Milan Školník and Michael Haman, members of the research team of the BETTER Life project, visited the Valencian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (VRAIN) – one of the largest and most respected AI research centers in Spain, based at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV).
The visit included meetings with leading representatives of the institute, including Professor Vicente Botti, Director of VRAIN, Professor José Sempere, Scientific Director, and Professor José Hernández-Orallo, who is also affiliated with the University of Cambridge. The researchers also engaged in insightful discussions with students and young scientists from the institute.
As part of the program, Haman and Školník were invited to attend a conference hosted by VRAIN, where recent advances in AI research were presented to representatives of Spanish companies, academic institutions, and the wider public. The event underlined the momentum of Spain’s AI ecosystem and the importance of knowledge transfer between research and industry.
During the visit, they also presented Academic Bridge – a toolkit developed under the BETTER Life project that aims to support the effective connection between academic research and practical application. The toolkit includes the Academic Bridge Chatbot, which particularly captured the interest of VRAIN representatives. The chatbot, which is online and ready to help researchers, welcomes users to Academic Bridge, invites them to describe their research topics they would like to implement in municipalities, and helps them find suitable municipalities and collaboration opportunities.
The meetings further focused on exploring opportunities for collaboration on international research projects, particularly within Horizon Europe, with the goal of linking Czech and Spanish expertise in tackling common challenges through innovative AI-driven solutions.
The BETTER Life project continues to develop strategic partnerships across Europe to strengthen Czech engagement in international research and innovation.
