Industry workshop with ICT Cortex: “Supercomputing Opportunities for Industry Leaders”

NCC Montenegro is co-organizing industry-focused workshops and networking events to inspire innovative companies, SMEs and startups to learn how to improve their business processes and accelerate innovations with supercomputing HPC/AI opportunities. NCC experts provide HPC and AI technical expertise and infrastructure access, adjusted to the business environment and industry domains.

In cooperation with ICT Cortex (ICT Cluster for Information Technologies, Innovation, Education, Design and Technology Development in Montenegro)-gathering more than 40 founding members and 1800 IT experts, NCC Montenegro is organizing workshop “Supercomputing Opportunities for Industry Leaders” on 18th of Dec, to present HPC/AI systems and benefits, NCC services and activities, as well as EuroHPC infrastructure opportunities.

Montenegro’s ICT sector has been recognized as the catalyst for the development of an innovative economy and for strengthening the competitiveness and multiple industries. ICT industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in Montenegro accumulating more than €600 in 2022 (vs €124mn in 2012), achieving almost 10% of GDP (vs 4% in 2012) and 21% of country’s total exports (vs 3% in 2017), according to ICT Cortex /CEED Consulting analyses.

We believe that this workshop will increase awareness on HPC&AI opportunities, provide valuable insights and inspirational use cases to the members and partners of ICT Cortex, enabling them to discover supercomputing power to enhance their innovative business and industry competitiveness.

Lecture by prof Kezunovic from Texas A&M on AI/HPC supported risk management in energy sector

As planned, the invited lecture “Risk Management of Future Large-Scale Electrification” by prof. Mladen Kezunovic took place on 25 October 2024 in Enterpreneurial nest at UDG. Threre was over 60 attendees including students, academics from Montenegrin universities and representatives from the industry. This workshop was organized in the context of HPC4S3ME project and supported by EUROCC NCC Montenegro team.

What are the risks? Methodology for risk management and mitigation? What data do we have and how do we manage all that data? How can AI/ML supported by HPC help?

Dr. Mladen Kezunovic is a University Distinguished Professor at Texas A&M with over 35 years of expertise in power engineering. Renowned globally, Dr. Kezunovic has authored over 600 papers and consulted for 50+ companies worldwide. His extensive research and industry contributions, notably in fault modeling, data analytics, and smart grids, have earned him IEEE Life Fellow status and recognition from the US National Academy of Engineering.

prof. Kezunovic from Texas A&M gave presentation on a nove approach to Risk managemement in energy sector
The workshop took place on 25 october at UDG
Over 60 people attended
How AI/ML supported by HPC can help mitigate risk in energy sector?

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.

Partnering with DigitalSmart and Recrewty to revolutionize HR

NCC Montenegro is proud to announce its collaboration with DigitalSmart and Recrewty to HPC and AI for advancing HR management in companies. This partnership brings together leading experts in HPC, AI, and HR technology to create innovative solutions tailored for the HR industry. This effort will leverage HPC to develop scalable and efficient AI models that enhance HR processes such as recruitment, psychometric assessments, and decision-making. Recrewty with its ambition to develop AI-driven HR solutions, will focus on integrating machine learning algorithms for improved data processing of HR applications. DigitalSmarta will contribute its expertise in digital transformation and smart technologies to ensure the new model is robust and capable of meeting the demands of modern HR management.

Collaboration aimed at the use of HPC and AI tools to advance HR processes

Key outcomes of this collaboration include optimized AI models that can process large HR datasets more effectively using HPC, scalable HR solutions designed to meet the needs of companies, enhanced data processing capabilities to improve decision-making in recruitment and other HR areas, and a local and regional impact through the development of tools tailored for underrepresented languages and markets. This project aligns with NCC Montenegro’s mission to foster technological innovation in the region and highlights the growing importance of HPC and AI in transforming HR management across various industries.

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.

Industry collaboration with Inovativa Doo

This collaboration initiated by Inovativa, a web programming start up interested in AI powered development, focuses on leveraging Generative AI (GenAI) and different LLMs to revolutionize web design by automating key elements such as landing page creation, dynamic content generation, responsive design, and user interface optimization.

The research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of both commercial and open-source AI tools, comparing their capabilities and performance across various scales. Additionally, the project explores the potential for direct in-browser AI implementations, offering a more seamless and accessible approach to web development. By harnessing the power of AI and HPC, the project aspires to democratize advanced web development techniques, making them accessible to a wider audience of developers and businesses, and fostering a new era of AI-human collaboration in digital content creation.

As a collaborative effort between academic institutions and industry partners, this initiative benefits from the technical expertise of the Faculty for Information Systems and Technology from the University of Donja Gorica (FIST/UDG), which leads the AI and machine learning analysis. Meanwhile, practical testing, implementation, and economic evaluation are driven by industry specialists. High Performance Computing (HPC) plays a crucial role in managing the computational demands of evaluating advanced AI models.This collaboration highlights the integration of AI research with real-world application, aiming to enhance efficiency and innovation in web development practices.