PRAGUE, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Innovation Conference started on Monday in the framework of the third year Innovation Week Czech Republic 2018 with Robot Sophia, a artificial intelligence humanoid robot, as the special guest.

Organized by the European Leadership and Academic Institute (ELAI) at Forum Karlin in Prague, the conference aims to bring together the innovation leaders and experts all over the world.

Robot Sophia gave a speech at the opening of the conference, during which she mentioned that she knew the word "robot" invented by the Czech writer Karel Capek, as well as the title "Rossum's Universal Robot" from his science fiction play R.U.R.

The humanoid robot will participate in various sections during the event and visitors can talk to her or take photos with her.

Sophia was developed by Hong Kong-based company Hanson Robotics and activated in 2015. She was granted Saudi citizenship in 2017, which makes her the first robot to receive citizenship of any country.

According to the ELAI founder Lukas Sedlacek, although the Czech economy is growing, the Czech Republic has a sure problem when it comes to innovations as its support is quite low. He hopes that the conference can connect together the people and ideas.