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.

New model developed in the field of HPC technologies through the collaboration of DigitalSmart and NCC Montenegro

In collaboration with the National Competence Center Montenegro (NCC Montenegro), the University of Donja Gorica (UDG), and the University of Montenegro (UCG), the company DigitalSmart has successfully started the development of a new model utilizing advanced High Performance Computing (HPC) technologies. This partnership represents an important step towards applying HPC resources to solve complex problems and enhancing academic and industrial processes in Montenegro.

The new model is designed to optimize data processing, providing faster and more efficient solutions for research and development in the field of generative artificial intelligence. The use of HPC technologies in this context enables greater scalability and precision in the analysis and processing of large datasets.

The experiment has been successfully submitted through the Fortissimo call, paving the way for further validation and application of this model on an international level.

Industry Collaboration with Bearhost, an SME from Bijelo Polje

NCC Montenegro continues the engagement of local companies to promote the use of HPC and provide support for its practical applications. Company Bearhost from Bijelo Polje is working on a medical platform that will utilise AI for better communication between patients and medical providers. Their idea is to create the platform that integrates seamlessly with existing clinic management systems, supporting real-time appointment scheduling and comprehensive resource management.

The use of HPC ensures that the platform can process large volumes of patient data quickly and efficiently, thus optimizing clinic operations. This approach significantly reduces operational delays and allows for better patient data management, contributing to enhanced clinical outcomes. Bearhost, in collaboration with the Competence Center for HPC, seeks to address pressing healthcare challenges by utilizing AI to optimize patient-doctor interactions. The AI system, powered by HPC resources, is designed to analyze vast amounts of patient data in real-time, providing insights that help match patients with the most suitable healthcare professionals based on their symptoms and needs. By streamlining these interactions, the platform enhances timely medical interventions and improves overall patient care.

The collaboration with the UDG and NCC Montenegro further enriches this initiative by fostering academic research and development. The university’s role in this partnership involves conducting research on AI models and their practical application in medicine, ensuring that the solutions developed are grounded in scientific rigor and are continuously improved through testing and validation. The interdisciplinary exchange between the university and industry partners contributes to the platform’s continuous evolution.

Montenegrin media promoting Supercomputing and AI opportunities for SMEs and Startups

NCC Montenegro is highlighting ongoing FFplus Open Calls to empower SMEs and Startups to develop innovative products and services with the support of HPC and AI.

European SMEs and Startups have the opportunity to shift their innovation potential through the two types of FFplus Open Calls (total budget €24.0 million):

  • Business experiments addressing the uptake of HPC for specific business challenges of SMEs that have had no prior use of HPC services. The maximum funding request per proposal is € 200,000.
  • Innovation studies, supporting SMEs and startups already active in the field of generative AI technology, which lack the necessary computational resources to scale up. The maximum funding for each innovation study is € 300,000.

Application deadline: September 4th, 2024!

Find out more about FFplus Open Calls, application details and NCC Montenegro’s support on:

Portal CDM: https://www.cdm.me/tehno-nauka/racunari/fortissimo-ova-decenijska-misija-traje-ffplus-projekat-pokrece-prvi-otvoreni-poziv-za-mala-i-srednja-preduzeca-i-startapove-u-vrijednosti-od-24-miliona-eura/

Portal Standard MNE: https://www.standard.co.me/promo/fortissimo-ova-decenijska-misija-traje-ffplus-projekat-pokrece-prvi-otvoreni-poziv-za-mala-i-srednja-preduzeca-i-startapove-u-vrijednosti-od-24-miliona-eura

Portal AntenaM: https://www.antenam.net/drustvo/332007-fortissimo-ova-decenijska-misija-traje-ffplus-projekat-pokrec-e-prvi-otvoreni-poziv-za-mala-i-srednja-preduzec-a-i-startapove-u-vrijednosti-od-24-miliona-eura

PortalAnalitika MNE: https://www.portalanalitika.me/clanak/fortissimo-ova-decenijska-misija-traje-ffplus-projekat-pokrece-prvi-otvoreni-poziv-za-mala-i-srednja-preduzeca-i-startapove-u-vrijednosti-od-24-miliona-eur

Or via UDG website and social media:

UDG website: https://www.udg.edu.me/obavjestenja/ffplus-projekat-pokrece-prvi-otvoreni-poziv-za-mala-i-srednja-preduzeca-i-startapove-2364

UDG website: https://www.udg.edu.me/en/news/the-ffplus-project-launches-the-first-open-call-for-small-and-medium-sized-enterprises-and-startups-2365

UDG LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/universityofdonjagorica_fortissimo-plus-activity-7221528449796993024-EBuF?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop