Category: General

Administrative issues were addressed by the Project Management Team and representatives from the Castiel working groups presented progress in their respective areas: competence mapping, training, twinning&mentoring, industrial interactions and business development and communication & outreach. An update from the EuroHPC JU was presented, as well. On the second day the participants learned more about the FF4EuroHPC open call.

Most importantly, the joint conference was an opportunity for all NCCs to present their progress in the first 9 months of the EuroCC project implementation, from their initial status to goals achieved and the future outlook.

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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We aim to deliver comprehensive information on the topic, from theoretical background, parallel algorithms implementation to effective deployment of applications and programs on the HPC environment.

The PRACE Spring school will also fucus on utilizing the AI/ML tools that are being progressively applied to real chemical problems, such as discovery of new chemical compounds and materials with specific properties.

The program comprises interesting lectures as well as practical hands-on sessions. Basic knowledge and background in theoretical chemistry or physics is a prerequisite.

The HERE , which is free of charge, is now OPEN until June 7, 2021 or until our capacities are full.

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.

International Women's Day is celebrated in many countries around the world. IWD is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. This day is a manifestation of solidarity between women and a reminder of the effort to equalize women and at the same time the longest revolution in our history.

In 1910, a second International Conference of Working Women second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women's Day. She proposed that every year there should be a celebration on the same day in every country – an International Women's Day – to press for their demands. The suggestion received unanimous approval and thus International Women's Day was instituted.

The following year on March 19th, 1911, International Women's Day (IWD) was marked for the first time, by over a million people in Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. In addition to the requirements for better working conditions, the right to vote, equal pay, etc. were also demanded. Since 1975, we have commemorated the IWD as a day of international solidarity of all women striving to achieve equality, justice, peace and development.

And what about IWD in Slovakia? The first IWD national holiday in Czechoslovakia took place in 1921 and a year later IWD acquired a mass character. During the Second World War IWD was abolished and subsequently renewed after 1945.

Women and IT

Women in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), including information and communication technologies (ICT) are significantly under-represented.

  „IT sektor trpí globálnym chronickým nedostatkom IKT špecialistov. Ženy sú podreprezentované na všetkých stupňoch digitálneho sektora v Európe. Hoci práve digitálny sektor sa rapídne rozrastá a tvorí stovky tisícov nových pracovných miest každý rok, pomer žien v tomto sektore klesá. Napriek dopytu po IKT zručnostiach a rastúcej nezamestnanosti sa predpokladá, že EÚ bude trpieť nedostatkom digitálnych zručností už od roku 2020. 52% populácie EÚ sú ženy, avšak reprezentujú len 17% zo všetkých IKT špecialistov a zarábajú o 19% menej v porovnaní s mužmi pracujúcich na rovnakých pozíciach. S 13.7% zastúpením žien v tejto oblasti je Slovensko pod priemerom EÚ.“ According to he Ministry of Investments, Regional development and Informatization of the Slovak republic the IT sector is suffering from a global chronic shortage of ICT specialists. Women are under-represented at all levels of the digital sector in Europe. Despite the fact that the digital sector is growing rapidly, creating incrementally thousands of new jobs each year, the proportion of women in this sector is declining. Although there is a demand for ICT skills as well as rising unemployment, the EU is expected to suffer from a digital skills shortage by 2020. 52% of the EU population are women, but they represent only 17% of all ICT specialists and earn 19% less than men for the same work. In Slovakia, women only represent 13.7% of all ICT specialist, placing our country below the EU average.

According to the study of the European Commission  Women in the Digital Age the annual productivity loss for the European economy of women leaving their digital jobs to become inactive is calculated to be about 16.2 billion EUR.

The international project PRACE, in which Slovakia is represented by the Centre of Operations of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and which covers many of the HPC activities in Europe, brought attention to the examples of successful women working in this field in the Women in HPC publication. This publication is focuses on progress in the field of HPC and also on successful women in HPC sector. The number of women working in HPC is growing day by day, said Dr Sylvie Joussaume, the Chair of the PRACE Scientific Steering Committee.

In Slovakia, the AjTyvIT&nbsporganization contributes to improving the balance of women in the IT fields by organizing educational events and courses for girls and women.

An IT community portal - robimeit.sk – publishes interviews with women in IT, bringing inspirational stories to the audience.

The National Competence Centre for HPC in Slovakia we follow the equal opportunity standards and adhere strictly to the anti-discrimination principles. We hope to join in the effort to increase the number of women studying or working in the IT field in our activities during the following year.

UN Women announces the theme for International Women’s Day, March8th, 2021 (IWD 2021) as, “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.” On this occasion, the National Competence Center for HPC in Slovakia would like to extend the best wishes to all women and men to find the courage to challenge and lead our society to a positive change.

The idea that drives the POP CoE (Performance Optimisation and Productivity Centre of Excellence in HPC) is a simple one: to boost productivity of EU research and industry by providing free of charge services that help improve performance of high performance computing (HPC) and parallel software. The aim of POP is to offer our world-class HPC competence to organisations that want to understand software performance issues and to adopt parallel programming best practice.

Main services of the POP CoE are: Performance Audits, Improvement Plans, Proof-of-Concept demos, and Training.

• Performance Audits are an initial analysis measuring a range of performance metrics to assess quality of performance and identify the issues affecting performance.
• Improvement Plans undertake further performance evaluations to qualify and quantify solutions and estimate potential improvements.
• Proof of Concept work uses extracted application kernels to demonstrate actual benefits from tuning and optimisation.
• Training offers events and materials covering parallel profiling tools, programming models and parallelisation approaches.

Services are free of charge to organisations, SMEs, ISVs, companies in the EU!

 Services of POP CoE are provided for:

• Code developers. (Assessment of detailed actual behavior, suggestion of most productive directions to refactor code…)
• Users. (Assessment of achieved performance in specific production conditions, possible improvements modifying environment setup, evidence to interact with code provider...)
• Infrastructure operators. (Assessment of achieved performance in production conditions, possible improvements from modifying environment setup, information for time computer time allocation processes, training of support staff...)
• Vendors. (Benchmarking, customer support, system dimensioning/design...)

In his presentation, L. Demovič introduced the scope and goals of the EuroCC project and underlined the importance of HPC in many areas, such as innovations, digitalization and transformation of industry. The National competence centre for HPC provides services for SMEs, industry, public and academic sector and enables them to utilize HPC, AI HPDA and ML tools in their business or research.

The newly founded National supercomputing centre (NSCC) was established in 2020 as a consortium of the Centre of Operations SAS, the Ministry of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization of the Slovak Republic and the I4DI organization. The NSCC is expected to cooperate closely with the NCC for HPC.

The importance and role of the basic and applied research in the transformation of industry was debated by L. Demovič during a discussion panel together with other participants, including the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic, Richard Sulík.

We are convinced that the EuroCC project will play a key role in overcoming barriers in introducing HPC/HPDA/AI solutions during the informatization and digitalization process and will increase the competence level in these areas in Slovakia significantly.

Reportage about NSCC

More info about the EuroCC project

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