The National competence centre launches a nation-wide HPC survey
The national competence centre for HPC is launching a nation-wide survey of competencies and requirements in the field of high-performance computing and the usage of HPC+ solutions. Information gained through this survey will help the competence centre to create effective strategies for concrete support and services for private companies, academia and public administration.
The primary goal of the survey is to map the usage of HPC and associated technologies and to identify the demand for these technologies and solutions among Slovak private companies, small and medium enterprises, academic research groups and in public administration. This information is crucial for developing strategies, goals and services for the future National competence centre activities. According to the OECD publication SME Entrepreneurship Policy in Slovak Republic“* the SMEs are facing several barriers in their digital transformation, such as lack of knowledge and experience. The National competence centre enables the knowledge transfer and adoption of HPC, HPDA, AI and ML technologies, where the benefits for private companies include competitive advantage on the market, effective processes, ROI and cost savings.
„“Apart from these activities the National competence centre has an ambition to facilitate the collaboration between experts and end-users coming from various areas and sectors. This survey will help us to identify experts in specific application fields, such as processing big data, advanced simulations and machine learning/artificial intelligence technologies.” the coordinator of the project, Lucia Demovičová, stated.
The survey will also provide information about the computational capacities and resources required at the moment and into the future in Slovakia. Actual local data from Slovak HPC users, including the potential future ones, will be valuable in planning the new high-performance systems and developing the national HPC infrastructure.
The NCC was established within the EuroCC project implemented by the Centre of Operations of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. As a primary contact point for users and all parties interested in HPC in Slovakia the NCC provides several services free of charge that might be interesting for scientific teams, but also the private sector and public administration. Education activities, consultancy and access to computational resources are among the portfolio of NCC services that are meant to support the innovation potential and competitiveness in Slovakia.
Mapping of the HPC environment
* OECD (2021), SME Entrepreneurship Policy in Slovak Republic, OECD Studies on SMEs and Entrepreneurship, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9097a251-en.
Central European Working Group in Slovenia 19 May - On May 19, 2025, we met with representatives of National Competence Centres for High-Performance Computing (HPC) from Central European countries. The in-person meeting of the Central European Working Group, held in Slovenia, provided us with an exceptional opportunity to exchange experiences, strengthen regional cooperation, and discuss the shared challenges and opportunities we face within the EuroCC project.
We built professional relationships and engaged in constructive discussions with representatives from neighboring countries that, like Slovakia, are running their national HPC competence centres and working on their continuous development.
Such meetings play an important role in shaping common approaches, identifying synergies, and sharing best practices in delivering services to users—whether they are research institutions, the public sector, or businesses.
What Is Artificial Intelligence Capable of Today? Watch the Recording of the Webinar "Training Machines to Detect Any Object" 16 May - Dňa 13. mája 2025 sa uskutočnil odborný webinár s názvom Trénovanie strojov na detekciu ľubovoľného objektu, ktorý pripravil RNDr. Andrej Lúčny, PhD. z Fakulty matematiky, fyziky a informatiky Univerzity Komenského v Bratislave. Prednáška bola zameraná na aktuálne výzvy a riešenia v oblasti strojového videnia a umelej inteligencie, pričom sa venovala najmä schopnosti systémov rozpoznávať objekty bez nutnosti ich predchádzajúcej kategorizácie.
HPC and Artificial Intelligence: Joining Forces for the Future of Technology 15 May - V utorok 14. mája 2025 sme sa zúčastnili podujatia PyData Slovakia & Bratislava Meetup #29, ktoré sa uskutočnilo v Bratislave. Stretnutie dátovej a technologickej komunity sa nieslo v duchu aktuálnych trendov v oblasti umelej inteligencie, s dôrazom na pochopenie fungovania veľkých jazykových modelov (Large Language Models – LLMs), ktoré dnes čoraz výraznejšie ovplyvňujú rôzne oblasti nášho života – od komunikácie, cez vzdelávanie až po riadenie procesov vo firmách a verejnej správe. Hlavným rečníkom večera bol Radovan Kavický, prezident a hlavný dátový vedec v GapData Institute, ktorý svojou prednáškou s názvom "Under the Hood of LLM" pútavo predstavil, čo sa skrýva pod povrchom dnešných pokročilých jazykových modelov.