As part of ongoing EuroCC2 collaboration, NCC Montenegro participated in two mentoring/twinning online sessions with partner NCCs to exchange knowledge and share best practices and improve internal processes for seamless interaction and integration within the HPC/AI national ecosystem.
The first session, held with NCC Latvia on 22 October 2025, focused on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools and effective practices for managing project communications, coordinating client interactions, and tracking HPC/AI user data. NCC Latvia representatives provided a live demonstration of CRM workflows, offering practical insights and best approaches to streamline internal processes and monitor engagement with NCC services.
The second session, organized with NCC Spain on 31 October 2025, addressed Newsletter strategies for improving service visibility and customer outreach. Discussions included digital communication/ marketing tools, techniques for crafting engaging content, balancing updates on upcoming activities with past achievements, segmenting audiences effectively, and leveraging analytics to measure impact.
These mentoring sessions contribute to NCC Montenegro’s continuous efforts to enhance internal efficiency, optimize service delivery, expand outreach capacity, and strengthen stakeholder engagement.
NCC Montenegro, in collaboration with the NCC Slovenia, organized a collaborative workshop and training AI Solutions from Innovative SMEs: Practical Examples and Lessons Learned on October 7, 2025 in Podgorica at University of Donja Gorica. The workshop focused on the opportunities and advantages of HPC and AI technologies in the business sector and best practices in the industry. Approximately 25 participants attended the workshop, including industry experts who deal daily with research and practical examples in the field of artificial intelligence based on HPC.
Tomi Ilijas, NCC Slovenia, Arctur
Tomi Ilijaš, representing Arctur and the NCC SLING initiative in Slovenia, discussed the emerging opportunities for SMEs within the HPC ecosystem. He introduced support structures aimed at making advanced computing more accessible to smaller businesses and highlighted case studies of SME innovation enabled by HPC services.
Presentation on lessons learned and new opportunities for the industry
Ilijaš highlighted two of Arctur’s valuable use cases, CLASSICA and LLMs4EU. These projects are powered by supercomputers and AI, enabling faster workflows and precise analysis. Use case in tourism LLMs4EU aims to reduce entry barriers for smaller, lesser-known tourist destinations and to break down language barriers, build personalized itineraries and incorporate gamification elements. Based on vertical LLM, designed for integration into existing or newly developed software. The main goal of the CLASSICA project – the use of AI technology for cancer classification in the operating theatre. Ilijaš presented the project activities and highlighted the importance of AI technology for image recognition and tissue classification.
NCC Monteengro moderated the discussion
The second part of the workshop focused on the FFplus call Innovative studies for SMEs. FFplus is a successor to previous Fortissimo projects (Fortissimo, Fortissimo-2, FF4EuroHPC; 2013-2023). Both, NCC Montenegro and NCC Slovenia representatives, explaines and announce to the Montenegrin SMEs the Innovative studies call which will be open in December 2025. This call will support European SMEs and Start-ups already active in the field of generative AI technology, which lack the necessary computational resources to scale up.
Representatives from NCC Montenegro
After the presentation, there were questions and answers sesion. During Q&A sesion representatives from SMEs shared their experiences and highlighted importance of cooperation with NCC Montenegro.
We had a good presence of SMEs interested in new EuroHPC and FFPlus callsGroup photo from the workshop
NCC Montenegro successfully concluded its participation at the CASTIEL 2, EuroCC 2, and EuroCC4SEE conference (All Hands Meeting – AHM) held September 23–25, 2025, in Tallinn, Estonia, under the motto: “HPC in Europe – toward a resilient future”
As the final gathering for the current phases of these European HPC, HPDA, and AI projects, the conference endorsed collaborative efforts of Project Management Team (PMT), National Competence Centres (NCCs), and Centres of Excellence (CoEs) to showcase research achievements, industry results, exchange national experiences, and plan further joint initiatives to strengthen the European HPC ecosystem alongside EuroHPC JU partners.
The three-day agenda combined project updates, focused breakout sessions, and strategic discussions. Following a welcoming address, the first day focused on reviewing the status and key activities of the CASTIEL 2 and EuroCC2/4SEE projects. A core session was dedicated to Increasing Visibility, which included presentations on the fully consolidated HPC in Europe portal and the HPC Service Hub expansion – a marketplace tool connecting local users with EuroHPC expertise and resources.
The second day started with an Sustainability working session, focusing on key propositions, main drivers, and challenges of NCC business models beyond JU funding. Both days, afternoon hours were reserved for poster networking sessions, where 33 NCCs and 14 CoEs showcased local/domain HPC outreach, discussed national HPC maturity, and explored opportunities to share knowledge, practices, and activities to address local HPC needs and strengthen the European HPC network.
The third day focused on forward-looking planning, featuring discussions on EuroCC 3 / CASTIEL 3 project activities and cooperation with AI Factories, shaping the strategic direction for the next phase of European HPC collaboration. Furthermore, in parallel, breakout sessions were conducted for NCC/CoE representatives related to Industry Interaction (NCC industry contributions, challenges, and PoC analyses), Training & Skills Development (EVITA – EuroHPC Virtual Training Academy), and Communication Strategies (enhancing team communication).
NCC Montenegro’s participation in Tallinn marks a successful culmination of the current project phases, showcasing its effective industry practices, successful HPC onboarding for SMEs and start-ups, and strong commitment to providing critical HPC and AI support to innovators across Montenegro, while actively contributing to the advancement of the European supercomputing landscape.
Within the framework of the international conference CMBEBIH 2025, organized by the Society for Medical and Biological Engineering in BiH, with the co-organization of Verlab and the University of Donja Gorica, experts from the fields of biomedical engineering, technology, and innovation gathered together.
EuroCC and HPC use cases presentation at the opening ceremony of CMBEBIH 2025
A special segment of the conference was dedicated to the National Competence Centres for High-Performance Computing (NCC HPC), where NCC HPC BiH, NCC HPC Montenegro, and NCC HPC Serbia jointly presented:
HPC services available to academia, industry, and the public sector
Successful examples of HPC solutions implemented in companies and institutions
Opportunities for collaboration, development, and support in digital transformation
Presentation of NCC services and success stories for public sector
This event once again confirmed the importance of regional cooperation among NCCs in Southeast Europe, which, through the exchange of knowledge, experience, and resources, strengthens the region’s technological infrastructure and innovation capacity.
Joint initiatives such as this represent a strong step forward in connecting science, industry, and the public sector through the application of advanced digital technologies.
We are pleased to share that Ivan Jovović, MSc, from NCC Montenegro (University of Donja Gorica), delivered an invited presentation at the EuroCC4SEE seminar series titled “AI Meets Precision Agriculture” on July 18, 2025. The event was hosted by EuroCC Turkey and gathered around 20 participants from across the region.
There was about 20 attendess for this presentation
This presentation explored the transformative role of artificial intelligence in modern agriculture, with a focus on how data-driven technologies are redefining farming practices. Ivan highlighted practical applications of AI and machine learning for optimizing crop yields, monitoring environmental conditions, and enabling sustainable resource use. Real-world examples from Montenegrin vineyards and pilot Living Labs were discussed, emphasizing integration of AI, IoT, and edge computing in precision agriculture workflows.
The talk also showcased how HPC resources and national competence centers, such as NCC Montenegro, support the development and scaling of these intelligent solutions for the agri-food sector.
The presentation included HPC powered ML solution for poultry industry
This event is part of the EuroCC4SEE initiative, which promotes knowledge exchange and collaboration among national competence centers in Southeast Europe. We thank the organizers from EuroCC Turkey for the opportunity and look forward to future joint activities!
In collaboration with NVIDIA and the OpenACC organization, a group of National Competence Centers from Austria, Czechia, Germany, Montenegro, Poland, Slovenia, and Sweden organized several Bootcamps for the European HPC and AI user community.
Students, researchers from UDG and UoM, enthusiasts, and industry experts in the fields of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence, together with hundreds of participants from across Europe, attended courses on parallel programming (N-Ways-GPU and Multi-GPU) and AI (AI for Science and AI Profiling). Researchers from Montenegro also contributed as teaching assistants.
As one of the events of this collaboration, we are pleased to announce the OpenAI Hackathon, which will take place from October 14 to 23, 2025. The event is led by NVIDIA and the OpenACC, together with the EuroCC National Competence Centres of Austria, Germany, and Poland. Open AI Hackathons are multi-day, intensive hands-on events designed to help AI and ML engineers and data scientists accelerate, optimize, and scale their real-world projects leveraging the latest technologies. The event pairs participating teams with dedicated expert mentors to enhance the performance, efficiency, and scalability of their applications using state-of-the-art programming models, libraries, and tools. Whether you’re working on deep learning, data analytics, or model optimization, this hackathon provides a unique opportunity to push the boundaries of innovation using an advanced AI and ML infrastructure.
NCC Montenegro will take part in the upcoming CMBEBIH 2025 conference, which will be held from September 11-13, 2025, in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Organized by NCC HPC Bosnia and Herzegovina, in collaboration with partners, CMBEBIH 2025 is one of the region’s leading conferences dedicated to medical and biological engineering. The event brings together scientists, engineers, clinicians and innovators to exchange knowledge and shape the future of health technologies.
As part of this international conference, the first major EuroCC event in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be hosted. This will include a dedicated HPC session, where NCC Montenegro will present its success stories and contributions to advancing HPC adoption in industry, research and public services. This session is a unique opportunity for all NCCs to showcase impactful initiatives and explore avenues for joint actions, including cross-border workshops and collaborative projects, as previously discussed within our network.
📢 Call for Papers – Special Issue in Technology and Health Care (THC)
EuroCC colleagues are encouraged to submit papers for a special issue of the SAGE journal Technology and Health Care. Submissions representing the work of NCCs are especially welcome and will strengthen the visibility of our community’s contributions.
Submission Timeline:
Initial Submission: September 20, 2025
First Feedback: October 20, 2025
Final Submission: November 25, 2025
Papers must comply with the journal’s peer-review standards. More details are available on the [link].
💡 Oncology Hackathon at CMBEBIH 2025
There will also be organized a special Hackathon in oncology, offering a space for interdisciplinary teams to co-create innovative solutions for cancer care. All interested students, researchers, clinicians, developers and data scientists are invited to register and join the challenge!
👉 Join us in Sarajevo and contribute to this milestone event for the EuroCC community!
