EuroCC at SmAgTech EXPO VIRAL!

Within the two-day SmAgTech EXPO VIRAL event held at the University of Donja Gorica in the period from February 23 to 24, 2023 the results of the EuroCC project were presented with a special focus on the application of HPC and Ai/ML for computer vision in smart chicken farms.

Ms. Bojana Malisic presented the project to the visitors

The event gathered over 300 visitors from Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, the Netherlands, including agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises, representatives of the IT sector, and academy. In addition to the aforementioned, the event was attended by students and high school pupils attending educational programs complementary to agriculture, information technology and food technology.

Mr Stevan Cakic presenting a HPC/AI use case in agriculture

Numerous companies in the field of agriculture, food industry, as well as information technologies and systems that presented their products and services at the fair, had the opportunity to learn about the EuroCC project and the advantages offered by advanced computing in the form of HPC technology.As part of the EXPO, the representatives of NCC Montenegro presented a pilot project-experiment within Horizon 2020 for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, which is related to the application of HPC technologies in agriculture, specifically in poultry farming, where with the help of HPC technology, diseases among poultry are monitored and predicted by applying machine learning.

NCC Montenegro team at VIRAL EXPO 2023
VIRAL EXPO 2023 video (longer version)

FF4EuroHPC releases success story video on AIMHiGH

Within the FF4EuroHPC experiment, DigitalSmart Montenegro, together with DunavNET, University of Donja Gorica, Radinovic Company, and Meso-promet Franca, used HPC and AI to develop ML prediction models for computer vision that can be ported on Edge AI and integrated into Smart agriculture systems for poultry farms.

The smart agriculture solution developed within this experiment could boost the productivity of poultry farms by potentially reducing both manual labor costs and chicken mortality rates by about 10% each. This is accomplished because assessing the weight of chickens in real-time increases the uniformity of the finished product and reduces the impact of stress on both the chickens and manual labor. Furthermore, real-time insight into poultry barns allows for improving disease management due to early detection.

HPC provided the technology organisations DigitalSmart Montenegro and DunavNET needed to develop smart agriculture solutions quickly and efficiently using machine learning and computer vision, in this case for the needs of the poultry industry. The computer kit has become a part of the PoultryNET platform offering, and there is an opportunity to sell such components to third-party vendors active in the market of smart agriculture solutions.

Click to watch

EUROCC2 presented at the IEEE IT 2023 conference

EUROCC2 project was presented at the 27th IEEE International Conference – Information Technology – IT2023. The conference took place 15-18 February in Zabljak Montenegro. NCC Montenegro team presented the project on the first day of the conference within the special session dedicated to presentations of EU projects. EUROCC2 project is a continuation of the success we achieved with the previous EUROCC.

Presenting EUROCC2 at IT2023
Dr Luka Filipovic presenting NCC Montenegro team and activities in EUROCC
Presentation took place during the first day of the conference

The presentation covered the results from EUROCC and introduced the activities for the upcoming period in EUROCC2. Also, this event was a great place for newly extended NCC Montenegro team members to meet and discuss the activities in the upcoming period. Our team now includes representatives from University of Donja Gorica (UDG) and University of Montenegro (UCG). IEEE IT2023 conference program is available at the following link.

Dr Tomo Popovic and Dr Luka Filipovic answering the questions from the audience

HPC4S3ME project presented at the IEEE IT2023

New reearch project HPC4S3ME was presented by prof. Tomo Popovic and dr. Luka Filipovic at the 27th IEEE International Conference – Information Technology – IT2023. The conference had a special session dedicated to presentation of project results for the projects implemented in Montenegro and the region. The conference program is available at the following link.

The full title of this new project is “Building scientific and innovation potential to utilize HPC and AI for S3 Smart Specialisation in Montenegro – HPC4S3ME” and it is funded by the through IPA II program, call reference EuropeAid/172-351/ID/ACT/ME.

Proposing the use of HPC for research in Montenegrin S3 priority domains
Project was presented by prof. Popovic and dr. Filipovic

The overall objective of HPC4S3ME project is to contribute to straightening research excellence by building scientific and innovation potential based on the use of high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) for applications in industrial domains proposed by the Smart Specialisation Strategy (2019-2024) for Montenegro. The implementation of this project will provide a state-of-the-art environment for young researchers to gain experience in research and development in computer science, more specifically to apply machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) algorithms supported by HPC in order to create innovative information-communication technology (ICT) solutions for applications in agriculture and food value chain, health and tourism, energy and sustainable environment., i.e. priority domains identified by the smart specialisation strategy. More information on the project available at the HPC4S3ME website.

HPC4S3ME focuses on HPC capacity building and support for young researchers

EuroCC2 & CASTIEL2 Kick-Off Conference

NCC Montenegro representative Sanja Nikolic, attended EuroCC2 & CASTIEL2 Kick-Off Conference held in Stuttgart, Feb 7th – 9th 2023. First day of the conference was reserved for the NCCs pitch-presentations, including brief introduction, key activities, collaboration opportunities and EuroCC2 goals.

EuroCC2 & CASTIEL2 Kick-Off Conference

EUROCC and CASTIEL teams introduced EUROCC2 project management framework, operative responsibilities and requested deliverables. Joint expectations in pursuing further HPC industry uptake were emphasized, with special regard to strategic cooperation between NCCs (acting as national HPC+ hubs), CoEs (Centres of Excellence – specialised in certain fields of HPC+ applications) and EDIHs (European Digital Hubs – supporting private & public companies in digital transformation).

NCC Montenegro presentation

Working Sessions were organized to support discussion on main project activities and goals in the task areas of Competences, Trainings, Industry and Communication; as well as to support immersive interaction and further networking of NCCs and CoEs representatives. Panel Discussions evolved around HPC+ best practices, following user-centric approach: 1) SME interaction issues; 2) Big Industry examples; 3) Public Sector initiatives and 4) Importance of Academic usage. Selected NCCs shared valuable insights and proven initiatives on increasing HPC+ awareness and adoption. In addition, two useful tools for strengthening industry interaction and companies’ outreach were presented: HPC4SME (Arctur, Slovenia) and Marketplace (Teratec, France).

Panel discussions
Discussion on Industry Best Practices

EuroCC2 and CASTIEL2 will further “grow” on achievements of EUROCC/CASTIEL project, capitalizing on best practices and collaboration efforts of NCCs pan-European network, being further committed to promote and facilitate uptake of HPC and associated technologies HPDA, AI, Quantum Computing, across a various range of industries.

EuroCC2 and Castiel2 Kick-off group photo

Discussion on AI and ChatGPT at the national TV

Mr Milutin Pavicevic (Alicorn CEO and PhD candidate at the UDG) and Mr Kosta Pavlovic (PhD candidate at the UCG) were invited to the national TV program “Good morning Montenegro”. The discussion was focused on AI and ChatGPT, perspectives and possibilties.

Milutin Pavicevic, PhD candidate at UDG
Discussion on the role of AI and ChatGPT in our lives in the near future

EuroCC2 project presented at a panel discussion in the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro

At the panel discussion called “Strategic planning of digitization of higher education in Montenegro in the post-COVID-19 era” in Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, the project EuroCC2 – National Competence Centers for HPC, which has started with its implementation was presented today.

Dr. Sandra Tinaj presenting the EuroCC2 in the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro

Representing the University of Donja Gorica and NCC Montenegro, the general manager of UDG Assoc. Dr. Sandra Tinaj, who was one of the panelists, along with representatives of other higher education institutions in Montenegro, addressed the present audience. She pointed out that the EuroCC2 project is of great importance precisely in the field of digitization of higher education, but also invited all interested members of the general public to contact the HPC Montenegro Center in case of providing additional information and support – in order to raise awareness of the importance of this project, but also the opportunities that it can provide to our community in general.

The panel was attended by representatives from industry, academia and public sector