At a meeting of representatives of innovative companies in the castle of Lány on Monday, August 19, students of the strojLAB team of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering attracted the attention of the President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel with their model of the ARGO underwater drone. Jan Kalina and Viliam Horečka were among more than 90 representatives of Czech innovative companies and new start-ups who had received an invitation to meet the presidential couple.
"We were divided into thematic groups according to fields. These fields were marked with colours which were previously used on the famous presidential postage stamps. After the initial registration and welcome, we were given the opportunity to present our team project to the President," says Jan Kalina, describing the organization of the program and continues: "The presidential couple was interested not only in our ARGO model but also in the technical fairy tale How to Build a Motorcycle, which we brought to Lány as a gift. The President praised the illustrations and Mrs. Pavlová was interested if the fairy tale is available in the shops. Last but not least, we felt that they were also interested in our campaign promoting technical sciences." In addition to a valuable meeting with the presidential couple, guests could also use the visit for networking or for taking a tour of the Baroque chateau in Lány, the official summer residence of the presidents of the Czech Republic.
Representatives of strojLAB also unexpectedly met another FME student, Rudolf Samuel Mašek of the Aqua-Reaktor startup. While the strojLAB team received the invitation literally by chance and directly from the President, whom the team met during their teambuilding activity – climbing the Lysá Hora mountain, Rudolf S. Mašek was nominated by the Pardubice business incubator. It means in the standard way, when the Office of the President of the Republic approached innovation centres in individual regions to identify companies and start-ups with the potential for rapid growth and international reach to be invited to Monday's meeting.
"Meeting the presidential couple was very motivating. We have gained attention that we can use in our work on the development of student activities and in student organizations. Thanks to the program, we have established contacts with other personalities, new startups and innovation centres. We have also received a promise that the President would visit us during his next trips to the regions," concludes Kalina.