The main goal of Minister Karel Havlíček’s delegation to the U.S. was the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, which, in addition to music and film, is also dedicated to innovation. Festival attendees could also visit the Czech House, where eight selected Czech entrepreneurs showcased what makes Czech innovations unique. One of them was Šimon Falta, a sophomore in the Electrical Engineering, Energy, and Management (EEM) bachelor’s program at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague.
The Czech Republic lacks aggressiveness
While there, he met with representatives of major American companies, such as SpaceX and Lockheed Martin, as well as other local entrepreneurs and investors. “Thanks to this, I had the opportunity to better understand the Western mindset. The transition from the initial idea to implementation and market entry is fast in the U.S. Basically, they take a few things, slap them together with duct tape, and throw them at the first customers. If someone wants to buy it, only then do they work on improving the prototype. We lack that aggressiveness here in the Czech Republic. We spend a long time fine-tuning every possible detail on projects before presenting them to customers,” described Šimon Falta, noting that in the Czech Republic we’re more afraid of making a mistake, which can ultimately hold us back.
“Another major benefit of the trip for me was visiting Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas, where we toured the production line. Especially considering what I’m studying at FEE. For example, I’m currently taking a course on the Fundamentals of Electrical Machines and Devices. It was interesting to see how electric cars are manufactured,” added Šimon Falta.
Opportunity: Student and Entrepreneur in One
In addition to his studies at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (FEL) at the Czech Technical University (ČVUT), Šimon Falta is fully dedicated to running his own startup, IQstat, where he is refining an app that helps households and businesses reduce their electricity costs.
“We are now being integrated by installation partners—electrical contracting firms—which is allowing us to reach a significantly wider range of customers. In addition, we’ve started installing our systems in larger facilities, such as hotels, sports complexes, and gas stations. We’ve even installed our system at Skrytín Castle,” Falta noted.
Šimon Falta is now looking for active and talented students who would like to join the student startup IQstat. Programmers as well as other technically-minded enthusiasts are welcome to apply.
