Vojtěch Mrázek awarded prestigious GA ČR JUNIOR STAR grant

A new project is coming to the Faculty of Information Technology at Brno University of Technology, bringing with it significant financial support 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. Thanks to the five-year duration with the possibility of drawing up to CZK 25 million and without the need for additional funding from the parent institution, the researchers have the opportunity to become scientifically independent, establish or support a research team, and bring new research topics to Czech science.

Vojtěch Mrázek himself confirms this: "I really appreciate this project because it allows me to build a team, and without a team, it's impossible today given the complexity of the technology. This is not a job for one person." The research team is therefore professionally complemented by Dr. Marcela Zachariášová and Ing. Martin Hurta.

The winning project, "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 that work on the principle of gradual unplanned changes leading to improved functionality 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, for example, increased calculation efficiency and a related reduction in the energy consumption of computational operations. 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 cooperation with foreign partners.

More information about Vojtěch Mrázek's project and the circumstances of his grant award can be found in the press release here.