A common Slovene-Chinese virtual laboratory for high-performance computing was inaugurated at the Faculty of Computer and Information Science of the University of Ljubljana (UL FRI). This laboratory is the result of an agreement on multiannual cooperation, concluded between Slovenian and Chinese scientists in the field of supercomputing, the Chinese company Sugon, and the Slovenian company Arctur.

One of the main activities planned with this cooperation will be the development of new methods and of a software system for discovering patterns (“data mining”) in large quantities of biomedical and climate data from computer simulations. The results of this research will be used for the purpose of solving concrete problems that science, industry, and modern society are facing nowadays.

Deputy Prime Minister Boris Koprivnikar, Rector of the University of Ljubljana, Dr Igor Papič, Dean of the FRI, Dr Bojan Orel, Professor of the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Dr Guangming Tan, Vice-President of Sugon, Mrs Ying Guo, and CEO of Arctur Mr Tomi Ilijaš all made speeches during the ceremony.

Dr Bojan Orel explained that globally, Slovenians have broken new ground in the field of AI development, wherein these efforts were headed by Professor Ivan Bratko and numerous experts working under his wing to specialise in different fields of AI, machine learning, and data mining. One of these experts is Professor Blaž Zupan, Head of the Bioinformatics Laboratory where Orange, a state-of-the-art software system for data mining, was developed; in the framework of the agreement concluded, Orange will receive additional support in the form of data analysis of supercomputing energy that will be available to the common laboratory.

Dr Guangming Tan, Professor of the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, explained, “We see the common laboratory in Ljubljana as a stepping stone for common research, projects, publications, education, and common patent applications. I hope the laboratory will be a success, and that it will forge durable cooperation bonds between China and Europe and, especially, reinforce our cooperation with Slovenia.”

“With the help of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sugon is the world leader in the development of Exascale, a new generation of supercomputers that are a thousand times faster than computers of the current Pentascale generation. What matters in this cooperation is the fact that software made in Slovenia will be available in addition to hardware,” says Tomi Ilijaš, CEO of Arctur, to illustrate their marketing advantage.

You can find more information on the opening of the Slovene-Chinese virtual laboratory on the UL FRI website.