2024 in review
2024 in review: HPC & AI training, expert support and new supercomputer
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From exciting training events and collaborations to supporting innovative projects – in 2024 we worked with developers, scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs to facilitate cutting-edge technologies like high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI). Here are the highlights of 2024 at EuroCC Austria.
It cannot be scientifically proven, but it seems the extra day of the 2024 leap year worked wonders. We certainly made the most of 366 days, 8,784 hours and 527,040 seconds and are happy to share the results. Let’s start with the training highlights.
HPC and AI training
In 2024, we conducted 26 training events covering a wide range of topics such as Large Language Models (LLMs) and GPU optimisation. Some of the most popular courses were Parallelization with MPI and MPI for Python. The course Introduction to Deep Learning was also a big hit – due to high demand we ran it three times in a row.
Thanks to more than 1,000 course participants for choosing us this past year and challenging yourselves in the field of AI and HPC! In 2025, we will continue offering specialised training, including a brand-new programme on mastering the art of LLMs. Thanks to EuroCC funding, the courses remain free of charge.
Course feedback on
"GPU Optimization with Kernel Tuner"
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The course was really fantastic and will help my research in many ways. I love how it was not just a general introduction to some topic, but a very specific topic led by the programmers involved in the library.
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Course feedback on
"Introduction to Deep Learning"
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I really enjoyed the clear and structured content of the training, which balanced theory with hands-on exercises. The materials were well-organized, and the interactive sessions helped reinforce key concepts.
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Free HPC and AI support for startups and SMEs
In 2024, we provided around 50 consultations to startups and SMEs. For 13 of them, adopting HPC proved to be a valuable strategy for accelerating and optimising AI workflows. Our team facilitated access to powerful supercomputers, including Austria's Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC) and Italy’s LEONARDO system. Alongside providing technical support, we guided users in efficiently utilising these systems.
Due to EuroCC funding, these companies were able to access HPC resources free of charge as a proof-of-concept. This way, they benefited from our expertise and public infrastructure, saving between €20,000 and €700,000 each.
The projects with MedBee, AlongRoute, Neuralio, BeatShaper, Caelus, Myllia and the University of Innsbruck spanned diverse fields such as healthcare, bioinformatics, maritime navigation and music production and achieved striking results including a remarkable 50x speedup in code execution. We are proud to have been a part of their journey and will tell you more about these projects in the coming weeks.
Webinars on trending AI topics
In 2024, our three webinars featured ten expert speakers and reached hundreds of attendees from 27 countries. Thematically, we focused on benefits of HPC and AI, looking at how the technology improves climate and weather forecasting, what role it can play in healthcare and drug development and how LLMs can be trained and fine-tuned on a supercomputer. Missed the webinars? The recordings are available on YouTube.
In-person events
While lots of our work happens online, we do love engaging with our community face-to-face.
In June, we hosted the annual Austrian-Slovenian HPC Meeting, which brought together 132 participants from 11 countries at the scenic Lake Grundlsee. The event featured 42 talks, 15 posters, and many informal discussions, providing the perfect setting for exchanging insights on the rapidly evolving HPC landscape.
Our new team member and AI expert, Endri Deliu, participated in a panel discussion at the Health Hub Vienna's Meetup AI in Healthcare, where he shared insights from his experience as an AI Fellow in Silicon Valley. His talk addressed the steps Austria needs to take to elevate AI projects in healthcare safely and efficiently. On the international stage, Endri contributed his expertise at the EuroHPC Summit in Antwerp and at online event Harnessing HPC and AI organised by EuroCC Romania.
Back in Austria, Endri and our HPC/AI trainer Simeon Harrison delivered workshops on AI lifecycle, providing best practices and strategies for start-ups and SMEs looking to develop AI-powered products.
Another highlight was our team member Claudia Blaas-Schenner chairing the renowned EuroMPI conference in Perth, Australia.This top-tier event, focusing on parallelisation, is one of the leading HPC conferences globally. Claudia, a recognised HPC expert and educator, was also invited to the Slovenian Supercomputing Network Days in Ljubljana, where she participated in the round table “Women in HPC.” The session initiated a valuable discussion about integrating more women into supercomputing and engineering jobs.
Last but not least, our team has got a new star called VSCrunchy, which is a mini-cluster built from 16 Raspberry Pis. Compact enough to fit in a suitcase, it’s been travelling with us to events to demonstrate how a supercomputer works.
Our team has grown
Believe it or not, we’re a relatively small team of dedicated experts. In 2024, our team grew from 13 to 18 members. A warm belated welcome to all the new team members! And a big thank you to everyone for your passion and enthusiasm for supercomputing, high-performance data analytics, and AI!
Here’s a link to meet the team and here you can read recent interviews with our experts.
New Supercomputer MUSICA Among the Top500 Supercomputers Worldwide
In 2024, one of Austria’s largest – if not the largest – IT infrastructure projects, the supercomputer MUSICA (Multi-site Computer Austria), was successfully installed. The system will be accessible to users in early 2025. Remarkably, MUSICA already joined the Top500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers, even before reaching full operational capacity.
Collaborations in Austria and Europe
As part of the EuroCC project, which includes 33 participating countries, we are thrilled to have worked with HPC experts all over Europe. We collaborated with 12 other National Comptence Centres (Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Finland, Hungary, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden), and four Centres of Excellence (ESiWACE3, MaX, MultiXscale, and POP). Together, we organised training courses and other events, and participated in internal workshops for knowledge exchange.
In Austria, we started an exciting partnership with the Vienna Data Science Group and are going to co-host some of their Meet-ups in 2025. We are also thrilled about a new collaboration with European Digital Innovation Hub AI5Production, with whom we are hosting a Workshop later in 2025.
Thanks to all partners!
We thank our funding entities the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG, as well as to our partners: Advanced Computing Austria, the University of Vienna, TU Wien, BOKU University, and the incredible team of the Vienna Scientific Cluster. Our work wouldn’t be the same without INiTS | Vienna’s High-Tech Incubator — we couldn’t imagine a better partner in bringing HPC & AI expertise to the startup community!
Looking ahead to 2025
We will continue to offer consultations, project support, and training in the coming year.
- Check out our training programme, it's being updated continuosuly: events.vsc.ac.at.
- Registration for Austrian-Slovenian Meeting 2025 is open: ashpc.eu.
- If you’re in Vienna, we would be happy to see you at the meetup with the Vienna Data Science Group on 29 January: meetup.com.
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