The Central Bohemian Innovation Center supports startups by providing them with resources to help validate their product and grow their businesses. The SIC also connects businesses with universities, organizations, manufacturers, and experts to help support the growth and development of products and business models. These connections can be used to reveal problems in current approaches, refine marketing and product development methods, and solidify funds to accelerate business growth. The SIC is run by the government to help support these businesses, giving out many small grants to help support their cause. Pittsburgh more commonly provides fewer but larger grants for the same purpose. Additionally, SIC is more public facing, with strict regulations for private funding, while Pittsburgh is less strict with private contributions.
My experience of the Charles University Language Class was difficult to say the least. Slavic languages, like Czech, are very difficult to learn for an English speaker. I had a blast trying to learn Czech for the first time. Experiencing this class and attempting to learn this language has given me a new appreciation for international communication, especially when it comes to engineering. Discussing and working through engineering problems is hard enough without a language barrier; being able to work through that is much more impressive to me now. I also find myself with a new appreciation for bilingual engineers working to spread and transfer knowledge between countries and cultures. I think it is an extremely important step in human technological advancement that can be easily overlooked.
Swanson School of Engineering 