On May 15-16, 2024, Šibenik, Croatia was the host of the 9th EUSAIR Forum – part of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, which was presided over by Croatia in the last months. The Forum offered a distinctive chance to explore final results of the revision of the EUSAIR, its Action Plan and governance architecture.
Among many interesting lectures and workshops, the Forum also hosted a panel under the title "Digital Sovereignty in Europe" with the aim to show the key benefits of supercomputers for citizens, industry, and science. This was one of the several thematic panels which took place under the common theme of the Forum: Shaping the future of EUSAIR.
The panel was moderated by Mario Kovač, professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Chief Communication Officer at the European Processor Initiative and Director HPC Architecture and Application Center.
Panelists were distinguished guests from key EU institutions, regional representatives and prominent industry representatives:
Daniel Opalka, Head of Sector Research & Innovation, The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, Luxembourg,
Panagiotis Tsarchopoulos, Programme Officer, EC DG CNECT,
Francesco Raphaël Frieri, Director General for Resources, Human Resources, Organization, Europe, Local Government, Innovation, ICT - CDO Emilia-Romagna Region and
Boris Pogačnik, VP for Business Operations, Infobip.
The panelists have emphasized the importance of digital sovereignty in the EU, and developing European capabilities in the supercomputing field. With coordinating efforts from EuroHPC JU, through EPI, EUPEX and EUPILOT projects, this path to sovereignty in the field of supercomputing is chartered and well on its way.
