The National Competence Centre of Mechatronics and Smart Technologies for Mechanical Engineering (NCK MESTEC) was established to focus capacities of individual research institutions and technology- and development-oriented companies on the implementation of a joint research agenda. Along with such companies as ŽĎAS, Slovácké strojírny, and Robert Bosch, many other businesses and organisations are involved in the activities of the Centre.

The Centre is focused on a combination of multidisciplinary research specialisations (design, mechanics, electrotechnics, chemistry, sensor systems, material engineering, virtual prototyping, etc) aimed at three interconnected technology areas, or the competency development in these areas, the application of which is targeted at machinery for the 21st century. The NCK MESTEC joint research agenda sees the 'national centres of competence' as an innovative model of cooperation between the research institutions and companies. The professional concept provisions of NCK MESTEC strategically follows the two principal and decisive aspects. The first aspect is an innovative model of long-term cooperation between the research institutions and the companies involved. The other aspect is the focus of research and development activities on the development of priority technological competences allowing for a wide range of the resulting applications in specific sub-projects.

The NETME Centre (New Technologies for Mechanical Engineering) is one of the research centres in Brno VUT. It is a regional R&D centre based on the scientific research knowledge base of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, VUT in Brno. It was established in 2010 and put into full operation in 2014. NETME Centre is an exceptional pool of scientific, research, and development resources in the area of research and development of new advanced engineering technologies and products overlapping in related areas. In terms of the number of applied cooperative projects with various sectors and a focus on practical applications of its outcomes, NETME Centre is now a leading engineering centre in the Czech Republic.

The Institute of Mathematics offers opportunities to cooperate in areas such as applied analysis (finite element method, numerical solutions to differential equations), applied algebra and discrete mathematics, differential geometry and its application, optimization of engineering processes, mathematical modelling of forming processes and computer processing of images.

The Institute of Physical Engineering is divided according to its current scope of educational and professional activities into the Department of Solid State Physics and Surfaces, the Department of Micromechanics of Materials and Engineering Acoustics and the Department of Optics and Precision Mechanics. The institute provides services in accordance with the above-mentioned fields.

The Institute of Machine and Industrial Design offers services in the field of tribology, diagnostics, industrial design, reverse engineering and additive technology. These are mainly the field of designing, optimizing and evaluating of functional reliability, producing primary digital data and CAD models, digitizing real objects and visualizations, the fast prototyping of physical objects from CAD data, the physical testing of mechanical systems and consultancy.

The institute mainly focuses on analyses of consistency, compactness, dynamics and life of machine structures and units, proposals and optimisation of mechatronic systems, biomechanics and applied mechanics in general. We perform computational and experimental analyses with the aim of identifying causes of failures, incidents or malfunctions in the assessed technological equipment. In this area, we also offer cooperation in the design and optimisation of new structures. For more information, please visit http://www.umt.fme.vutbr.cz/en/institute/contact.html and http://mechlab.fme.vutbr.cz/en.

The activities of our Institute in application sphere are closely interconnected with the Division of Advanced Metallic Materials of the NETME Centre.

The Energy Institute consists of the Department of Power Engineering, the Department of Thermomechanics and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Fluid Engineering. The institute provides a wide range of services in all the above-mentioned fields. These include fuel analysis, measuring emissions, thermovision and endoscopic measurements, modelling thermo-fluid phenomena and plenty of other services.

The Institute of Manufacturing Technology – Department of Machining Technology offers a wide range of services focused on e.g. advisory activities, computer support for machining, the workability of materials, measuring temperature fields, analysis of high-speed processes and graphical stimulation.

The Institute of Manufacturing Technology – Department of Foundry Engineering offers cooperation in the area of design and optimisation of iron and nonferrous metal alloy casting technology, vacuum metallurgy and the manufacture of special casts of nickel, cobalt and titanium alloys, steel crystallisation study, graphitic cast or aluminium alloys studies, and a whole range of other research and development services.

The Institute of Manufacturing Technology – Department of Welding Technology and Surface Finishing offers opportunities for cooperation in both basic and applied research in the fields of welding, soldering, heat separating and the thermal spraying of metal and ceramics.

The Institute of Manufacturing Technology – Department of Metal Forming and Plastics offers opportunities to cooperate in both basic and applied research, not only in the fields of sheet and volume forming, but the injection of plastics as well. In order to process these we use the technology of cutting, bending, drawing, punching, extruding and forging (loose or die).

The Institute of Process and Environmental Engineering offers cooperation in the efficient energy use of fossil, renewable and alternative fuels, the efficient energy use of waste (including analyses of such materials), experimental research into technologies for reducing concentrations of pollutants, combusting gaseous and liquid fuels and liquid wastes, etc.

The Institute of Aerospace Engineering (IAE) is part of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and its activities are university education, industrial cooperation and scientific research based on tight collaboration with the national aerospace industry.

The Institute of Automation and Computer Science cooperates with local and foreign companies who are leading their fields in information technologies or automation technologies.

The Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Laboratory is engaged in research and development activities in the fields of mechanical engineering and metallurgy. Applied projects mainly centre on experimental research with subsequent application of the findings in mathematical models describing the monitored processes.

New Technologies for Mechanical Engineering – Division of Mechatronics integrates the science and research capacities of several institutes of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication. This enables the division to realize applied research and develop unique technical solutions in the field of intelligent electromechanical systems.

New Technologies in Mechanical Engineering – Division of Virtual Designing and Testing specializes in research, education and providing comprehensive services in the development of new products. Stress is placed on using the latest knowledge of basic research and the applied sciences and on integrating computer, information and communication technologies into the design process.

New Technologies in Mechanical Engineering – Division of Power, Process and Environmental Engineering is focused on applied research and development in the field of the environmental protection, conceptual power supply, power equipment and process engineering.

New Technologies in Mechanical Engineering – Division of Aircraft and Automotive Technology specializes in the fields of aerodynamic and strength analysis, static and fatigue tests of both aerial and non-aerial structures, cooperation in research into and application of composite structures, cooperation in developing modern drive units and modelling the behaviour of vehicle structures, developing vehicles for transporting materials and transport logistics.

New Technologies in Mechanical Engineering – Division of Advanced Metallic Materials is focused on solutions to specific production problems and on development activities in the field of progressive metal materials (alloys based on Ni, Mg and Al, intermetallics based on TiAl and ADI cast irons), heat processing - including coating, the preparation of protective heat barriers, etc.