Jury

Tilman Becker is a German scientist and expert in the field of Industry 4.0, since 2020 he is the director of the RICAIP Centre for Advanced Industrial Production at the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics (CIIRC) of the Czech Technical University in Prague. With twenty-five years of experience at DFKI, Germany's largest artificial intelligence research center, he has a broad knowledge of digital transformation, natural language processing, cyber-physical manufacturing systems and human-machine interaction research. He is involved in international research projects in collaboration with leading European institutes and industrial corporations, especially in the fields of industrial robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data.

Pavla Hubálková is a science communicator. Originally, she thought she wanted to become a scientist, so she studied clinical biochemistry at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague and completed her PhD in neuroscience at Charles University. During her Fulbright scholarship at Northwestern University in Chicago, however, she discovered that she wanted to work in science communication. She is a freelance science writer, currently contributing primarily to WIRED.CZ. She also cohosts a radio show Žárovky on Czech Radio. She engages in various activities to explain scientific topics to the general public. In 2023, she coauthored the first book in Czech about science communication. To support science communication, she is also active on social media and hosts various workshops for both scientists and the general public. In November 2024, she received the Government Prize from the Research, Development and Innovation Council for her contributions to science communication.

Michaela Vojníková leads the Laboratory of Nanomedicine at Mendel University in Brno, where her research focuses on the development of advanced nanoparticles for the effective treatment of serious diseases. She is currently a PhD candidate in Nanotechnology at CEITEC, Brno University of Technology. As a Fulbright scholar, she completed a research stay at the University of California, San Diego. In 2021, Michaela won the Falling Walls Lab Czech Republic, and she was recently featured in Forbes 30 under 30 in the Science & Education category. Her research achievements and efforts have been recognised through several awards, including the Brno PhD Talent, the Rector's Prize at VUT, the CEITEC Director's Award, EU Talent ON, and she has been listed among the Top 20 Inspirational Women by Marianne magazine. Michaela is also an active science communicator and advocates for open dialogue on the role of women in STEM.

Josef Pacal is CEO & Co-founder of Wonders AI, which develops artificial intelligence systems for academic literature analysis and synthesis. He is the winner of Falling Walls Labs Czechia 2024, laureate of Czech Student Design, and winner of the Royal College of Art Grand Challenge.

Joe holds a joint MA/MSc in Global Innovation Design from Imperial College London and the RCA. He previously worked as a partner at innovation consultancy Framlabs and as User Experience lead at the Finnish growth startup Yousician. Since last fall, Wonders AI has been deployed across universities in the US, Turkey, and other markets globally. His experience provides insights into commercializing emerging technologies and scaling user-centered solutions.