NCC Montenegro and CIGRE organized successful HPC/AI Energy Workshop

NCC Montenegro, in collaboration with Montenegrin National Committee of CIGRE, one of the leading worldwide organizations on electric power systems, successfully organized a collaborative workshop, focusing on opportunities and benefits of HPC and AI complementary technologies in the energy sector, industry best practices and examples of high-fidelity energy metrics modelling. The workshop was attended by approx. 30 participants, academic researchers and industry experts, effectively converging HPC-powered AI research advancements with challenges and opportunities in the energy sector, driven by quality of predictive analytics and sustainability of energy models.

Representatives of HPC National Competence Centre of Montenegro, Sanja Nikolic and Luka Filipovic presented EUROCC2 project, NCC services, EuroHPC infractructure acces, PC4SME assessment tool and research, as well as success stories demonstrating advancements in HPC and AI applications in energy sector.

Mr Darko Krivokapić, Executive Director of the Directorate for Energy Management of the Montenegrin Electric Enterprise (EPCG), presented characteristics of Montenegro energy system and challenges of short- and long-term predictions of energy prices and consumption, depending on Montenegrin energy balance, renewable energy sources, weather conditions and trade dynamics/external risks facing electricity wholesale markets.

Mr Milutin Pavicevic PhD student@University of Donja Gorica and CEO of Alicorn, presented forecasting day-ahead electricity metrics (prices and loads) with different models of artificial neural networks and its accuracy comparison on the given dataset, elaborating on possible commercial implications in energy sector.

Mr Lazar Scekic, Teaching Assistant @University of Montenegro, introduced the audience with its research work on security challenges of electricity infrastructure (GPS spoofing) and reliable AI methods for the protection of electrical power systems against cyberattacks.

Mr Ivan Vujovic, PhD student @University of Belgrade and CEO of Tering, presented models related to prediction of production and consumption of electrical energy in the electrical system by using recurrent neural networks, discussing quality parameters that determine and improve predictive functioning of energy systems.

HPC and AI energy workshop enhanced awareness of NCC Montenegro services and EuroHPC infrastructure resources, available free of charge for the Montenegrin industry for the purpose of research, development and innovation.

Intensive discussion and exchange of opinions, expertise and experience between energy systems’ researchers and practitioners, including meteorological professionals also, open possibilities for the productive collaboration on calibrating computationally-demanding AI/ML models for national energy datasets, to improve their learning accuracy, prediction rates and potential of its commercial utilization in the energy system of Montenegro.

Successful realization of the IEEE IT2024 Conference

XXVIII international scientific and professional conference “Information technologies” was held from February 21 to 24, 2024 traditionally in Žabljak, organized by: University of Montenegro – Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Donja Gorica – Faculty of Information Systems and Technologies, IT Society Crna Gora, University of Belgrade – Faculty of Organizational Sciences, IEEE Association and IEEE Section for Serbia and Montenegro, with the full support of the company Čikom from Podgorica. Presentations of author’s works and sessions were realized live in the hotel “Gorske oči”, hotel “Žabljak”, but also online. The conference gathered around 200 national and international participants. Link to conference website: https://www.it.ac.me/en/

Authors from 20 countries took part in the conference: Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Slovakia, Ukraine, Estonia, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia and the Philippines. The number of submitted author’s works was 101, of which 67 were accepted and presented, which were reviewed and selected on the basis of the complete work. Topics from various fields are covered such as: image and audio signal processing, acyclic graphs, blockchain technology, information security, standardization, application of artificial intelligence in various fields, management of unmanned vessels, virtual trade and knowledge transfer.\

Another successful realization of IEEE IT2024 Conference

A special session was dedicated to the presentations of the EuroCC2 project – National Competence Centers for HPC: https://eurocc.udg.edu.me/, the presentation of the Montenegrin Academic Digital Innovation Hub, supported by the DigNEST project : https://dignest.me/#/ , then TRACEWINDU: https://www.tracewindu.eu/, FoodHUB – Center of excellence for digitization of risk assessment in the field of food safety and precise certification of the authenticity of pre-harvested products: https://foodhub .udg.edu.me/, HPC4S3ME: https://hpc4s3me.udg.edu.me/, AI-AGE: https://ai-age.udg.edu.me/, STECCI: https://steccihorizoneu. com/, FishEUTrust: https://fisheutrust.org/, Solar Katun: https://digitalsmart.me/innovation-fund-of-montenegro-solar-katun-project/, Enav: https://enav.ucg. ac.me and COMMECT: https://www.horizoneurope-commect.eu/ . Representatives of Fleka, Čikom and FiveG Group participated in the training.

As part of the XXVIII scientific-professional conference, those present had the opportunity to participate in workshops, panels and trainings in the field of artificial intelligence, but also to hear the activities carried out by national competence centers in the field of high-performance computing from Cyprus, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Montenegro, Turkey , North Macedonia, Romania, participants in the EuroCC2 project. The project supports the development of innovative solutions by targeted participants in the private and public sector by providing support to interested end users in the use of HPC/HPDA/AI. Activities and innovative solutions based on the use of high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) for applications in industrial domains defined by the Smart Specialization Strategy (2019-2024) for Montenegro were presented.

Traditionally, the conference was successfully completed for the twenty-eighth year in a row, and it fulfilled its goal by pointing out the importance of a multidisciplinary overview of current events and the networking of a large number of university professors and associates, experts and young researchers in the field of information and communication technologies.

Collaboration with NCC Cyprus: A lecture on LLMs by dr Constantine Dovrolis at IT2024 (video)

Dr. Constantine Dovrolis, Director of the Center for Computational Science and Technology (CaSToRC) at The Cyprus Institute (CyI), gave an academic lecture on the Large Language Models (LLMs) at IT2024 conference co-organized by EuroCC NCC Montenegro. This was a part of collaborative efforts and initiatives between NCC Cyprus and NCC Montenegro. The lecture was attended by over 80 people at the conference. With permission of dr Dovrolis we deliver you the video from the conference here.

A great contribution from NCC Cyprus team at the IT2024 conference
Attended by over 80 people at the site

EUROCC2 presented at the IEEE IT2024

EUROCC2 project was presented at the 28th IEEE IT2024 Conference that took place 21-24 Feb 2024 in Zabljak, Montenegro. The presentation took place in a dedicated poster section for project presentations. We had a chance to talk to conference attendees, our colleauges from Montenegro and abroad. Also, the next day we had a large group of students participating in the EuroCC Workshop on HPC and Industry Applications, where we had a chance to discuss the project posters and take their attention to EUROCC and related projects such as HPC4S3ME, AI-AGE and others.

EUROCC2 featured in the poster section dedicated to project presentations
Ms Bojana Malisic and dr Luka Filipovic were presenting EUROCC2 project
Attendance at the EUROCC workshop on HPC and Industry Applications

Zabljak hosted successful international workshop on HPC/AI industry applications

During 28th international IT IEEE conference in Zabljak, Montenegro, the EuroCC2 HPC/HPDA/AI Workshop gathered together presenters from 6 NCCs and 5 companies providing a brief overview on more than 20 PoCs, use cases, and success stories, driven by computationally-intensive demand and innovative application portfolio. The workshop was attended by almost 140 participants from academia and industry (up to 60 joining virtually and another 80 in person), who had an opportunity to gain valuable insights and deepen their understanding of HPC benefits within industrial, interdisciplinary and international context.

The workshop was opened by Panayiota Katsamba’s presentation on NCC Cyprus’ strategic framework for industry steering, emphasizing the importance of cohesive pitching and managing companies’ expectations through the industry scout concept which resulted in numerous success stories.


Colleagues from Slovenia, Mrs Tina Crnigoj Marc from Arctur d.o.o. presented an HPC4SME automated tool designed for assessing Cloud HPC readiness among the companies, while Saso Knez, CEO of AFormX, shared insights on advanced aviation projects, talking about challenges on light aircraft configuration that were successfully addressed by HPC resources and simulations.

Three Montenegrin IT companies presented their AI-driven or HPC-supported industry cases. Ivan Boskovic, CEO of ITAS introduced us to their software solutions and business perspective in integrating LegalTech and FinTech opportunities. Ivan Soc, CEO of FiveGroup, discussed about EdTech tools and services, and ambitions to enhance classroom learning through VR/AR/Gaming-based experiences.. Marko Lekic, CTO of Fleka presented personalized banking software solutions, SKEN App – personal expense tracker, and ML/NLP-based classification algorithm developed with the support of HPC expert Luka Filipovic from NCC Montenegro, which enables automatic categorization of consumer transactions into spending categories.

At the beginning of the second part of the workshop, Ozlem Sari demonstrated NCC Turkey’s industry excellence, through well-structured industry interaction, PoC evaluation and HPC onboarding process, resulting in 12 Success Stories in various technology and industry domains.

Andreea Dinu and Sebastian Murau from Romania shared their NCC experience on opportunities and challenges in fostering productive industry interaction, elaborating further on use cases and study cases. Following them, Andreea Moga from the Netherlands successfully presented their NCC industry services, engagement and customer journey process, followed by inspirational PoC/use cases including the development of AI models based on satellite data for soil nutrient monitoring/regenerative agriculture or AI models based on drone data to calculate oil spills surface and thickness.

The workshop concluded with Petre Lameski’s presentation, highlighting HPC use cases that promote industry collaboration within NCC North Macedonia: Scalable Electricity Meters Data Processing with 42Dynamics, Voucher Generation case with Interctec and Automated Transcription Tool with Hate Speech Analysis use case for Agency for Audio ad Audiovisual Media Services.

IEEE IT2024 program is out!

We are pleased to inform you that the Program of the 28th IT Conference and the schedule of sections are posted on the site within the links “Conference program” and “Sections schedule”. You can access it on the conference’s website.

We would like to inform you that you can follow the work of the Conference via a videoconference link. Authors of papers will be able to present their papers using the ZOOM video conferencing system. Access links are posted on the Conference website, within the links “Section schedule” and “Conference program”. More detailed information is published on the website or you can get it from the technical secretary at it@ucg.ac.me.

For a user to use the ZOOM video conferencing system, the computer must have:

  • standard web browser,
  • webcam and headphones with microphone and
  • Internet connection
Click on image to open IT2024 website

NCC Cyprus showcases HPC/AI Expertise at 28th IT IEEE Conference in Montenegro

Representatives from NCC Cyprus will actively participate in the upcoming 28th IT IEEE scientific and professional conference in Zabljak, Montenegro, contributing with their industry engagement and AI/ML expertize.

Dr. Panayiota Katsamba, Services to and Interaction with Industry Task Leader, will share valuable insights at the HPC industry workshop with her presentation titled “Empowering Industry with Advanced Computing: A Guide to Strategy and Best Practices in Stakeholder Engagement.” Her presentation will focus on utilizing HPC infrastructure to empower industries competitiveness and business innovations.

Dr. Constantine Dovrolis, Director of the Center for Computational Science and Technology (CaSToRC) at The Cyprus Institute (CyI), will visit NCC Montenegro and deliver a captivating academic lecture on the Large Language Models (LLMs). He will further lend his expertise by participating in the AI panel at the conference, fostering valuable discussions on the current state and future of AI/LLM technology.

The participation at the Montenegrin conference, along with the on-site visit by the representative of Cypriot team, signifies continued collaboration and twinning activities between NCCs, focusing on knowledge sharing and best practice exchange regarding industry interaction and AI training portfolio supported by European HPC resources and opportunities.