMAS conferences) and those from broader platforms such as the Hlávka Foundation. "It's an honor for me, how could it be otherwise," adds the recent laureate.

We wish Filip Macák many more successes and thank him for his excellent representation of FIT VUT.

The Faculty of Information Technology at Brno University of Technology is set to receive a five-year grant and with it a significant financial subsidy for the research team. Vojtěch Mrázek from the Department of Computer Systems and his team have received support from the Czech Science Foundation in the form of a GA ČR Junior Star grant. This is an extraordinary achievement, as evidenced by the demanding selection process, in which only three teams from the field of technical sciences across the entire country were successful, and only one of them comes from BUT. Junior Star grants are intended for outstanding early-career scientists and researchers within eight years of obtaining their Ph.D. who have already published in prestigious international journals and have significant international experience. The grants are awarded by a jury composed exclusively of foreign researchers. The reward for the demanding selection process is worth it: thanks to a five-year project with the possibility of drawing up to CZK 25 million and without the need for additional funding from the parent institution, researchers have the opportunity to become scientifically independent, establish or support a research team, and bring new research topics to Czech science.

Research independence and student involvement

Vojtěch Mrázek himself confirms the above. "I greatly appreciate this project because it allows me to build a team, and without a team, it is not possible today given the complexity of the technologies. This is not a job for one person." The research team is therefore professionally complemented by Dr. Marcela Zachariášová and Ing. Martin Hurta. [M(1] Mrázek adds that the supported project will also allow the potential of the faculty's students to be utilized, whose knowledge of computer engineering is promising for the task. "Students should also participate in the team as part of their bachelor's and master's theses—these theses can approach the topic from a software perspective."

The winning project by Vojtěch Mrázek and his team, EvoML-EDA: Synergy of Evolutionary Algorithms and Advanced Machine Learning Algorithms for Digital Circuit Design, aims to combine the advantages of evolutionary electronic circuit design and advanced machine learning methods to improve chip design. Mrázek and his colleagues use evolutionary algorithms based on the principle of gradual unplanned changes leading to improved performance to design and optimize circuits. The disadvantage of these algorithms is that they are relatively time-consuming, but the reward is transformations that, when combined with machine learning algorithms, lead to their improvement. The influence of evolutionary algorithms and AI algorithms is mutual—evolutionary design algorithms also improve through interaction. The result is an increase in the efficiency of calculations and a related reduction in the energy consumption of computational operations. As Mrázek notes, this is a prerequisite for keeping pace with the ever-faster improvement of technologies and being able to make better use of them. Mrázek also points out that, given the length of the project, it is necessary to ensure that the resulting algorithms can also be applied to technological innovations that will begin to play a key role in the meantime. Specifically, he mentions quantum computing and related aspects of chip security.

Electronic Design Automation: a field in which we are strong

Imagining the entire chip design process is a challenge for the non-expert. Vojtěch Mrázek uses the image of three layers of the process to explain his research topic: "We have our own chip software architecture, e.g., for processing internet traffic or video, which are topics that other research groups at the faculty are working on. And then there is the level of chip technology, the 'construction' of hardware, which is the focus of FEKT, for example. And between them there is a layer called EDA, Electronic Design Automation." This "middle" layer can be thought of as the creation of software tools for the design of integrated electronic systems, in this case chips. "We are in the middle, straddling, figuratively speaking, between software and hardware. You can think of us as a translator between the hardware and software architecture of chips. My job is to ensure the most efficient and energy-efficient communication between these two levels. It is precisely in this area of the chip industry that FIT is successful, and Europe itself is also strong in this field." Mrázek points out that FIT VUT and the Evolvable Hardware research group are among the top ten in Europe in the field of Electronic Design Automation, as evidenced by the Computer Science Ranking database and as demonstrated by cooperation with foreign partners.

As for the project itself, Mrázek mentions the inspiration and valuable feedback he received from colleagues when putting together his proposal. Specifically, he mentions Prof. Lukáš Sekanina, Doc. Milan Češka, and Doc. Ondřej Lengál. He also appreciates the help of the faculty's Economic Department staff. He repeatedly points out that the project is by no means just his work, but a collective effort. A group of young researchers, doctoral students, and students will cover the entire research topic, ranging from algorithm design and circuit design to testability.

It should be added that Vojtěch Mrázek has had several major successes in the recent past. These are symbolically represented by the most prestigious Czech public award for science and research, the Česká hlava prize, which he received in 2019 for his research into intentional errors in integrated circuits.

An overview of other successful applicants and winning projects can be found on the official website of the GA ČR Junior Star grant competition.

The goal of information exchange between academia and industry is also pursued by the Industry Council at the Faculty of Information Technology. The advisory working group meets at least once a year with the participation of nearly two dozen representatives of the faculty's corporate partners. The most recent meeting took place on Thursday, October 30, 2025, shortly before the start of the important Žijeme IT conference at FIT.

The opening remarks of the meeting between faculty management and representatives of major IT companies were given by the Vice-Dean for Marketing and External Relations, Vítězslav Bran, who emphasized the importance of such meetings. "Of course, as a faculty of a technical university, we need to know where the practice of information technology is. It is important feedback for teaching and research at the faculty," said Beran, summarizing the role of the event. According to him, the essence of partnership with the faculty lies in preparing students for the job market in the best possible way. This goes hand in hand with foreign internships for students, which should also be supported by the companies themselves. The dean of the faculty, Petr Hanáček, followed up with a presentation of the faculty's strategic goals, highlighting two key projects: the development of supercomputing technologies and the Czech AI Factory consortium, in which experts from FIT play a key role; and a fresh major impetus in the form of quantum informatics and the Quantum Innovation Center association, which can be considered a key project for the future of the Czech Republic in the field of quantum computers and post-quantum cryptography, and whose members also include BUT. Quantum computing, quantum communication, and post-quantum encryption are research areas in which FIT definitely has something to say, thanks to the work of researchers such as Ondřej Lengál.

The most significant part of the Industry Council meeting was taken up by a discussion in which representatives of corporate partners took part. Kamila Zahradníčková, CEO of the successful startup Lakmoos, highlighted the support for startups and the transformation of communication with the university environment in general over the last 10 years. She thanked the Faculty of Information Technology for its helpful cooperation and specifically mentioned the high quality of the faculty's graduates, from whom Lakmoos selects candidates for cooperation. Radek Vokál, senior product manager at Red Hat, continued in a similar vein, pointing out the advantage that IT students already know about major employers during their studies and can establish cooperation, for example, on study projects and research topics. More information for industry partners would be welcomed by representatives of this company and others from the faculty's research groups.

The quality and professional preparedness of FIT graduates was praised by the CEO of Phonexia, Mrs. Markéta Lőrinczy, who particularly appreciated the close cooperation with faculty "speech therapists" led by Professor Jan Černocký. An interesting debate ensued after a contribution by Vojtěch Filip from Tescan Group, who highlighted semiconductors as an important area of preparation for future graduates. In response, it was noted that, unfortunately, students generally have less interest in hardware, i.e., the fact that "green boards" do not easily arouse the enthusiasm of students. Dean Petr Hanáček emphasized in his response that although universities abroad often do not offer better departments or laboratories, they are able to generate greater interest in hardware topics. Motivating young men and women to take an interest in semiconductors, for example, could be a joint task for faculties and the private sector.

At the very end, the topic of soft skills of IT graduates was opened. Representatives of Škoda Auto, Markéta Jarošová and Leoš Červený, pointed out the increasing complexity of IT fields and the related fact that practice requires professionals with teamwork and leadership skills. And that it is precisely these prerequisites that university education should develop. It was noted that FIT has projects for teams of several members in a number of compulsory courses, where students gain the aforementioned experience. Although they themselves perceive the importance of teamwork, it is still challenging for a significant number of them. Finally, an interesting observation was made that IT fields in the Netherlands include project work as a matter of course.

Of course, more topics were discussed. Their number alone proves that the Industry Council and other activities aimed at strengthening contacts between industry and the university environment are definitely important.

We would like to thank all participants of Thursday's meeting and look forward to future ones.