Collaborating for Smarter, Competitive and Sustainable Tourism

The dynamic of digital transformation, adoption of cutting-edge technologies and proliferation of innovative business models, provide Montenegro with strategic opportunities to elevate its tourism sector through data-driven and AI-powered solutions. NCC Montenegro is initiating collaboration with local municipalities and tourist organizations, on Tourism 4.0 project initiatives to optimize visitor experiences, provide smart destination management and promote sustainable tourism.

By leveraging next-generation technologies such as IoT, Computer Vision, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and High-Performance Computing, NCC Montenegro in cooperation with high-tech SME and local municipality, is preparing project initiative on real-time analytics and predictive insights related to tourism dynamic and trends to provide multiple benefits for public authorities, tourist organizations, cultural institutions and local businesses.

By embracing new technologies, advanced data analytics and intelligent modelling key tourism policymakers and stakeholders can achieve multiple benefits. These benefits include data-driven decision making, proactive management of tourist destinations/attractions, efficient resource allocation and capacity planning, better protection/valorization of cultural heritage/sites, increased visitors satisfaction and engagement, tailored offers and targeted marketing by local business, as well as “a-year-round” enhanced tourism strategies. Creating a scalable and collaborative platform for smart tourism management ultimately contributes to attractiveness and competitiveness of the Montenegro tourist destinations.

The AI Conference on Building a National AI Strategy

The AI Conference, organized by the World Bank on September 24-25, 2024, in Budva, Montenegro, brought together global AI experts, policymakers, and stakeholders from both the public sector and academia to explore the integration of AI into national strategies/policies, government operations, and public services. Representatives from NCC Montenegro actively participated in the two-day workshops, engaging in discussions on AI opportunities, challenges, and practical use cases for public administration. They emphasize the importance of digital upskilling and AI expertise, the need for data repositories and open data policies, and the establishment of advanced computing infrastructure. NCC also elaborated on its activities and efforts in the development of a HPC/AI ecosystem in Montenegro.

Mr. Marash Dukaj, Minister of Public Administration, delivered a welcoming speech recognizing the necessity of AI and its potential to enhance public administration, economic development, and societal progress. He highlighted AI’s ability to enrich citizens’ lives through personalized services, enhanced resource management, business process optimization, and new innovation opportunities. The Ministry of Public Administration, in partnership with the World Bank through the BEST project, is set to develop a strategic roadmap for AI adoption in Montenegro.

Dr. Keegan McBride, lecturer in AI, Government, and Policy at the Oxford Internet Institute, outlined essential AI concepts for public sector implementation. Barbara Ubaldi, Head of the Digital Government and Data Unit at OECD, shared valuable insights from AI strategies in OECD countries, highlighting various public sector AI applications, and lessons learned. AI expert, Varun Hemachandran presented practical examples of AI in government contexts, while Divya Siddarth, Executive Director of the Collective Intelligence Project, stressed the critical role of stakeholder engagement in AI development.

Participants engaged in working groups and brainstorming sessions focused on envisioning a national AI strategy, creating building blocks for AI governance, and addressing potential challenges in administrative services, tax policies, and digital health. The conference provided a dynamic platform for discussing strategic, transparent, and responsible approaches to AI integration in the public sector, fostering valuable knowledge, insights and networking opportunities to advance Montenegro’s AI agenda.

AI and Data-intensive Applications EuroHPC JU Access call 2024

The call is designed to serve industry organisations, small to medium enterprises (SMEs), startups, as well as public sector entities, requiring access to supercomputing resources to perform artificial intelligence and data-intensive activities.

Start date: time-to-resources-access of one (1) month after the date of cut-off.

Duration: The allocations are granted for one (1) year.

Next cut-off dates: 11 Oct 2024, 22 Nov 2024.

For more information, feel free to visit our website eurohpc-ju.europa.eu or drop an email to access@eurohpc-ju.europa.eu

HPC in Europe Podcast

Welcome to “Supercomputing in Europe” podcast from the EuroCC and Centre of Excellence network where we will talk about all things supercomputers.

Listen to stories by guests from all around Europe who talk about their work and give us interesting insights on the role of supercomputers in multiple fields such as life science, machine learning, engineering, data science, quantum computing, and more.

In the first episode, listen to EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) executive director Anders Dam Jensen discuss with communication specialist Apostolos Vasileiadis (ENCCS, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden) about EuroHPC JU and the state of supercomputing in Europe and its future.

In the second episode listen to Marta García-Gasulla and Filippo Mantovani from Barcelona Supercomputing Center discuss with Sally Kiebdaj (Center of Excellence in Exascale CFD, HLRS – High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart) about the European Processor Initiative and CEEC CoE.

Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dSHmk2Kx
Apple podcasts: https://lnkd.in/dyuBMFyM

EuroCC success story booklet 2024

The new Success Story Booklet for EuroCC 2024, created in collaboration by CASTIEL and the National Competence Centres (NCCs), is now available online!

The success stories in the EuroCC 2024 booklet span a diverse range of sectors, including:

  • IT and Software
  • Natural Sciences and Aeronautics
  • Environment, Energy, and Agriculture
  • Pharmacy and Medicine
  • Manufacturing and Engineering
  • Finance and Mobility
  • Public and Communication

These stories showcase achievements and innovations across multiple industries, highlighting the wide-reaching impact of EuroCC initiatives.

One of the featured success stories highlights the collaboration between NCC Montenegro and the Montenegrin company Fleka, showcased through the project “Personalized Banking Software Solutions.” This partnership shows how local innovation can create custom ML predictions for the banking sector and personalized financial-tech sector.

Discover inspiring success stories that highlight innovative achievements across Europe.

Hack for a cause – AI for Safer Drug Prescriptions

We’re excited to announce a hackathon organized by our partners Cyprus Institute (CyI) and NCC Cyprus!

The “Hack for a cause” hackathon is organized by the Cyprus Institute (CyI) in collaboration with the Anticancer Society Cyprus and focuses on leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve the drug prescription process for hospitalized cancer patients, particularly addressing the complexities of polypharmacy. The aim is to develop an AI tool that utilizes patients’ treatment charts—documents indicating prescribed medications, dosages, frequencies, routes, allergies, and comorbidities—along with publicly available medicine descriptions to issue high-level alerts to doctors during the prescription process. These alerts will be triggered if the tool identifies drug interactions, contraindications with the patient’s medical record, or potential overdoses.

The event will be conducted in a hybrid format, allowing for both online and onsite participation from national and international attendees.

Registration for this event is open until Thursday, October 3rd 12:00pm, 2024.

More info : https://eurocc.cyi.ac.cy/hack-for-a-cause/

New academic paper on Montenegro’s HPC ecosystem development

A new academic paper ‘Sizing HPC Opportunities in Montenegro: Market Insights, Best Practices and Use Cases’ has been published in the scientific journal “Entrepreneurial Economy“.

The paper highlights the pivotal role of HPC in addressing critical societal, scientific, and industrial challenges, and explores its growing impact on businesses through data-driven decision-making, workflow optimization or innovative product design. The study underscores the importance of HPC infrastructure, Cloud services, and AI applications in driving digital transformation and enhancing the industry competitiveness of SMEs.
The research also identifies key challenges in Montenegro including a shortage of HPC expertise, low demand for critical HPC performance, and certain concerns related to data security and IPR. Despite these challenges, market research revealed HPC opportunities related to high Cloud adoption, innovative product development and favourable business prospects. The paper also describe activities of the HPC National Competence Centre Montenegro, established through the EuroCC project, related to established HPC and AI related academic programs and training portfolio, and productive industry collaborations, demonstrated through successful use cases in smart agriculture, precise weather forecasting, and FinTech.

By harnessing both national expertise and international supercomputing resources, the NCC Montenegro has effectively integrated HPC technologies into research and business practices, driving technology innovations and smart growth.