Category: General

Kategórie
Success-Stories General

Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters

Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters

Scientists from Nitra, Slovakia are teaching machines to predict industrial failures before they can cause damage. Thanks to collaboration with the European supercomputer LUMI, they have developed a digital “guardian” capable of detecting pipeline leaks or manufacturing faults with high accuracy—helping protect both the environment and companies’ budgets.

Challenge

Modern factories and hundreds of kilometres of pipelines that cross our landscape are literally packed with sensors. These continuously generate thousands of data points about pressure, temperature, and vibrations. The problem is that the volume and complexity of this information are so enormous that ordinary computers cannot process it efficiently. As a result, important warning signals of an impending failure often go unnoticed until it is too late.

Solution

A team of experts from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Informatics at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra set out to solve this problem using artificial intelligence (AI). Their goal was to develop intelligent models that function like an experienced inspection technician—except they can monitor thousands of parameters simultaneously and in real time.

To train this “digital brain,” they needed enormous computing power. They found it in the supercomputer LUMI, one of the most powerful systems in the world. On this digital giant, they tested thousands of different scenarios and combinations to find the most accurate way to detect even the smallest leak in a pipeline.

Impact

The use of a supercomputer produced results that would be impossible to achieve on a standard office PC:

  • Incredible Speed: What would take a conventional computer months or even years was completed by the supercomputer in just a few weeks thanks to its “raw power.”
  • Accuracy Above All: Scientists are aiming for more than 92% accuracy in detecting failures directly in the field, seeking to outperform even traditional physics-based calculations.
  • A Safety Net for Nature: Early detection of oil or other substance leaks means that technicians can reach the incident before it has time to contaminate the soil or water.
  • A Slovak Solution for Europe: The developed methods are already helping private companies and other researchers in Central Europe modernize their operations.

Looking Ahead

This success is not the end of the journey. The Nitra-based team plans to further refine their models and deploy them in real-world operations as intelligent applications. In the future, these tools will monitor not only industrial pipelines but also production efficiency—making industry greener, safer, and more competitive.

The greatest benefit for the researchers was the immense power of the system, which meant they encountered no technical limits. Combined with fast technical support, this allowed them to fully focus on what truly matters—making industry smarter.


Success-Stories
Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters 26 Mar - Scientists from Nitra, Slovakia are teaching machines to predict industrial failures before they can cause damage. Thanks to collaboration with the European supercomputer LUMI, they have developed a digital “guardian” capable of detecting pipeline leaks or manufacturing faults with high accuracy—helping protect both the environment and companies’ budgets.
The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players 25 Mar - Do you play games on your phone and sometimes feel like the game just doesn’t understand you? Experts from Nitra, Slovakia, have used one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers to change that. Thanks to the Italian giant named Leonardo, they discovered how to read between the lines of player behavior and make the gaming experience more personal and fair.
Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing. 23 Mar - From 5 to 14 July 2026, the EUMaster4HPC Summer School titled “High-Performance Computing and Emerging Trends” will take place in Luxembourg. The event will be held at the Marienthal Youth Center and the University of Luxembourg in Belval.
Kategórie
Success-Stories General

The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players

The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players

Do you play games on your phone and sometimes feel like the game just doesn’t understand you? Experts from Nitra, Slovakia, have used one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers to change that. Thanks to the Italian giant named Leonardo, they discovered how to read between the lines of player behavior and make the gaming experience more personal and fair.

Challenge

When millions of people play mobile games, a data chaos emerges. Most players simply “wander” through the game world, while only a small percentage do something important—such as purchasing an upgrade or angrily quitting the game. For ordinary computers, finding these key moments in a sea of routine activity is an almost unsolvable problem, because important events make up only a tiny fraction of the massive dataset. It is like trying to find one specific face in a blurred crowd at a stadium without a proper pair of binoculars.

Solution

The team from Nitra enlisted the help of the supercomputer Leonardo. It is equipped with thousands of graphics cards capable of “thinking” many times faster than a regular laptop. The researchers worked with a large organic dataset of about 9 GB and used advanced technologies that function as simulators of behavior.

Thanks to this computing power, gaming experts were able to incorporate feedback from specialists almost immediately. Instead of researchers spending weeks struggling with analysis and searching for the right groups of players, the supercomputer delivered precise answers within just a few days.

Impact

The use of supercomputing infrastructure has produced results that will benefit not only players, but the entire digital industry:

  • An End to Guesswork: Researchers developed a precise methodological approach to dealing with extremely imbalanced data, which can also be applied to detecting fraud in banking or in medicine.
  • Games That Understand You: A prototype model was developed that can predict a player’s needs already in the early stages of the game, allowing the experience to be tailored to each individual.
  • Game-Changing Speed: What would previously have taken weeks was completed by the Slovak team in just a few days thanks to HPC.
  • A Universal Guide: Although the research was conducted on a specific game, the developed approach is a “hack” that any programmer in the world can use for any gaming platform.

Looking Ahead

The team from the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, specifically the Faculty of Natural Sciences, now plans to validate the acquired insights in real-world operations. In doing so, Slovak researchers have demonstrated that research from Slovakia can achieve global relevance—provided it has access to the right tools to overcome digital barriers.


Success-Stories
Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters 26 Mar - Scientists from Nitra, Slovakia are teaching machines to predict industrial failures before they can cause damage. Thanks to collaboration with the European supercomputer LUMI, they have developed a digital “guardian” capable of detecting pipeline leaks or manufacturing faults with high accuracy—helping protect both the environment and companies’ budgets.
The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players 25 Mar - Do you play games on your phone and sometimes feel like the game just doesn’t understand you? Experts from Nitra, Slovakia, have used one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers to change that. Thanks to the Italian giant named Leonardo, they discovered how to read between the lines of player behavior and make the gaming experience more personal and fair.
Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing. 23 Mar - From 5 to 14 July 2026, the EUMaster4HPC Summer School titled “High-Performance Computing and Emerging Trends” will take place in Luxembourg. The event will be held at the Marienthal Youth Center and the University of Luxembourg in Belval.
Kategórie
General

Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing.

System administrators monitoring AI LLM visualization in data center with server racks rows. IT specialists oversee mainframes powering deep learning in server hub built for digital storage systems
Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing.

From 5 to 14 July 2026, the EUMaster4HPC Summer School titled “High-Performance Computing and Emerging Trends” will take place in Luxembourg. The event will be held at the Marienthal Youth Center and the University of Luxembourg in Belval.

The summer school focuses on current trends in High-Performance Computing (HPC) and its connection with emerging technological directions such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, data-driven computing, and sustainable HPC. The programme will address the integration of AI workloads, issues of scalability, energy efficiency, and algorithmic co-design.

The programme will also include lectures and discussions on hybrid quantum–classical approaches, the readiness level of quantum technologies for scientific applications, as well as topics related to data-intensive HPC, cybersecurity, and the resilience of computing systems. These areas currently represent key challenges for building reliable and secure computing infrastructures.

Participants can also look forward to visits to industrial facilities, offering a practical perspective on HPC system design and energy management. The programme will conclude with a block dedicated to sustainable HPC and the integration of architectures, algorithms, and data approaches with long-term scientific and technological impact.

The summer school is also open to external Master’s and PhD students. The application deadline is 30 May 2026.

More information about the programme and application options can be found on the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 website.

NEWS
Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters 26 Mar - Scientists from Nitra, Slovakia are teaching machines to predict industrial failures before they can cause damage. Thanks to collaboration with the European supercomputer LUMI, they have developed a digital “guardian” capable of detecting pipeline leaks or manufacturing faults with high accuracy—helping protect both the environment and companies’ budgets.
The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players 25 Mar - Do you play games on your phone and sometimes feel like the game just doesn’t understand you? Experts from Nitra, Slovakia, have used one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers to change that. Thanks to the Italian giant named Leonardo, they discovered how to read between the lines of player behavior and make the gaming experience more personal and fair.
Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing. 23 Mar - From 5 to 14 July 2026, the EUMaster4HPC Summer School titled “High-Performance Computing and Emerging Trends” will take place in Luxembourg. The event will be held at the Marienthal Youth Center and the University of Luxembourg in Belval.
Kategórie
General

Lecture on HPC, AI and Career Opportunities

Lecture on HPC, AI and Career Opportunities

At the Faculty of Commerce of the University of Economics in Bratislava (EUBA), a guest lecture was held on 10 March 2026 focusing on current trends in high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and career opportunities in the digital environment.

The guest speaker was Lucia Malíčková, Project Coordinator at the National Supercomputing Centre and the National Competence Centre for High-Performance Computing (HPC). In her presentation titled “HPC/AI – Flexibility and the Ability to Learn”, she highlighted the importance of adaptability, continuous learning, and openness to new technologies in a rapidly evolving digital environment.

During the lecture, she also presented her professional journey and shared her experience working on international projects. Students learned more about how supercomputers and artificial intelligence are used in practice, what projects are being implemented in Slovakia and within European cooperation, as well as about career opportunities in the field of digital technologies.

The event offered students a practical perspective on why it is beneficial to start building their own career path already during their studies, get involved in projects, and develop digital skills that are increasingly important in today’s job market.

The lecture aimed to connect the academic environment with industry experts and to encourage students’ interest in modern technologies, innovation, and career opportunities in the field of HPC and artificial intelligence.

NEWS
Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters 26 Mar - Scientists from Nitra, Slovakia are teaching machines to predict industrial failures before they can cause damage. Thanks to collaboration with the European supercomputer LUMI, they have developed a digital “guardian” capable of detecting pipeline leaks or manufacturing faults with high accuracy—helping protect both the environment and companies’ budgets.
The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players 25 Mar - Do you play games on your phone and sometimes feel like the game just doesn’t understand you? Experts from Nitra, Slovakia, have used one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers to change that. Thanks to the Italian giant named Leonardo, they discovered how to read between the lines of player behavior and make the gaming experience more personal and fair.
Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing. 23 Mar - From 5 to 14 July 2026, the EUMaster4HPC Summer School titled “High-Performance Computing and Emerging Trends” will take place in Luxembourg. The event will be held at the Marienthal Youth Center and the University of Luxembourg in Belval.
Kategórie
General

AI and Supercomputers in Practice: A Lecture for TUKE Students

AI and Supercomputers in Practice: A Lecture for TUKE Students

On 5 March 2026, an expert lecture by Dr. Lucia Malíčková from the National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) took place at the Technical University of Košice (TUKE), titled “Can Supercomputers and Artificial Intelligence Be Useful?”. The event was held in lecture hall PK7 in a hybrid format (both online and in person) and was attended by 110 TUKE students.

The lecture focused on introducing the world of high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) and their practical applications in modern research, innovation, and industry. Dr. Malíčková presented to the students how these technologies are used in real projects and how they can help address complex scientific and societal challenges.

During the presentation, she emphasized the importance of connecting theoretical knowledge with real projects and practical applications. The students also learned about opportunities to engage in technological projects that use supercomputers and artificial intelligence tools, as well as the career opportunities these fields offer for future professionals.

The lecture was followed by a discussion during which students asked questions about the use of HPC and AI in various sectors, as well as about opportunities for collaboration with technology centres and research projects.

The event was held as part of the AI Pub Meeting series, which aims to connect experts from practice with students and the academic community while promoting modern digital technologies.

The participation of more than one hundred students confirmed the growing interest of young people in the fields of supercomputing, artificial intelligence, and digital innovation, which are playing an increasingly important role in science, industry, and society today.

NEWS
Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters 26 Mar - Scientists from Nitra, Slovakia are teaching machines to predict industrial failures before they can cause damage. Thanks to collaboration with the European supercomputer LUMI, they have developed a digital “guardian” capable of detecting pipeline leaks or manufacturing faults with high accuracy—helping protect both the environment and companies’ budgets.
The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players 25 Mar - Do you play games on your phone and sometimes feel like the game just doesn’t understand you? Experts from Nitra, Slovakia, have used one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers to change that. Thanks to the Italian giant named Leonardo, they discovered how to read between the lines of player behavior and make the gaming experience more personal and fair.
Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing. 23 Mar - From 5 to 14 July 2026, the EUMaster4HPC Summer School titled “High-Performance Computing and Emerging Trends” will take place in Luxembourg. The event will be held at the Marienthal Youth Center and the University of Luxembourg in Belval.
Kategórie
General

Accountability by Design: Turning AI Standards into Practice and Certification

Accountability by Design: Turning AI Standards into Practice and Certification

Exploring how the EU AI Act translates harmonized standards into real-world AI testing and certification. Discover how the EU AI Act moves from regulatory text to technical implementation — and what this means for organisations developing and deploying AI systems.

This joint session brings together two complementary perspectives on AI accountability: applied AI assessment and certification from Fraunhofer IAIS, and European standardisation from CEN-CENELEC JTC 21. Dr. Maximilian Poretschkin and Dr. Sebastian Hallensleben will explore how the regulatory framework of the EU AI Act translates into technical practice — from testing and certification of AI systems to the development of harmonized standards that guide implementation across Europe.

The webinar highlights the interaction between those who develop the rules and those who must apply them in practice, with particular attention to the implications for SMEs and research institutions working with limited resources.

Date and Time Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 | 16:30 – 17:30 CET Online | Free Registration REGISTRATION: https://forms.office.com/e/j0CUx4dTsM

This webinar is organized by the Slovak National Supercomputing Centre (NCC Slovakia) as part of the EuroCC project (National Competence Centre – NCC Slovakia).

This webinar is organized by the Slovak National Supercomputing Centre (NCC Slovakia) as part of the EuroCC project (National Competence Centre – NCC Slovakia). This session continues the AI Accountability Dialogue Series – “Who Is Responsible for AI in Europe?”, a series exploring how responsibility for artificial intelligence is defined and implemented across ethical, legal, and technical domains.

The webinar will be held in English.

 The EU AI Act establishes a comprehensive regulatory framework for artificial intelligence in Europe, but how do its requirements translate into technical reality?

This joint session presents two complementary perspectives on AI accountability. Dr. Maximilian Poretschkin (Fraunhofer IAIS) draws on his experience leading the ZERTIFIZIERTE KI project to discuss the current state of AI assessments — how organizations and AI systems can be evaluated against legal and technical requirements, and what practical certification processes look like today.

Dr. Sebastian Hallensleben (CEN-CENELEC JTC 21) provides the perspective of European standardization, explaining how harmonized standards supporting the AI Act are being developed and how they guide the technical implementation of regulatory requirements.

Together, the speakers explore the interaction between rule-making and practical implementation — and what this means for organisations navigating AI compliance, technical verification, and trust in AI systems.

Dr. Maximilian Poretschkin is Head of Department AI Assurance and Assessment (AAA) at Fraunhofer IAIS in Sankt Augustin, Germany. His work focuses on the testing, evaluation, and certification of trustworthy AI systems. He leads the “ZERTIFIZIERTE KI” project, which develops testing methodologies, assessment tools, and certification approaches for artificial intelligence and transfers the results obtained in AI standardization. With a background in physics and experience in both research and industry consulting, his current work focuses on practical methods for evaluating AI systems, forensic analysis of AI behaviour, and compliance strategies for advanced AI systems such as large language models.

Dr. Sebastian Hallensleben is Chair of the CEN-CENELEC JTC 21 technical committee on Artificial Intelligence and Chief Trust Officer at Resaro Europe. His work focuses on digital trust, AI governance, and the development of harmonized standards supporting the implementation of the EU AI Act across Europe. In addition to his European standardization work, he contributes to international initiatives on AI risk and accountability, including co-chairing the OECD working group on AI risk and accountability. His work focuses on translating ethical and regulatory principles into measurable technical standards for trustworthy AI systems.

Format

  • Opening presentation by Dr. Maximilian Poretschkin (15–20 minutes) AI assessment, testing, and certification in practice
  • Opening presentation by Dr. Sebastian Hallensleben (15–20 minutes) European standardization framework underpinning the AI Act
  • Moderated discussion and audience Q&A (approximately 20–30 minutes)

NEWS
Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters 26 Mar - Scientists from Nitra, Slovakia are teaching machines to predict industrial failures before they can cause damage. Thanks to collaboration with the European supercomputer LUMI, they have developed a digital “guardian” capable of detecting pipeline leaks or manufacturing faults with high accuracy—helping protect both the environment and companies’ budgets.
The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players 25 Mar - Do you play games on your phone and sometimes feel like the game just doesn’t understand you? Experts from Nitra, Slovakia, have used one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers to change that. Thanks to the Italian giant named Leonardo, they discovered how to read between the lines of player behavior and make the gaming experience more personal and fair.
Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing. 23 Mar - From 5 to 14 July 2026, the EUMaster4HPC Summer School titled “High-Performance Computing and Emerging Trends” will take place in Luxembourg. The event will be held at the Marienthal Youth Center and the University of Luxembourg in Belval.
Kategórie
Success-Stories General

Urban buildings awaken: Slovak AI gives a second chance to underused spaces

Urban buildings awaken: Slovak AI gives a second chance to underused spaces

Cities are living organisms that constantly evolve. Yet many of us pass daily by silent witnesses of the past in our neighborhoods—empty schools, unused administrative buildings, or deteriorating public facilities. We often ask ourselves: “Why is this closed?” “Couldn’t this space serve as a day-care center, a kindergarten, or a cultural hub instead?”

Finding the right function for such a building, however, is not just a matter of having a good idea. It is a complex urban planning puzzle. This is precisely the challenge that a Slovak team from the organization Creative Industry Košice (CIKE) has set out to address. As part of the SAM-SUD (Smart Asset Management – Sustainable Urban Development) project, funded by the European Union, they are developing a tool called NextUseAI. Their goal is to create an intelligent system that can help cities determine which functions best fit a given location, taking into account the overall urban structure, the priorities defined in municipal strategies, and—most importantly—the real needs of residents in that specific area.

Challenge: Millions of Microlocations in the Digital World

Planning a city according to people’s needs means understanding space. The concept of the “15-minute city” suggests that everything essential should be accessible within walking distance. However, for artificial intelligence (AI) to provide meaningful guidance to cities, it must first process vast amounts of data about every street, sidewalk, and existing service.

The Slovak team worked with data on the scale of hundreds of gigabytes, including map data from OpenStreetMap, digital elevation maps, and databases containing thousands of public amenities. The challenge was to transform these datasets into complex mathematical matrices of walking distances. 

In the initial phase of the project, we needed to identify weaknesses in our process through rapid iterations and quickly reach results, understand them, and then adjust the input parameters again. Even at this stage, we had to process substantial volumes of data in which the neural network could detect significant patterns. On a regular computer, this would have taken weeks. Without extreme computing power, it would not have been possible to achieve the first meaningful results in such a short time,” says Róbert Pollák, head of the NextUseAI research team. 

Solution: The Power of the MeluXina Supercomputer

The breakthrough came thanks to access to the European supercomputer MeluXina in Luxembourg, specifically to the part dedicated to artificial intelligence (the AI Factory). Here, Slovak experts were given access to powerful graphics accelerators capable of processing thousands of operations simultaneously.

In this environment, the team built and tested advanced neural networks. These networks were trained to recognize relationships between buildings, services, and their surroundings across different cities. Supercomputing enabled us to experiment with different configurations and quickly fix errors, which would not have been possible under normal conditions. Thanks to this, we were able to rapidly generate a method for producing spatial recommendations for the two largest Slovak cities—Bratislava and Košice. The models can learn from the spatial structure of one or multiple cities and provide recommendations for another city,” adds Timotej Kendereš, a data analyst at CIKE responsible for working with the MeluXina supercomputer.

Results: Data in the Service of People

The result is not just a dry table of numbers. The AI model aims to propose concrete functions for underused urban spaces to city planners and strategists in order to improve public amenities and walkable accessibility within neighborhoods. NextUseAI will then evaluate spatial recommendations in the context of residents’ needs and the city’s strategic priorities, accompanied by a clear explanatory rationale. 

Although the results are currently still in the experimental phase and serve to calibrate the entire system, they have already demonstrated an important insight: artificial intelligence can detect patterns and connections that may escape human observation. For example, the system can identify “blind spots” in a city—areas where a particular service is missing—and suggest placing it in a nearby underused building.

Impact and Future Potential

NextUseAI does not end in the laboratory. Its ambition is to become a practical tool that helps city leaders make decisions based on data rather than intuition.

For residents, this could mean in the future:

  • More efficient local governance: Public funds will be invested in buildings with a clear purpose and tangible benefits.
  • Less time spent in cars: Services will be located where people actually live.
  • A more attractive environment: Abandoned buildings will get a new chance instead of falling into decay.

The use of European supercomputers is thus bringing a technological leap to Slovak urban planning. It shows that AI does not have to remain an abstract concept, but can become a useful ally that helps us build cities where people can live better and healthier lives.


Success-Stories
Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters 26 Mar - Scientists from Nitra, Slovakia are teaching machines to predict industrial failures before they can cause damage. Thanks to collaboration with the European supercomputer LUMI, they have developed a digital “guardian” capable of detecting pipeline leaks or manufacturing faults with high accuracy—helping protect both the environment and companies’ budgets.
The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players 25 Mar - Do you play games on your phone and sometimes feel like the game just doesn’t understand you? Experts from Nitra, Slovakia, have used one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers to change that. Thanks to the Italian giant named Leonardo, they discovered how to read between the lines of player behavior and make the gaming experience more personal and fair.
Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing. 23 Mar - From 5 to 14 July 2026, the EUMaster4HPC Summer School titled “High-Performance Computing and Emerging Trends” will take place in Luxembourg. The event will be held at the Marienthal Youth Center and the University of Luxembourg in Belval.
Kategórie
General

BeeGFS in Practice — Parallel File Systems for HPC, AI and Data-Intensive Workloads

BeeGFS in Practice — Parallel File Systems for HPC, AI and Data-Intensive Workloads

Discover how modern parallel file systems enable scalable and efficient data management for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence.

This webinar introduces BeeGFS, a leading parallel file system designed to support demanding HPC, AI, and data-intensive workloads. Experts from ThinkParQ will explain how parallel file systems work, how BeeGFS is architected, and how it is used in practice across academic, research, and industrial environments.

Date and Time:
Thursday, February 19th, 2026 | 10:30 – 12:00 CET
Online | Free Registration

REGISTRATION

This webinar is organized by the Slovak National Supercomputing Centre as part of the EuroCC project (National Competence Centre – NCC Slovakia) in cooperation with ThinkParQ.

The webinar will be held in English.

Abstract:

As high-performance computing and artificial intelligence workloads continue to grow in scale and complexity, efficient data access becomes a critical factor for overall system performance. Parallel file systems address this challenge by enabling concurrent access to distributed storage resources, supporting highly parallel and data-intensive applications.

This webinar introduces the fundamental concepts of parallel file systems and their role in modern HPC environments, with a focus on BeeGFS. The session will explain BeeGFS architecture and core components, key design principles, and features supporting performance, scalability, and ease of management. Topics will include data management capabilities introduced in BeeGFS 8, on-demand storage with BeeOND, and an overview of community and enterprise editions.

Real-world reference stories from HPC, AI, and enterprise environments will be discussed to illustrate how BeeGFS is applied in practice. The webinar will conclude with a discussion and Q&A session.

Speakers:

Dominic McKendry
Business Development Director Northern Europe, ThinkParQ GmbH

Dominic McKendry

Dominic McKendry is Business Development Director for Northern Europe at ThinkParQ, the company behind the parallel file system BeeGFS. He works with partners and end users across the HPC, AI, and data-intensive computing landscape, focusing on real-world use cases and adoption of BeeGFS in research and industry.

He brings extensive experience from the enterprise IT and HPC sector, including over 18 years at Dell Technologies, and holds an MBA from Purdue University, with an academic background in international management and business studies.

Ingo Martini
Presales Director BeeGFS, ThinkParQ GmbH

Ingo Martini

Ingo Martini is a Presales Consultant at ThinkParQ, specializing in BeeGFS and its deployment in HPC, AI, and data-intensive environments. He supports customers and partners with solution design, architecture discussions, and technical positioning of BeeGFS.

He has a strong technical foundation built through long-term work in storage systems and infrastructure engineering, complemented by formal training and certifications, including AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, and a solid engineering-oriented background.

Outline:a:

  • Introduction and motivation: data challenges in HPC and AI
  • Parallel file systems explained
  • BeeGFS architecture and core components
  • Why choose BeeGFS: performance, scalability, and ease of use
  • Data management capabilities in BeeGFS 8
  • BeeOND: on-demand storage for HPC workloads
  • Community vs Enterprise (Hive) editions
  • Reference stories from HPC, AI, and enterprise environments
  • Discussion and Q&A

REGISTRATION

NEWS
Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters 26 Mar - Scientists from Nitra, Slovakia are teaching machines to predict industrial failures before they can cause damage. Thanks to collaboration with the European supercomputer LUMI, they have developed a digital “guardian” capable of detecting pipeline leaks or manufacturing faults with high accuracy—helping protect both the environment and companies’ budgets.
The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players 25 Mar - Do you play games on your phone and sometimes feel like the game just doesn’t understand you? Experts from Nitra, Slovakia, have used one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers to change that. Thanks to the Italian giant named Leonardo, they discovered how to read between the lines of player behavior and make the gaming experience more personal and fair.
Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing. 23 Mar - From 5 to 14 July 2026, the EUMaster4HPC Summer School titled “High-Performance Computing and Emerging Trends” will take place in Luxembourg. The event will be held at the Marienthal Youth Center and the University of Luxembourg in Belval.
Kategórie
Success-Stories General

When a production line knows what will happen in 10 minutes

Success story: When a production line knows what will happen in 10 minutes

Every disruption on a production line creates stress. Machines stop, people wait, production slows down, and decisions must be made under pressure. In the food industry—especially in the production of filled pasta products, where the process follows a strictly sequential set of technological steps—one unexpected issue at the end of the line can bring the entire production flow to a halt.

But what if the production line could warn in advance that a problem will occur in a few minutes? Or help decide, already during a shift, whether it still makes sense to plan packaging later the same day? These were exactly the questions that stood at the beginning of a research collaboration that brought together industrial data, artificial intelligence, and supercomputing power.

The research was carried out by an international team of experts in artificial intelligence and industrial analytics from both academia and the private sector. The project involved the company Prounion a.s. in cooperation with Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, as well as additional academic partners from the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Challenge

Modern production lines generate enormous volumes of data—from machine states and operating speeds to temperatures and production counts. Despite this, key operational decisions are still often made based on experience and intuition.

The researchers focused on a real production line for filled pasta products, where the product passes through a fixed sequence of machines—from raw material preparation, through forming and filling, to thermal processing and packaging. They identified two decisions with a critical impact on production efficiency:

  • Early warning: Is it possible to predict whether the packaging machine will stop within the next 10 minutes?
  • In-shift planning: Can it be reliably determined during the working day whether packaging will still take place later the same day?

Answering these questions required working with large volumes of time-series data while strictly respecting real production conditions—models were allowed to use only the information that is genuinely available at a given moment to an operator or shift supervisor.

Solution

The research team first unified data from all machines into a single time axis and processed it to accurately reflect the real operation of the production line. They then developed machine-learning models that worked exclusively with information available at the given moment—exactly as an operator or shift manager would have it in practice.

A key milestone of the project was access to high-performance computing resources. NSCC Slovakia facilitated access for the research team to the European EuroHPCsupercomputing infrastructure, specifically to the Karolina supercomputer in the Czech Republic. This made it possible to rapidly experiment with different models, test them on real production days, and validate their behavior under conditions close to real industrial practice.

The supercomputer thus became not just a technical tool, but a key driver of innovation, enabling the transition from theoretical analytics to decisions that can be used in real operations.

Results

The model focused on early warning of packaging machine stoppages achieved very high accuracy. It was able to reliably identify situations in which a stoppage was likely within the next 10 minutes, while keeping the number of false alarms to a minimum. This means the alerts are trustworthy and do not overwhelm operators with unnecessary warnings.

The second model, designed for in-shift planning, was able with high reliability to determine whether packaging would still take place later the same day. Managers thus gained a practical basis for decisions related to staffing, work planning, and efficient use of time.

Both approaches share a common principle: they do not predict abstract numbers, but instead answer concrete questions that production teams face every day.

Impact and future potential

This success story shows that artificial intelligence in industry does not have to be a futuristic experiment. When analytics is focused on real operational decisions and supported by the right infrastructure, it can become a quiet and reliable assistant to production.

The solution is easily extendable to other production lines and sectors. Looking ahead, additional data—such as product types, planned maintenance, or shift schedules—can be integrated, allowing models to be even more precisely tailored to the specific needs of companies.

The key message is clear:
When data, artificial intelligence, and supercomputers are aligned with real industrial needs, the result is solutions with immediate practical value.


Success-Stories
Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters 26 Mar - Scientists from Nitra, Slovakia are teaching machines to predict industrial failures before they can cause damage. Thanks to collaboration with the European supercomputer LUMI, they have developed a digital “guardian” capable of detecting pipeline leaks or manufacturing faults with high accuracy—helping protect both the environment and companies’ budgets.
The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players 25 Mar - Do you play games on your phone and sometimes feel like the game just doesn’t understand you? Experts from Nitra, Slovakia, have used one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers to change that. Thanks to the Italian giant named Leonardo, they discovered how to read between the lines of player behavior and make the gaming experience more personal and fair.
Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing. 23 Mar - From 5 to 14 July 2026, the EUMaster4HPC Summer School titled “High-Performance Computing and Emerging Trends” will take place in Luxembourg. The event will be held at the Marienthal Youth Center and the University of Luxembourg in Belval.
Kategórie
General

Who Owns AI Inside an Organisation? — Operational Responsibility

Who Owns AI Inside an Organisation? — Operational Responsibility

AI Accountability Dialogue Series
AI Accountability Dialogue Series

As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in everyday organisational processes, a practical question is coming to the foreground under the EU AI Act: who actually owns AI inside an organisation? With increasing reliance on third-party providers, foundation models, and distributed internal roles, traditional notions of ownership and responsibility are no longer sufficient.

This webinar focuses on how organisations can define clear operational responsibility and ownership of AI systems in a proportionate and workable way. Drawing on hands-on experience in data protection, AI governance, and compliance, Petra Fernandes will explore governance approaches that work in practice for both SMEs and larger organisations. The session will highlight internal processes that help organisations stay in control of their AI systems over time, without creating unnecessary administrative burden.

Date and Time:
Tuesday, 3 March 2026 | 10:00 CEST (9:00 PT)
Online | Free Registration

REGISTRATION

This webinar is organized by the Slovak National Supercomputing Centre as part of the EuroCC project (National Competence Centre – NCC Slovakia) in cooperation with NCC Portugal within the AI Accountability Dialogue Series.

The webinar will be held in English.

Abstract:

The EU AI Act introduces new roles and obligations that reshape how responsibility for AI systems is distributed inside organisations. In practice, however, AI ownership is often fragmented across legal, technical, compliance, data, and business functions, and further complicated by dependence on third-party and foundation models.

This webinar examines how organisations can address these challenges by distinguishing operational responsibility from operational ownership, and by clarifying decision rights and accountability across the AI system lifecycle. It discusses practical governance mechanisms aligned with organisational size and risk, including internal monitoring, documentation, and traceability of AI systems. Particular attention is given to common deployment challenges such as unclear ownership boundaries, reliance on external providers, and the emergence of informal or “shadow” AI use.

Speaker

Petra Fernandes

Lawyer – Data Protection, Artificial Intelligence & Cybersecurity

Petra Fernandes completed her Law Degree in 2003 and has since been advising clients on legal and governance matters related to data protection, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. She has served as a Data Protection Officer and as part of DPO teams for both private companies and public administrations.

In addition to advisory work, she regularly delivers training and awareness-raising sessions on data protection and AI governance for public and private sector organisations, with a strong focus on practical implementation and compliance.

Topics Include:

  • AI ownership versus operational responsibility under the EU AI Act
  • Roles and responsibilities of providers, deployers, and internal teams
  • Proportional AI governance models for SMEs and large organisations
  • Internal monitoring, documentation, and traceability of AI systems
  • Managing ownership when using third-party and foundation models
  • Addressing challenges such as shadow AI and informal AI use

Outline:

  1. Introduction: Why AI ownership is more than a legal issue
  2. The different players under the AI Act and their role in AI ownership
  3. Provider and Deployer roles and internal organisational responsibility
  4. Senior management accountability and decision-making authority
  5. Proportional AI governance models
    • Internal monitoring and documentation
    • Mapping AI systems and use cases
    • Embedding responsibility into procurement and development
  6. Challenges in real AI deployments
    • Fragmented ownership and unclear decision rights
    • Dependence on third-party and foundation models
    • Shadow AI and evolving systems
  7. Key priorities for establishing clear AI ownership
  8. Discussion and Q&A
REGISTRATION

NEWS
Artificial Intelligence and a Supercomputer as a New Weapon Against Environmental Disasters 26 Mar - Scientists from Nitra, Slovakia are teaching machines to predict industrial failures before they can cause damage. Thanks to collaboration with the European supercomputer LUMI, they have developed a digital “guardian” capable of detecting pipeline leaks or manufacturing faults with high accuracy—helping protect both the environment and companies’ budgets.
The Slovak Recipe for Fair Play and Happier Players 25 Mar - Do you play games on your phone and sometimes feel like the game just doesn’t understand you? Experts from Nitra, Slovakia, have used one of Europe’s most powerful supercomputers to change that. Thanks to the Italian giant named Leonardo, they discovered how to read between the lines of player behavior and make the gaming experience more personal and fair.
Apply for the EUMaster4HPC Summer School 2026 focused on High-Performance Computing. 23 Mar - From 5 to 14 July 2026, the EUMaster4HPC Summer School titled “High-Performance Computing and Emerging Trends” will take place in Luxembourg. The event will be held at the Marienthal Youth Center and the University of Luxembourg in Belval.