NCC Montenegro representatives attended CASTIEL supported, presentation of White Paper “Development of a Maturity Assessment Tool to Improve SME HPC Capabilities” for EuroCC2 industry working group. Dr Özlem Sarı, NCC Turkey, presented industrial users acquisition process and development of HPC Maturity Assessment Tool to improve SME HPC capabilities.
During the presentation, Proof of Concept study, Course of Action, GAP analyses, as well as methodological approach and validation process were duly elaborated. In addition, there was a vibrant discussion on challenges faced and experiences were shared regarding SME collaboration and industry interaction, especially regarding assessment results/HPC maturity levels, identifying HPC-suitable problems and business benefits of HPC integration.
Representatives from NCC Montenegro and NCC Romania organized a productive one-day online workshop aimed at sharing knowledge and complementary experiences related to academic collaboration, training activities, industry interaction processes, communication tools and success stories/use cases. The agenda for the meeting is available at this link.
During the workshop, participants contributed with valuable insights and engaged in constructive discussions around common challenges including: training portfolio development, open source code repositories, cross-NCCs Open Call for innovative SMEs, technical expertise /HPC infrastructure access, methodologies for competence mapping, needs assessment end-user engagement, service offerings, communication channels exploitation etc.
A dedicated session was also conducted, with a focus on HPC/HPDA/AI success stories and use cases, primarily in smart agriculture, precise meteorology, and medical AI/ML based applications. This session generated discussions on benefits provided by AI/ML models and underlying HPC technologies, including increased productivity, enhanced model performance, improved accuracy and time-saving solutions.
The collaboration between both teams proved successful start, setting a solid foundation for future joint activities. Initial timing and resource planning were discussed for upcoming joint training sessions tailored for academia, researchers and students, as well as an opportunity for co-organized workshops designed for industry managers.
Representatives of NCC Romania and NCC Montenegro organized an initial meeting to discuss future collaboration activities based on mutual interest in improving HPC NCCs’ best practices, training capacities, and industry/public outreach.
The initially discussed plans include the organization of joint training courses for academia professors and students to exchange and enhance HPC/AI study programs, the preparation of a joint training event for industry representatives covering HPC+ industry and commercial benefits and technical upskilling, as well as the facilitation of twinning activities to strengthen NCCs’ expertise and capacities in facing EuroCC2 project activities and challenges.
Both NCCs demonstrate enthusiasm and commitment to foster fruitful cooperation and knowledge/experience sharing in the field of HPC/HPDA/AI technologies related to academic excellence and industry digitalization.
Representatives of NCC Montenegro participated (online) in the “Central European NCCs Workgroup Meeting” organized within the scope of ASHPC23 – Austrian-Slovenian HPC Meeting 2023 (June 13–15, 2023) at the Institute of Information Science in Maribor (IZUM), to actively discuss, exchange experiences and follow up-to-date EuroCC2 and NCCs’ initiatives. Agenda of the NCCs’ meeting covered topics:
EuroCC2 training activities (training formats, joint training events, regional collaboration, collaboration with CoEs and EDIHs, targeting SME audience etc.)
NCCs communication and disseminations tools (networking events organization, effective communication channels, choosing subjects & speakers, attracting industry stakeholders etc.)
NCC Austria presented their SMEs/Start-ups boosting initiative “EuroCC Supercomputing accelerator” and training initiative on webinar series assuming NCCs and CoEs shared contribution and collaboration. NCC Slovenia presented “SLING Open Doors Days”, their success story on successfully organized community and networking event.
Representatives from the NCCs of Montenegro and Cyprus (CaSToRC), held an initial meeting on June 6, 2023, with the primary purpose to explore potential cooperation, knowledge sharing opportunities and best practice exchange through effective peer’s cooperation and Twinning activities.
During the meeting, the NCCs’ teams expressed mutual interest in exchanging experiences and learning opportunities, particularly in the areas of productive industrial cooperation and HPC/AI related training activities. Additionally, they discussed the exchange of operational practices and proven initiatives related to NCC management, cooperation and communication activities.
The next steps involve organizing administrative, logistic and operational support to facilitate team visits and work program with shared topics’ interest. By leveraging NCCs’ respective expertise and synergizing their efforts, both NCCs aim to strengthen their capacities and effectively address HPC+ needs/potential in their national ecosystems.
Representatives from the NCC Montenegro presented project and their activities to FoodDecide project partners from Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Kühne Logistics University (KLU) and FoodHub CoE. After successful presentation, they discussed on topics for potential collaboration, especially large language models and other AI algorithms.
Representatives of NCC Montenegro and NCC Macedonia had a joint introductory meeting organized by – Centre of Excellence for Computational Biomolecular Research from Sweden, on 18th of May 2023. BioExcel has been developing/using state-of-computational and software tools and modelling techniques since 2015, to address some of the biggest scientific challenges in the area of bimolecular research.
Research in the BioExcel focuses on structural and functional studies of the main building blocks of living organisms – proteins, DNA, membranes, solvents and small molecules such as drug components. BioExcel CoE’s activities support researcher work in core disciplines in the computational sciences such as: Integrative structural biology, Biomarkers design, Nanotechnology and materials science, Personalized medicine, Physiology, Neuroinformatics, Multi-scale QM/MM modelling.
BioExcel Ambassadors’ Program was also presented, as an attractive opportunity for the NCCs and local academic or government institutions, working in the field of computational bimolecular modelling and simulations and duly interested in collaborative research, trainings and outreach activities.
In the scope of elaborated CoE-NCC cooperation and joint efforts on HPC use in the respective domains, NCC Montenegro shortly presented its current activities and potentially interested partners in the area of bimolecular research. BioExcel emphasized its widely acknowledged software tools and training events, including its upcoming, annual flagship BioExcel Summer School (September 2023, Sardinia, Italy), which provides a comprehensive combination of lectures and tutorial sessions on bimolecular modelling and simulations, using modern applications and tools including GROMACS, HADDOCK, PMX. Registration and information: https://bioexcel.eu/events/bioexcel-summer-school-on-biomolecular-simulations-2023/
