Presidential Visit to KInIT

On the 4th of October 2022, the president of Slovak Republic Zuzana Čaputová paid an official visit to our institute. We were delighted that she found time in her busy schedule and accepted our invitation. This visit was the culmination of KInIT experts Viera Rozinajová and Mária Bieliková accompanying Madam President during three official international delegations this year, namely state visits to Italy, Switzerland and Greece and North Macedonia. 

Our founder Mária Bieliková and three of our senior researchers had the chance to present Madam President with our vision of connecting companies to excellent science and circulating talent. We highlighted our research areas, European research grants, industry collaboration and impactful outputs. We showcased how our research employs AI to tackle issues such as online disinformation, Slovak language processing or rising energy costs. 

Our experts have also pointed out the importance of collaboration between industry and academia, which is one of the key values of our institute. After the brief presentation, we had the chance to ask Madam President questions, for example about the ways and methods she personally uses to cope with online hate speech. Madam President has shown great interest, care and support for all topics presented.

However, Madam President has also shown eagerness and interest by asking KInIT team members about the challenges KInIT is facing. For example, she wanted to know why our  researchers have decided to stay in Slovakia and whether the existence of KInIT contributed to their decision to stay or come to Bratislava. 

This Presidential visit was a huge dose of motivation and energy for us to keep on working hard to make Slovakia an excellent research and innovation space.

We would like to thank our partner HB Reavis for providing us with the beautiful rooftop space for this special moment.