CENTRUM SPOLOCNYCH CINNOSTI SLOVENSKEJ AKADEMIE VIED

Their core work

The Centre of Operations of the Slovak Academy of Sciences serves as the administrative and operational backbone for Slovakia's primary research institution, managing its participation in large-scale European research infrastructure programmes. In H2020, the centre focused exclusively on High Performance Computing (HPC), contributing to the PRACE pan-European supercomputing infrastructure and establishing Slovakia's National Competence Centre for HPC under the EuroHPC framework. Their work centres on enabling industry and academic users to access supercomputing resources, providing training, and bridging the gap between HPC capabilities and real-world applications across sectors.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015-2019), the centre participated in PRACE implementation phases focused on maintaining and expanding pan-European supercomputing infrastructure — largely technical and operational work with no specific keyword differentiation. From 2019 onward, their focus visibly shifted toward user-facing activities: training, dissemination, application enabling, and building national HPC competences for industry. This evolution from infrastructure maintenance to competence-building and industry engagement marks a clear pivot toward making HPC accessible beyond traditional academic users.

Moving from behind-the-scenes infrastructure participation toward becoming Slovakia's front-door for industry access to supercomputing, making them increasingly relevant for companies needing HPC capabilities.

How they like to work

Exclusively a participant — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, joining large pan-European consortia instead. With 131 unique partners across 33 countries, they operate within massive networks (PRACE consortia typically include 25+ national HPC centres). This means they are well-connected and experienced in multi-partner collaboration, but they function as a national node within larger infrastructure programmes rather than as an independent project initiator.

Connected to 131 unique partners across 33 countries, almost entirely through the PRACE and EuroHPC networks — the largest HPC consortia in Europe. Their network is broad but driven by membership in these flagship programmes rather than independent partnership-building.

What sets them apart

As the operational arm of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, they are Slovakia's designated gateway to European supercomputing infrastructure. Their EUROCC role makes them the national point of contact for any company or researcher in Slovakia needing HPC resources, training, or expertise. For consortium builders, partnering with them provides access to Slovak HPC infrastructure and a direct link to one of Central Europe's leading national academies of sciences.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EUROCC
  Their largest project (EUR 599,100) establishing Slovakia's National Competence Centre for HPC — a strategic role positioning them as the country's HPC gateway for industry and academia.
• PRACE-6IP
  The most recent PRACE phase with explicit focus on training and application enabling, marking their shift from pure infrastructure to user engagement and industry support.