SKODA AUTO backs Czech national programme Mobility Innovation Hub

SKODA AUTO is one of the main backers of the Mobility Innovation Hub. An agency of the Czech government is currently preparing this platform, based on the principle of a public-private partnership.

The hub aims to encourage large companies, start-ups, universities, other scientific institutions and public authorities to work closely together when implementing innovative mobility projects. The initiative offers the opportunity for great knowledge to be bundled and shared, and thus to further strengthen the competitiveness of the Czech automotive industry through global innovation in the future. The programme is coordinated by Czech government agency CzechInvest.

Andre Wehner, Chief Digital Officer at ŠKODA AUTO, emphasised, “The Mobility Innovation Hub ties in with the action plan and the memorandum to strengthen the future viability of the Czech automotive industry. Here, representatives from the private sector, the world of science, universities and public authorities are building a unique platform for innovative mobility projects, giving us all the opportunity to participate even more directly in innovative projects. ŠKODA supports this initiative wholeheartedly.”

The programme is financially supported by the state as well as with funds from the participating partners and is a pillar of the country’s innovation strategy for mobility and corresponding services. The content of the initiative was defined back in March 2019, at the second colloquium on the pact for the future of the Czech automotive industry at ŠKODA AUTO in Mladá Boleslav.

The Mobility Innovation Hub will focus on the areas of Smart Factory, E-Mobility, alternative drive systems, autonomous driving and digitalisation. It will thus contribute to the Czech Republic’s development into a global innovation hub for the automotive industry, the country’s most important economic sector. To this end, ŠKODA AUTO is one of the main backers of the initiative, whose project results are available to all partners.

By participating in the new innovation programme, the car manufacturer anticipates that it will benefit from even more intensive communication with universities and global research institutions, new points of contact with international start-ups, more direct access to interesting technologies, and from even more flexible collaboration with public and private organisations. ŠKODA AUTO will use the synergies arising from this in the implementation of its 2025 Strategy and its transformation into the digital ‘Simply Clever company for the best mobility solutions’.

The brand’s involvement in the Mobility Innovation Hub is coordinated by ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab. The manufacturer’s digital innovation centre is involved in the Mobility Innovation Hub’s orientation and decision-making, provides food for thought as well as access to its network of international experts, and shares experiences as well as what has been learnt from its activity in other countries. ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab is therefore also once again underlining its importance as a driver of innovation within the company.

ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab is already well-integrated into the international technology and start-up scene. In 2017, the first site was established in Prague, and since then spin-offs have started operating in the important technology hotspots of Tel Aviv, Beijing and Pune.