Latest news - Ilab v.v.i

We attended the prestigious ISMH World Congress, which brought together representatives from 34 countries around the world! Our colleague RNDr. Tomáš Vylita, Ph.D., delivered a presentation on Czech natural medicinal resources—their protection, the latest research, and the results of work on defining the spa therapeutic landscape. The presentation also included an overview of atmogeochemical and climatological measurements conducted as part of the CLV project. […]

The spa industry is currently evolving into a modern healthcare sector grounded in real data and innovation. What challenges lie ahead for the Spa Research Center in the near future, and where is the field headed in the coming years? Our institute’s director, Alina Huseynli, MBA, discusses these topics in her latest interview for OPST. In the interview, you will learn, for example: […]

At the end of April, a pilot test of our virtual and augmented reality applications was successfully conducted at the Pawlik spa resort in collaboration with Františkovy Lázně AQUAFORUM a.s. This time, we focused on clients for whom VR provides relief for specific medical conditions. The biggest benefit? The virtual world’s ability to naturally distract attention from pain or physical limitations, allowing clients to exercise with […]

Our colleague Alena Lochmannová, M.A., M.Sc., Ph.D., Ph.D., MBA, represented us at the prestigious Health Education Summit Tallinn (HEST) 2026 in Estonia. In her presentation titled “Immersive VR as Patient Education within Spa-Based Rehabilitation: A Randomized Evaluation,” she focused on how the use of virtual reality can transform traditional spa programs into an educational process. At the same time […]

The General Assembly of the European Historic Thermal Towns Association (EHTTA) was held in the Portuguese spa town of Caldas da Rainha, and we attended as we do every year. The program also included an in-person meeting of the Scientific Committee, of which our director, Ing. Alina Huseynli, MBA, is a member. The discussion focused primarily on the future of European spa tourism, an evidence-based approach, the standardization of terminology in the field of balneology, and new […]

We are preparing the second issue of our professional journal *Spa and Balneology* this year and are seeking scholarly articles on self-care and well-being. We welcome contributions focusing, for example, on spas as a form of guided self-care, lifestyle measures, sleep, stress, exercise, nutrition, digital wellbeing, patient education, measurable outcomes, adherence, and other related areas. We consider this topic to be particularly relevant in connection with […]

At the invitation of Chief Physician Dr. med. Weidauer, we visited the Thermalbad & Rehaklinik Miriquidi in the German spa town of Thermalbad Wiesenbad. The visit took place as a follow-up to last year’s meeting at our institute. The focus of the visit was on research studies and data collection within the CLV project, as well as the spa therapeutic landscape and modern technologies in medical care. It is precisely these […]

On April 21, our researcher, Daniel Bečvář, M.A., attended the Social Innovation Forum conference in Prague. The main goal of the event was to discuss support for social innovation. During the program, he and his colleagues presented the topic of regulatory sandboxes, which is a focus of ILaB’s research. Regulatory sandboxes provide a safe environment for testing new services and procedures in practice, which opens up interesting […]

We attended the 35th Annual Congress of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL). Head Physician Ladislav Špišák, MD, PhD, presented our pilot study on the effect of the Karlovy Vary drinking cure on non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (MASLD). What did the study show? Fatty liver disease improved significantly after a 21-day treatment regimen, and this effect persisted even after six months. More advanced […]

In conjunction with the second day of the Modern Technologies in Spa Medicine 4.0 conference, we opened the Future SPAce by ILaB exhibition zone in the Zander Hall at the Imperial Spa. Together with our partners, we demonstrated how modern science and research are tangibly transforming patient care and highlighted the clear direction our field is taking. The use of virtual reality in rehabilitation […]

The second day of the “Modern Technologies in Spa Medicine 4.0” conference, held on April 14, confirmed that traditional spa medicine and digital innovation are closer than they may seem. The main topic was the strategic challenges facing the industry, which were discussed by experts from across Europe and Asia. Discussions focused on new approaches to oncological rehabilitation, the treatment of sleep apnea, or […]

On the first day of the "Modern Technologies in Spa Industry 4.0" conference, a highly successful outreach event was held for the Spa Research Center (CLV) project, which is funded by the Just Transition Operational Program. We had the honor of welcoming representatives from the European Commission, the Ministry of the Environment, the State Environmental Fund, the Karlovy Vary Region, and many other Czech and international partners. During […]