UP succeeds in acquiring a supercomputer as part of a consortium
Slovenia has won a European tender for a high-performance supercomputer. It achieved the highest score among the applicants and the project was widely praised. IZUM Director Aleš Bošnjak believes that Slovenia's success in the tender is due to the fact that Slovenia was the first of the eight applicants in the tender to set up a supercomputer in 2021.
He also believes that the competencies and synergies of the project partners were an important factor. The application for the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking tender for a high-performance supercomputer with an artificial intelligence factory was submitted by the Maribor-based Institute of Information Sciences (Izum) with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation on behalf of a consortium of organizations including the Jožef Stefan Institute, Arnes, the University of Maribor, the University of Ljubljana, the University of Nova Gorica, the University of Primorska, the Faculty of Information Studies in Novo mesto, the Ljubljana Technology Park and the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
On behalf of the University of Primorska, the project was prepared by UP IAM and UP FAMNIT employees, Assoc. Prof. Jernej Vičič and Assist. Prof. Aleksandar Tošić.
Dr. Tošić said on the occasion of the success: »The acquisition of the project is of great importance for the development of Slovenian science, especially in the field of artificial intelligence. The UP Department of Information Science and Technology will now have access to hardware for complex calculations that we are currently unable to perform. VEGA 2 is now allowing Slovenian researchers to conduct more extensive research and the development of their own GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformers) models, which has not been possible so far. In addition to scientific research, the project will provide an important link with industry by enabling wider use of supercomputing capabilities.«
Ksenija Klampfer, Minister for Digital Transformation, explained at the press conference that the new supercomputer will act as a central platform for advanced research and applications, supporting both economic and academic partners. The new supercomputer will be about 16 times more powerful than the existing supercomputer and will be fully adapted to artificial intelligence services and solutions. The project is worth €150 million, of which up to €75 million is to be co-funded by the EU and the rest by the Republic of Slovenia, as the funds are already foreseen in the Ministry's budget. The management, maintenance and administration of the new supercomputer will be carried out by Izum with the support of Arnes and the Jožef Stefan Institute.