What does the future hold for the Czech Republic's defense?

One of the key events in March, at least from our perspective, was the Defence Tech Innovations 2026 conference, which took place on Tuesday , March 24, at the VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava (VŠB TUO) in collaboration with the Confederation of Industry and Transport (SPČR) . March, brought together leaders from all key sectors— representatives of the defense sector, science and research, the public sector, and private technology and industrial companies from the Czech Republic.

Nearly four hundred guests and panelists attended the event. And they all had one thing in common: the Czech Republic’s defense industry, its future, and cooperation across these sectors.

Whether we’re talking about technology, innovation, or defense itself, everything is so closely intertwined today that it makes no sense to discuss them separately. Pressing issues such as funding ( what percentage of GDP should be allocated to defense), the success of startups and scale-ups — and Czech companies abroad in general —meaningful cross-sector collaboration, the accelerated adoption of new technologies, or the lack of capacity in tech fields and student interest in them— this is just a small sample of the topics covered during the all-day event, which, through a program of discussion panels, addressed the full spectrum of issues directly or indirectly related to defense. And, more generally, the increasingly discussed topic of resilience —that is, the resilience of the state.

AI and Quantum Computing: The Czech Republic’s Competitive Advantage

We have long been interested in quantum computers in relation to cybersecurity, and we recognize that the Czech Republic is among the leaders in this field. But how can we keep pace so that we don’t miss the boat in the future? How can we motivate new talent to study these specialized and still very new fields, no matter how well they are compensated? This was one of the discussions we participated in on behalf of ITS CEO Lumír Srch, alongside, for example, Rector Jan Farlík (University of Defense) and Petr Kavalír (Government Commissioner for Quantum Technologies). And not just that one.

Ostrava as an important center

The conference on defense kicked off with an impressive presentation of vehicles from the Excalibur Army and Tatra brands, part of the CSG Group’s portfolio.

The opening keynote was delivered by Jan Rafaj (SPČR), and the host institution, the University of Ostrava, was also strongly and justifiably represented in the discussions—speakers included VŠB TUO Rector Igor Ivan, Vít Vondrák from IT4Innovations, and Radek Martinek, Dean of the Technical University, who pointed out, for example, the low interest in technical fields among young students.

Ostrava has generally demonstrated that it has a lot to offer. With one of the largest university campuses in Europe and, among other things, the headquarters of the aforementioned IT4Innovations national supercomputing center, its modern approach and energy hold great potential even on a European scale.

What else was discussed, and what are the conclusions?

Industry still accounts for 30% of our country’s GDP. But there’s no point in talking in terms of percentages; we can all agree that defense spending is entirely justified in today’s context. One of the statements, for example, was that current conflicts are technological conflicts. And if we cannot and will not have numerical superiority, we must have technological superiority instead. We need to collaborate across sectors, leveraging private-sector expertise for public administration. We need to motivate new talent and retain it. We all have a lot of work ahead of us.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as the conference’s general partner and, among other things, to present our post-quantum security solutions, which attendees were able to discuss with our specialists on-site. If you’re interested in the solutions we offer for both IT andOT, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Watch the report from the conference on the Studio ČT 24program (at 4:49 p.m.).