Author: Halyna Hyryavets

The access policy will be directed solely by the COO SAS. The new supercomputer will be accessible to academic groups, public sector organizations and also small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Information and further details concerning the procurement were published via the tenders electronic daily portal, a supplement of the Official Journal of the EU (30.7.2021) and the  Journal of the Office for Public Procurement (2.8.2021). After the 60 day period for the tender submissions and the subsequent evaluation the whole process will be reviewed by the Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic and Office for Public procurement. The new supercomputer should be operational in the first half of the 2022.

The project National competence centre for HPC. (ITMS2014+ 311071AKF2) is financed through the Operational programme Integrated Infrastructure: OPII-2020/7/55-NP. One of the goals of this project is to support Slovak enterprises, especially the SMEs and to raise their innovation potential. This will be achieved by creating a platform for effective adoption of the HPC+ technologies, which is in alignment with the Slovak strategy for digital transformation. The EU Structural Funds will be used for procurement of a new HPC system, thus providing technical support and basis of the National competence centre.

In April 2021, the SIVVP project was successfully finished, thanks to which the first Slovak supercomputer Aurel was acquired and operated in 2012, as well as other computing clusters in Bratislava, Žilina, Košice and Banská Bystrica.

One of the mentioned changes is that the role of the institution that will serve as the first contact for those interested in HPC will be gradually taken over by the National Competence Center for HPC (NCC). In addition to services for the academic sector, it will also focus on cooperation with small and medium-sized enterprises, industrial companies and public administration institutions.

In recent months, the National Supercomputing Center (NSCC) has been established in Slovakia, which, as an association of the academic, private and public sectors, will form the hitherto missing and at the same time much-needed national vision and strategies for the development and support of HPC. The Slovak Renewal and Development Plan has already succeeded in pushing for funds for a new supercomputer, the construction of which is one of the goals of the NSCC in the coming years. In the magazine you will also find an interview with members of the NSCC board of directors Mgr. Lukáš Demovič, Phd. (SAS) and PhDr. Radoslav Repom (MIRRI).

You will also read about high-performance computing and weather forecasting at SHMÚ, popularization of HPC, applications in practice and pan-European HPC infrastructure.

Don't miss the news from the world of HPC in Slovakia and read the latest HPC FOUCS..

Organizátori z Národného kompetenčného centra pripravili tzv. backend aplikácie a umožnili účastníkom prístup k potrebným dátam priamo z klastra situovaného v Košiciach, kde si mohli sami spúšťat aj testovacie úlohy. HPC prostredie, výpočty a ich manažment pomocou nástroja SLURM sme priblížili na úvodnom webinári a 9. júla sa online hackathon mohol začať. Každý z dvoch tímov, ktoré sa aktívne zúčastnili, si zvolil iný prístup k vývoju: PWA (Progressive Web App) a Kotlin multiplatform. Obom tímom musíme uznať, že výborne uchopili projekt a výsledné riešenia a ich prezentácia sa nám veľmi páčili. Víťazná aplikácia by mala fungovať na zariadeniach s Androidom i iOS a dúfame, že po finálnych úpravách ju čoskoro budú môcť otestovať naši aj používatelia!

We also thank our partners and sponsors for media support and prizes. Big thank you to QuBit Academy, WebSupport, Cybersec.sk,  Learn2Code, Slovak Academy of Sciences and bart.sk!

This device was assembled in 1950 by Josef Kates to be exhibited at the Canadian National Exhibition. The first gaming device was up to 4 meters high, which is why it was never mass-produced. After the Canadian National Exhibition, no other piece was made again. Another computer adapted for playing a game was the Nimrod, which was introduced at the Festival of Britain in 1951. Nimrod and Bertie the Brain can be considered the founders of the world of video games in the form as we know it today. 

In the process of creating video games, an original idea is essential. At the beginning, it is important to know what type of game you want to create, whether it will be a sports game, action or logic game. The creator of the video game must have an idea of the story, the length of the game, the budget and the levels of complexity. An important step is the right choice of software that will make the work easier for developers. The longest-lasting phase in the creation of the game is the creation itself - designing the environment and individual characters. Creating a video game is a demanding and lengthy process, the most pleasant part of which is the publication of the game.

We often come across the opinion that video games have a negative impact on the players. A group of scientists under the expert guidance of Marc Palaus looked at it and Scientists have found out that video game players have better-developed areas of the brain which are responsible for concentration and spatial perception. Those who play video games regularly can better perceive the relationships between individual objects in space, and also fine motor skills improve.

It is also important to remember the risks involved that can strongly affect people's lives. Even though gambling is the most common form of addiction, one can also be addicted to video games. Scientists have found out, že ľudia náchylní na závislosť na videohrách majú spoločné zmeny v štruktúre mozgu – pozmenený je ich nervový systém odmeňovania. Ide o skupinu štruktúr, ktorá je zodpovedná za prijemný pocit po úspešnom dosiahnutí stanovených cieľov. Na základe týchto výskumov môžeme tvrdiť, že je možné predpovedať, kto má väčšiu pravdepodobnosť stať sa závislým na videohrách.

However, we must not forget the positives, which, in addition to better spatial perception and improved fine motor skills, also include the development of certain skills that people have a problem with. It is important to mention games which are intended specifically to help people after strokes. These support re-learning of certain skills and also help the rehabilitation process.

A specialised museum is available for all those interested in video games on the premises of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava The computer museum exhibits the first computers, telephones and graphics, or older models of game consoles and controllers. Functional machines are also available for trying out!

Radoslav Repa, Director General of the Digital Agenda Section of MIRRI SR was acting as a moderator of the panel. The main topics were dealing with the pandemic in the context of digitization and utilization of the HPC and AI technologies, as well as quantum computers and blockchain technology in the digital economy. Seven speakers took part in an interesting exchange of ideas and perspectives:

• Ján Zuštiak (AgeVolt)
• Juraj Bárdy (Alistiq)
• Mário Lelovský (IT Association of Slovakia, Digital Coalition)
• Gabriel Galgóci (American Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia,  Centre of AI)
• Vladimír Bužek, (Slovak Academy of Sciences)
• Michal Géci (Impact Hub)
• Lukáš Demovič (Centre of Operations SAS)

The importance of HPC+ tools in science and various domains of industry was explained by L. Demovič during his introductory talk.Doteraz bolo veľmi často HPC alebo superpočítače vnímane ako doména vedcov, akademikov, „hračky“ na ktorých vedci robia základný výskum, ale čoraz viacej táto doména preniká do svetu priemyslu, malých a stredných podnikov…“ 

The activities of the EuroCC project and National Competence Centre for HPC in Slovakia were emphasized, particularly the support for SMEs and industry subjects in their efforts to adopt HPC solutions. Successful projects and outcomes of the FF4EUROHPC scheme have been cited as examples.

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Training and skills development in HPC+ fields is one of the main areas the National competence centre and the EuroCC project focuses on. Currently, most of the HPC related courses are a part of Universities Master and PhD programme. Several courses are provided by the Computing Centre, Slovak Academy of Sciences and occasionally training activities in collaboration with the PRACE project are organized (Summer of HPC, seasonal schools). Only a limited number of courses (Parallel programing, Software engineering, Linux administration ) are offered by private companies and while useful, they are not usually focused on HPC specifically.

In Slovakia, among the main problems we face are lack of qualified trainers, lack of dedicated training infrastructure and of course, insufficient promotion and awareness.

While it is clear that HPC is playing an increasingly important role not only in academia, but in private and public sectors as well, the NCC Slovakia puts effort into expanding training activities. New courses, such as Parallel programming in C, C++, R, Python HPDA, Nvidia CUDA, Profiling and Optimization, Neural Networks, Virtualisation were added to the portfolio, with more to come.

The NCC Slovakia realizes the importance of awareness creation and promotion of HPC and HPC+ solutions and attracting experienced trainers as well as trainees. Through cooperation with local Universities and the National Supercomputing Centre the NCC Slovakia hopes to develop more complex services in HPC training in the future.

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The main goal of this project is to investigate ability of NN frameworks to simulate molecular properties, where NN can emulate electronic wavefunction in local atomic orbitals representation as a function of molecular composition and atom positions or other molecular descriptors and representations. Our objective is to apply NN frameworks as predictor of molecular properties (energies, charges on atoms or evidence of hydrogen bonds) based on structural properties of these molecules (atomic positions). Implementation of NN frameworks will be performed using widely adopted TensorFlow library in Python code. For generation of molecular descriptors of chemical systems we apply DScribe library, which can be incorporated as a module directly in Python code. Next to the aforementioned “application part” of the project, we also plan to (in)validate the widely accepted fact, that GPGPUs are superior execution platform for NNs to CPUs.

Late-stage undergraduate and master’s students are invited to apply. Background in quantum-chemistry or physics is needed. We would alsowelcome advanced knowledge of fortran, basic knowledge of MPI, BLAS libraries and other HPC tools. Previous experience in HPC is not required as training will be provided. The most important attribute is a desire to learn, and share experiences with HPC.

Student will have access to the necessary learning material, as well as to our local IBM P775 supercomputer and x86 infiniband clusters.

The summer programme begins on July 1st and ends on August 30th 2021. At the end of the internship students present their projects and may win a prize for the best project!

Applications deadline is April 12th 2021.

Apply now

Training materials

More info about this project

PRACE partner countries and students studying at academic institutions in Europe have the opportunity to participate in summer internships at a European High Performance Computing (HPC) centre. The Summer of HPC rogramme promotes young emerging talents in HPC, increases their awareness of HPC and supports them towards becoming HPC users.

Solution of independent-particle model (DFT or Hartree-Fock method) is one of the key targets of many quantum chemistry codes. Hartree-Fock method is iterative procedure which consist of two time-consuming steps. First, construction of Fock matrix from integrals and density matrix. Second, diagonalization of constructed Fock matrix.

Several years ago we effectively removed diagonalization step which was replaced by matrix-matrix multiplications. Very recently we implemented the solution of Hartree-Fock equations in localised orbitals, which opens the route toward a code applicable for very large molecules. Currently, Fock matrix construction is implemented only in a sequential mode. The aim of the project will be the effective implementation of parallel versions of the developed software.

Students are expected to cooperate on implementation and performance testing of Fock matrix construction. Two different approaches will be implemented and tested. First, BLAS version combined with OpenMP or MPI. Second we would like to implement Fock matrix construction using sparse matrix multiplications. Both algorithms will be implemented in local version of quantum chemistry program DIRCCR12OS which is mostly coded in fortran. It contains working MPI environment so students will be using several routines already implemented in the code.

Late-stage undergraduate and master’s students are invited to apply. Background in quantum-chemistry or physics is needed. We would alsowelcome advanced knowledge of fortran, basic knowledge of MPI, BLAS libraries and other HPC tools. Previous experience in HPC is not required as training will be provided. The most important attribute is a desire to learn, and share experiences with HPC.

Student will have access to the necessary learning material, as well as to our local IBM P775 supercomputer and x86 infiniband clusters.

The summer programme begins on July 1st and ends on August 30th 2021. At the end of the internship students present their projects and may win a prize for the best project!

Applications deadline is April 12th 2021.

Apply now

Training materials

More information about project

As in previous years, PRACE, the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe, organises the eighth edition of its Scientific and Industrial Conference (PRACEdays21) within the EHPCSW 2021. PRACEdays21 will bring together experts from academia and industry who will present their advancements in HPC-supported science and engineering. The EHPCSW 2021 will provide a great opportunity for the attendees to network.

The organisers of the EHPCSW 2021 are the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) and European Technology Platform for High-Performance Computing (ETP4HPC). The European Commission (EC) will represent the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC ) in the organisation of the conference. The logistical organisation is supported by a local host: for the 2021 edition this will be Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia – Computação Cientifica Nacional (FCT-FCCN).

Participation in the EuroHPC Summit Week 2021 including PRACEdays21 is free of charge and includes admission to all sessions, workshops, and tracks. here.