AI HotSpot: Innovate, Implement, Inspire

The event has already taken place.

The full-day AI HotSpot Conference: Innovate, Implement, Inspire delivered inspiring talks, showcases of advanced AI projects, panel discussions with top executives on AI readiness, and an academic talent competition.

The conference took place on November 14, 2024, and offered practical workshops and real-world examples of AI applications in business, such as BE-A’s AI concierge. Participants also had the opportunity to connect with experts, innovators, and academics from universities and witness firsthand how AI is transforming business.

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Programme

08:30 | Registration, Networking & Coffee Break

09:00 | Conference Opening

09:20 | Keynote: Succeeding with AI
Petr Václav | RGA

09:50 | The Future of AI: Why Data Matters More Than Ever
Tomáš Krátký
(Gen) AI is taking enterprises by storm. However, despite all the hype and investments, the adoption of AI is not as we might expect. In his presentation, Tomas Kratky explored the current state of production-ready AI applications, the essential role data plays in the future of AI, the key challenges enterprises face, and some best practices each company should consider.

10:10 | The Future of Hospitality: Artificial Intelligence in Human Form
Filip Linek | FLÆ Robotics, Petr Paščenko | Profinit
The perfect hotel employee exists. Attendees discovered what the future of hospitality held and whether Czechs could lead a global revolution.

11:00 | AI Readiness: Paving the Way for Business Transformation (panel discussion)
Petr Václav | RGA, Tereza Ondroušková | Raiffeisenbank, Marcel Pochert | Berenberg, Tomáš Krátký
The key strategies for successful AI implementation with industry leaders in digital transformation. This panel revealed how to build AI-friendly environments, reshape processes, and prepare teams for an AI-driven future. Expert experiences and first-hand business stories provided attendees with insights to help guide their businesses into the AI era.

12:00 | Lunch

13:00 | The Ups and Downs of Implementing AI in Banking
Martin Münch | ČSOB
The presentation provided practical insight into the deployment of AI at the bank. Using concrete examples, Martin Münch showed the use of both classical and generative AI, as well as how ČSOB organises AI use cases across the Group, and how they deal with regulation.

13:30 | Implementing AI in a Mid-Sized Private Bank: From Revenue to Cost Reduction & DORA Regulation
Philipp Söchtig | Berenberg
This presentation showcased the use of artificial intelligence at the private German bank, Berenberg. Philipp Söchtig explained how implementing different AI use cases affects costs and revenues and how AI can help implement parts of the DORA regulation efficiently.

14:00 | AI Transformation: Bridging IT and Business for Organizational Success
Tereza Ondroušková | Raiffeisenbank
Tereza explored the essential elements of leading an AI transformation, focusing on how to bridge the gap between IT and business, identify valuable AI use cases, and make AI accessible to all employees. She also addressed strategies for driving organizational change and fostering a digital mindset across the company.

14:30 | A New Era of Client Interaction with the Bank
Karel Svrček | Česká spořitelna (Erste Group Bank)
Karel introduced the AI digital advisor “Hey George” as a two-way communication channel enabled by an open and extensible platform architecture, orchestrating an ecosystem of different chatbots driven by an agent-based approach for handling the user conversation with a large language model.

15:30 | Talents for AI: Bridging Academia and Industry (panel discussion)
Lukáš Mazánek | Raiffeisenbank, Pavel Kordík | FIT ČVUT, Bohumír Zoubek | Profinit
This panel explored how to tap into young talent—students, researchers, and early-career professionals—to drive AI innovation. Panelists discussed connecting academia and business, launching AI labs, and incubating ideas in corporate environments. Participants learned how to foster talent growth, accelerate AI roadmaps, and steer collaboration between corporations, universities, and external experts. They gained insights from various perspectives on harnessing talent to fuel the future of AI.

16:00 | AI Talents Competition
Finalists of the competition were:

Jakub Dorian Charbulak – Towards an Integrated Legal Environment with CaseIndex
Václav Stibor – Financial News Sentiment Analysis
Jiří Macháček – Use of LLMs for Storytelling Games
Teodor Beneš – Video Analytics for Prague Airport
Petr Hollan, Kristián Melleš, Samuel Čandík – Online Meetings Optimization

The Audience Award was won by Teodor Beneš with his video analytics project for Václav Havel Airport. The Jury Award was presented to Jiří Macháček for his project on the use of language models in narrative games.

17:00 | Conference Closing

Workshops

Evaluating AI solutions: Validate the Reliability of Your Models
Petr Paščenko | Profinit
The deployment of AI models in practice often faces challenges regarding reliability and output quality assurance. In this workshop, participants learned how to test and validate AI models to minimize the risk of errors and ensure the desired quality. We showed participants how to apply AI testing methodologies using the EvalMy.AI tool on specific practical examples, enabling to create reliable and functional AI solutions.

Copilots for Software Development
Michal Paulíček | Profinit
In this workshop, Michal showed various scenarios where GitHub Copilot simplifies the work of software engineers. Practical examples were presented of how Copilot can be used in real projects and how it can accelerate the resolution of everyday development tasks. Participants saw how an experienced software developer could effectively collaborate with this virtual colleague and how Copilot contributes to productivity and innovation in software development.

Side program

Six-legged robot Daisy in action!
Rudolf Szadkowski from the Computational Robotics Laboratory, which is part of the AI Center FEL ČVUT, introduced Daisy. Participants came and saw how this unique robot was able to move and map the terrain.

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Speakers

Petr Václav

Vice President, Head of Data, Analytics & AI – EMEA

As the Vice President and Head of Data, Analytics & AI at RGA, Petr oversees data-driven initiatives across EMEA, focusing on risk scoring, digital underwriting, and AI strategy. He also serves on the Board of Advisors for an AI governance startup and contributes to research in fields related to artificial intelligence. This year, he was named among the 100 most influential people in data by DataIQ.

Tereza Ondroušková

AI Transformation Officer

Tereza has 20+ years of experience in finance and a strong background in data analysis and artificial intelligence. As the AI Transformation Officer, she is responsible for building the AI Centre of Excellence team and overseeing the organization's AI transformation. In 2020, she founded a non-profit organization NajdiEdu.cz, supporting parents in school selection.

Lukáš Mazánek

Chief Data Officer

Lukáš works as the Chief Data Officer at Raiffeisenbank. He has been dedicated to building data warehouses for over 17 years. Currently, he has found a new passion in ensuring smooth collaboration between IT and business, as well as uncovering new insights hidden in data.

Marcel Pochert

Head of Digital Transformation

Marcel leads an international team based in Germany, London, and Prague. With extensive experience as a developer in enterprise solutions, he excels in utilising modern technologies to drive innovation in highly regulated markets. His experience includes the development of new platforms, AI-driven solutions, and mobile applications, all contributing to advancing digital transformation.

Philipp Söchtig

Head of Corporate Development & Operations

Philipp is an experienced expert in digitalisation and innovation. As Head of Corporate Development & Operations and Deputy Head of IT at Berenberg, he successfully leads projects in digital transformation, AI and banking regulation. With strong IT and finance expertise, he drives innovative solutions. Philipp has extensive experience in implementing digitalisation initiatives in large corporate structures.

Martin Münch

Big Data & AI Team Leader

Martin leads a team at ČSOB that develops and operates ML-based solutions, from optimising marketing communications to combating money laundering and enhancing the linguistic capabilities of the digital assistant Kate. He is part of the data science division that provides solutions for the entire ČSOB group and acts as an AI competency centre.

Karel Svrček

IT Domain Lead, AI Domain

Karel focuses on developing AI platforms, emphasising Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and agent-based platforms. His team supports AI adoption, creates tools to enhance employee efficiency, and works on the digital advisor “Hey George”.

Tomáš Krátký

Founder of Manta (acquired by IBM), Investor, Advisor

Tomáš is a former software developer with over 20 years of experience designing and building complex data and AI-driven enterprise systems. In 2015, he founded a small data lineage startup Manta and built it into a market leader with approximately 150 customers, mainly companies from the Fortune 500 list.

Filip Linek

Founder and CEO

Filip owns the PECR hotel complex in Pec pod Sněžkou, a popular Czech tourist destination. His extensive experience and deep hotel industry knowledge inspired him to found FLÆ Robotics and the development of humanoid personnel for the hospitality industry. Apart from hospitality, he is also an active investor in the European real estate sector and has experience managing a logistics area and a sports club.

Pavel Kordík

Associate Professor and Cofounder of Recombee and Unico

Pavel works at FIT ČVUT, focusing on collaboration between academia and industry. His research is on machine learning methods, especially recommender systems. He is involved in startups like Recombee and Unico and is engaged with non-profits such as prg.ai and aidetem.cz.

Bohumír Zoubek

Chief Competency Officer | Profinit

Bohumír has been with Profinit for over 20 years, during which he has held all key project roles. He has served as Head of Software Development and Director of Products and Services. Now, as Chief Competency Officer, he focuses on strategic development and ensuring key competencies within the company.

Petr Paščenko

Head of Data Science

Petr is a graduate of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University and has more than 15 years of experience with artificial intelligence. He leads a 60-member Data Science team at Profinit, regularly speaks at various technology conferences, and his lectures are traditionally rated as the best.

Michal Paulíček

Software Development Competency Leader

Michal has been involved in software development for nearly 20 years. At Profinit, he contributes to developing software competence, applying the latest IT trends, and consulting on software processes and technologies. His experience includes managing the software division and large IT projects in an international environment.

Daisy

Robot

Daisy is a six-legged robot whose robust gait allows her to tackle terrains where wheeled robots can’t go. Even if she loses a leg, nothing stops her. Just send her into the unknown, and she’ll bring back a map of places only the boldest would dare to venture.

Moderátor

Anna Bohonek

Conference Moderator

Anna, Business Lead at Fameplay.ai— a lab for GenAI in audio and video production—brings a unique blend of expertise to the tech world. With a diverse academic background and experience across six countries, Anna has honed her skills in high-growth startups, specializing in B2B SaaS business development and AI integration.