Regional association of towns and municipalities meets at UWB. Rector calls for cooperation

Around 50 mayors from across the Pilsen Region met at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen for their final pre-election meeting. UWB scientists presented research-based solutions aimed at improving life in municipalities.

One month and one day are left till the municipal elections start in the Czech Republic. For Klatovy Mayor Rudolf Salvetr, the meeting was an ideal opportunity to look back. The regular meeting of mayors from the Pilsen Region was held this time at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering UWB. The association's chair, Salvetr, recalled that their term began at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and that many technological necessities introduced at the time, such as online meetings, have remained part of how town halls operate.

“Four years may seem like an almost endless period in a person’s life when you are standing at its beginning. Looking back, however, it is merely the blink of an eye,” Rudolf Salvetr summed up the past electoral term.

The Rector of UWB, who opened the meeting as its host, offered mayors a glimpse of other new technologies. “We can be useful to all of you by educating teachers, healthcare professionals and economists – all the people a municipality may need to function. At the same time, UWB serves as a kind of technology laboratory. We can test solutions for your municipalities here, whether they involve transport, energy savings or other areas,” the Rector said. He also mentioned the first self-service container shop on the UWB campus, where the university is currently testing, among other things, its resilience to hackers and the use of AI to recognize purchased items.

“We are connected not only with Pilsen, but also with the smallest municipalities in the region. From any of them, a prospective student can come to study with us,” the Rector added.

“It is symbolic that we are here at the university today. It is good that we have had the opportunity to hear about topics other than those we deal with constantly, such as housing or schools,” said Petr Vanka, Deputy Governor for Regional Development.

Scientists from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering then presented solutions that could benefit the mayors’ municipalities. In the e-textiles laboratory, they demonstrated smart suits for firefighters with built-in lighting and sensors that monitor temperature, the firefighter’s position, and other details during an intervention. The mayors also visited the acoustics laboratory, where they learned how significantly spatial acoustics can affect the comfort and usability of music, cultural and community halls.