Innovation Week Prague 2025: AI Is No Longer "Nice to Have." It's Infrastructure.

From this year's Innovation Week Prague 2025, our team at Elevon.io came back with three key insights: AI is no longer a future topic but a core infrastructure; autonomous companies will soon interact with each other, and with banks, directly; and innovation now appears in the most unexpected places, from payments to fan engagement.

"Those who don't start working with AI today will soon become irrelevant to both their customers and partners."

1) AI is not a feature. It's a requirement.

This year's Innovation Week made one thing clear: AI has moved beyond experimentation. From panel discussions to backstage conversations, the message was consistent—companies must define their role in the AI ecosystem and start building systematic adoption across strategy, data, processes, security, and governance.

The key shift? AI is becoming part of Enterprise Architecture (EA), not a plug-in, but a core layer powering decision-making, automation, and customer experience. Where AI once "accelerated tasks," it now manages full micro-processes, from detecting opportunities to executing transactions.

2) Visa × Raiffeisen × ČSOB CZ: Autonomous Companies Need a Prepared EA

In a joint panel with Visa, Raiffeisenbank, and ČSOB CZ, a critical puzzle piece clicked into place: To enable autonomous collaboration between companies and banks, we need the right technical and data infrastructure - from data contracts and APIs to identity management, auditability, and observability.

Why it matters:

• Autonomous agents will act on behalf of both companies and banks. They must rely on trusted data, access policies, and a verifiable chain of trust.
• B2B decision-making will accelerate. Meetings won't drive actions. Real-time data on cash flow, inventory, demand, and risk will.
• Banks will evolve from "places that offer products" to intelligent partners that can predict needs and propose optimal solutions via standardized interfaces.

A real-world scenario

Imagine a small, medium, or large enterprise where a financial AI agent continuously monitors cash flow, receivables, and forecasts. Once it detects a liquidity gap, it can automatically:

• Prepare documentation
• Contact multiple banks via API
• Compare offers based on price, flexibility, and terms
• Recommend or even execute the best option within governance limits, maintaining a full audit trail and human oversight if required

On the other side, banks can deploy their own agents that proactively offer revolving credit, factoring, or hedging when a company's AI signals demand. This is the future of B2B communication—and EA is its foundation.

3) The Surprise of the Day: AC Sparta Praha – Where Emotion Meets Data

A great example that innovation doesn't live only in data centers but also in the stands. Simple, secure card payments are becoming a bridge between emotion and data, improving fan experience and enabling smarter services both during and beyond match day.

What We Took Away

• AI as infrastructure: Stop adding AI to projects. Start building projects on AI.
• Prepared EA enables autonomy: Without standardized data, APIs, and governance, agents can't scale.
• B2B as agent dialogue: Negotiation, financing, and risk management become continuous system-to-system conversations.
• Innovation happens at the edge: A payment card and a 24/7 fan shop outside the stadium. Proof that experience is where real innovation lives.

In Conclusion

Innovation Week Prague 2025 reminded us that the future isn't "somewhere else." It's already happening across accounting, enterprise negotiations, and fan engagement. Those who embed AI into the foundation of their architecture won't gain a cosmetic upgrade. They'll gain a new operating system for their company.