IT and Digitisation

When the Company’s first IT Department was opened in Mladá Boleslav in 1970, there were only 20 employees. In 2024, there were more than 700. Their outstanding ability to continually adapt and devise new ways of using technology is a major part of the successes achieved at Škoda Auto over the past 55 years. During 2024, the Company organized a series of events to commemorate the 55th anniversary of Škoda IT. These included an IT history exhibition at the new Laurin & Klement Campus, guided tours of the data centre, a workshop series titled “From Calculator to AI,” a special podcast mini-series, and the IT Summit conference featuring a range of distinguished guests.

In recent years, the automotive industry has faced massive changes. Škoda Auto responded to these changes at an early stage and is investing heavily in digitisation and innovation. The Company’s digitisation strategy centres on the use of AI-based technologies and the consistent use of data to optimise internal processes and support new services for customers. This digitisation process pervades all areas of the Company, from development, production, logistics, and sales to human resources and sustainability.

Explore IT Strategy

To better meet its security, efficiency, data management, and sustainability goals, the Company developed an IT strategy to support it in the task at hand. This strategy, which is in line with the Company-wide Next Level Škoda Strategy, responds to current happenings and defines four main objectives: reliability and efficiency, orientation on the future, sustainability, and focus on employees and collaboration between them. These objectives are then subdivided into 12 initiatives.

IT Strategy

Reliability and Efficiency

Key business applications run in Škoda data centres, making it essential to ensure a secure and readily available environment that is under control.

IT Strategy

Orientation to the Future

The Data Strategy initiative aims to improve data management capabilities and processes, data preparation and analysis, and portfolio use management, while minimising potential data security risks.

IT Strategy

Sustainability and Focus on People

The Green IT initiative aims to ensure the operation of an optimally designed portfolio of applications, and thus the optimal use of internal capacities and financial resources.

IT Strategy

Collaboration

The Intelligent IT Partnership initiative aims to expand the strategic partnership to ensure stable and scalable knowledge of IT products and portfolio management (Ponteaq).

42 Prague

The 42 Prague non-profit education institute, which Škoda Auto founded in 2021, continued its support of lifelong IT learning and improving social skills in the year 2024.

The innovative concept of teaching, a milestone for the IT education sector in the Czech Republic as a whole, consists of reciprocal teaching and learning without teaching staff and a campus that is open 24/7. The teaching style is unique in three ways: the progress of all students is measured in gamified levels, while students learn both separately and together on practical projects, resulting in use of the peer-to-peer learning system, which also teaches them soft skills.

Students have the opportunity to earn a certificate in software engineering, a profession that is extremely important to the automotive industry, after two to four years. In total, 210 people were accepted to study in 2024. The institute had the highest number of active students in its history in the autumn of 2024, and it will reach a capacity of 350 active students in 2025. The Company expects dozens of them to complete their basic studies and move into paid internships every year, in turn helping Škoda IT grow and innovate.

Škoda Auto also implements projects and processes to support its employees in obtaining further education and IT qualifications. It collaborates with its own Secondary Vocational School of Engineering and Škoda Auto University, as well as with partner secondary schools and universities, providing employees with opportunities to expand and deepen their expertise. Additionally, the Škoda Academy has launched the Digital Upskilling programme, which assesses employees’ digital skills and enables them to enhance existing competencies or acquire entirely new ones.

The Hackathon BeeGreen Competition

Škoda Auto hosted the BeeGreen Hackathon in late February and early March 2024. Seven teams, made up of 60 international IT experts, were invited to participate in the competition. Participants were asked to present innovative ideas aimed at increasing the sustainability of the customer experience, developing business models in the spirit of the GreenFuture Strategy, and improving processes within supply chain management.

The first prize went to a design for a recycling platform that connects manufacturers, suppliers, and partners with a view of renovating and reusing car parts, which reduces the carbon footprint and increases the share of recycled materials. Other ideas included improvements to the MyŠkoda mobile app or environmentally sound route planning supported by artificial intelligence.

The new IT center attracts the top professionals in the industry.

In March 2024, Volkswagen Group Technology Solutions India (VW ITS) opened a new branch in collaboration with Škoda Auto in Prague that will enhance cooperation and establish new links with specialists in India, where VW ITS operates one of its largest global IT centres. This strategic partnership and onward development of our own expertise underscores the efforts being made at Škoda Auto to achieve fundamental progress in the field of digitisation, which is the cornerstone of the Next Level Škoda Strategy.

Industry 4.0 Award

In September, Škoda Auto won an Industry 4.0 Award in the own-company implementation category for the Digitisation of Production Control Dispatching at Škoda Auto Plants in Kvasiny, Mladá Boleslav, and Pune, India.

The award is presented by the Confederation of Industry to companies and projects that contribute significantly to digital transformation and innovation in industry. The projects that enter demonstrate the digital maturity of companies, their interest in innovation and improvement, and the transformation of products or production processes and logistics.

At the same time, the selection of projects validates the conceptual approach to digital solutions and the ability to effectively use Industry 4.0 tools, and indeed the fact that the successful ones are not about individuals but entire teams.

In September, Škoda Auto organised the Best Practice Company Tour in collaboration with the Czech-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Best Practice Tour at Škoda Auto

The car manufacturer is a premium partner to the #PartnerForDigitalization platform, which brings together companies focused on innovation and digitisation. The aim of the platform is to provide companies with the opportunity to share experiences, inspire others, and showcase concrete examples of how digitisation transforms work processes and creates new opportunities across industries.