Wednesday, 30 July 2025 Important projects at UP acquired between May and mid-summer 2025
In the months from May to July, projects were approved at UP that follow UP's key strategic orientations and support important research areas.
UP FAMNIT and UP IAM have acquired the following projects:
HORIZON-RIA
- Slovenian AI Factory – SLAIF (partner, UP lead dr. Marko Tkalčič, UP FAMNIT)
EuroHPC JU announced six newly selected sites to host new AI Factories across Europe, bringing the total number to thirteen. The Slovenian AI Factory (SLAIF), which includes a new EuroHPC AI-optimized supercomputer hosted in Slovenia, is one of the selected proposals. The project will be co-funded by the EuroHPC JU and the Republic of Slovenia (through the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation). AI Factories are dynamic ecosystems charged to promote innovation, collaboration and research in the field of AI. The Slovenian AI Factory (SLAIF) will enhance Slovenia’s AI capabilities by integrating a cutting-edge AI-optimized supercomputer with a dynamic AI ecosystem, supporting industry, research, and public institutions. The supercomputer will replace the current Vega EuroHPC system by 2027, ensuring continued excellence in computing and storage infrastructure for industry and science. It will deliver 10 exaflops (Eflops, 1018 floating-point operations per second) in mixed precision for AI applications and 100 petaflops (PFlops) in double precision for HPC tasks. Designed with sustainability in mind, it will be powered by renewable hydroelectric energy, reducing environmental impact while ensuring that Slovenia remains at the forefront of AI-driven scientific discovery and innovation. Additionally, the supercomputer’s cloud infrastructure will allow companies to integrate AI capabilities seamlessly into their operations, with a second-phase hardware upgrade planned for 2028–2029 to extend its lifespan and maintain technological competitiveness.
ARIS – postdoc positions open
- Extension of Erdös-Ko-Rado Theorem to Transitive Permutation Groups (leader at UP dr. Klavdija Kutnar, UP IAM & UP FAMNIT) CALL
- High-Dimensional Actions of Classical Groups in Galois Geometry (leader at UP dr. Michel Lavrauw, UP IAM & UP FAMNIT) CALL
Consortium for Organic Farming of Slovenia – KEKS (partner, led at the University of Primorska by Dr. Dunja Bandelj, UP FAMNIT)
The consortium will operate under the leadership of the University of Maribor (UM) and in collaboration with the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana (UL BF). The project is part of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) and is funded under intervention IRP38: Consortia of knowledge institutions in support of the transition of agriculture towards green, digital, and climate-neutral practices.
