The future of intelligent industry, integrated automation, digital transformation, and energy-use innovation especially with reference to the environment, as well as a whole range of other policies focusing on the research and innovation potential of industrial and technological companies in Slovakia – these were the issues covered at the international SlovakiaTech Forum – Expo conference, which took place last week on November 8 and 9 in Košice.

This event involved the sharing of experience and opinions by nearly three dozen experts and speakers in the field of science, research and innovation in industry and industrial technologies. The program on both days included discussions on the future of intelligent industry in the conditions of the Slovakian economy, integrated automation and digital transformation of Slova­kian industry, innovation in energy generation and consumption with regard to a sustainable environment, and the prospects of education for work in the fourth industrial revolution. One of the active participants in the panel discussion on energy-use innovation was U. S. Steel Košice Vice President External Relations, Management and Business Development Miroslav Kiraľvarga. In his contributions he emphasized the absolute need for reliability in industrial energy supplies bearing in mind the usage of renewable energy sources and the importance of improving energy efficiency in production within energy-intensive branches of in­dustry. In connection with this he underlined the necessity for a Europe-wide approach to resolution of the relations between industrial production and energy consumption. As he emphatically put it: “We want to keep industry here, so it's necessary to treat energy sensibly.”