Category: Training

On 23 December 2025, at premises of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Montenegro, NCC Montenegro (EuroCC) successfully delivered a hands-on training session on MPI programming in Python using mpi4py. The event introduced participants to the fundamentals of the message passing paradigm for distributed-memory systems and explained how the MPI standard enables scalable parallel applications across multiple processes.

The training combined concise theory with practical demonstrations. Core MPI concepts such as SPMD execution, communicators, process rank and size, and the basics of point-to-point communication using Send/Recv (including tags and common communication patterns) were covered. Participants also learned how to set up and run MPI programs with mpiexec, verify their environment, and interpret parallel output behaviour.

A key part of the session was a step-by-step example of parallelizing a numerical computation using the trapezoidal rule for integration. Through this case study, workload partitioning across processes and collection of partial results were demonstrated, along with a discussion of typical performance considerations such as synchronization overhead and potential bottlenecks at the root process.

Agentic AI is emerging as a powerful enabler of next-generation digital transformation, business automation, and real-time decision-making. Unlike traditional AI solutions, Agentic AI systems operate as autonomous, goal-driven agents capable of planning, reasoning, and adapting over time, making decisions without continuous human intervention, and collaborating with tools, systems, and dynamic environments. Recognising its growing relevance, NCC Montenegro organised a Train the Trainers workshop for NCC members, focused on the application of Agentic AI within experience-driven industries.

The workshop was delivered by the NCC representative, Dr Armin Alibasic, who combined academic and industry expertise with his international and interdisciplinary experience across the automotive, airline, and theme park industries. The session highlighted the potential of real-time analytics enabled by Agentic AI, demonstrating how autonomous intelligence can support instant, data-driven decision-making. These concepts were illustrated through real-life industry applications and a hands-on demonstration on Databricks, a leading Data and AI platform.

The Train the Trainers approach addressed two complementary dimensions. The first focused on capacity building, providing participants with a structured and in-depth understanding of Agentic AI concepts, system architecture, required skills and tools, as well as the key challenges associated with designing and deploying agent-based AI solutions. These foundations were reinforced through business-oriented use cases, ensuring a clear link between theoretical principles and real-world industry practice. The second dimension emphasized knowledge transfer, equipping participants with the competencies needed to design, adapt, and deliver high-quality training activities tailored to SMEs, complex organizational systems, and strategic decision-makers.

By empowering trainers with both deep technical insight and practical training capabilities, NCC Montenegro ensures that Agentic AI knowledge can be effectively disseminated, scaled, and transformed into business value for industry, SMEs, and the broader digital innovation ecosystem.

This MPI programming training will take place on December 23, 2025, and is designed for anyone who wants a hands-on introduction to parallel programming on distributed-memory systems. The course covers the SPMD approach, communicators (COMM_WORLD), process rank/size, and point-to-point communication (Send/Recv, blocking and non-blocking). Through practical examples in Python (mpi4py)—including a simple parallelization demo such as numerical integration using the trapezoidal rule—participants will learn how to write and run MPI programs using mpiexec.

Date: December 23, 2025
Location: University of Montenegro, Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Room: Coinis (L2)
Time: 15h – 18h

On 12 December 2025, the University of Montenegro, as a member of the NCC Montenegro (EuroCC) team, successfully organized a short training titled “Building a Neural Network, Code Preparing for Multi-GPU HPC and Running Large-Scale Training” at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics.

The training gathered around 30 participants, including students, young researchers, and industry professionals, all interested in learning how to effectively use High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources in their research and development work.

The course combined theory and hands-on practice through a concrete use case. After an introduction by Prof. Enis Kočan, Prof. Igor Jovančević, together with his colleagues Velibor Došljak and Nikola Pižurica, led an informative, hands-on technical session. Participants first learned how to build a simple neural network for vision-based defect detection in manufacturing, with the goal of deploying it on an edge device with limited computational power. Optimizing the neural network requires many experiments, clearly demonstrating the need for HPC resources.

The focus then shifted to preparing a local development environment using Docker, transferring the environment to an HPC system, and finally running multiple training experiments on a multi-GPU HPC infrastructure.

Throughout the session, participants actively engaged in questions and discussions, particularly regarding the practical and technical aspects of applying for and using HPC resources. The training inspired participants to plan several applications to open calls for HPC resources, particularly in the context of master’s theses and startup projects.  

An important takeaway from the training was that the EuroCC2 / NCC Montenegro team provides continuous support — not only during the application process for HPC resources, but also during their actual usage, including environment setup, code adaptation, and performance considerations. This event confirmed strong interest in HPC and AI-related topics and highlighted the importance of hands-on, application-oriented training in bridging the gap between local development and large-scale HPC execution.