The Office for IT and eGovernment has signed a contract worth 50 million EUR with the French company Bull SAS (part of the Eviden group) for the procurement of a supercomputer.
The contract, which covers the acquisition of a High-Performance Computer (HPC) and the development of artificial intelligence, is part of a major bilateral agreement between the governments of France and Serbia. The contract was signed by Mihailo Jovanović, Director of the Office for IT and eGovernment, and Alexandre Žui, Deputy Director of the Eviden group, on behalf of Bull SAS, as announced by the Serbian Government.
The signing ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Miloš Vučević, who emphasized that the procurement of the second supercomputer demonstrates the country’s commitment to development and creates opportunities for scientists to receive better support, enabling them to work on their projects more efficiently.
According to Vučević, this agreement will also encourage startup founders and potential business owners to take the leap into entrepreneurship, while those already operating will be able to develop their businesses more successfully.
“This means we will be able to implement the project of digitalizing medical administration more easily, from scheduling appointments to diagnostics, while ensuring the protection of personal data,” said Vučević.
The Prime Minister also highlighted that part of the arrangement involves the development of artificial intelligence, tools, and applications aimed at helping Serbia succeed in various sectors, including energy, transportation, and smart city development.
Mihailo Jovanović, Director of the Office for IT and eGovernment, explained that the new supercomputer will serve as an upgrade to the existing national platform for artificial intelligence development and the country’s first supercomputer, which is located at the National Data Center in Kragujevac.
He recalled that in 2022, the government procured its first supercomputer, which is available for free use by technical faculties, institutes, science and technology parks, and startups.
Jovanović emphasized that this initiative has sparked the development and application of artificial intelligence in Serbia, adding that the new supercomputer, which is the subject of this contract, has 20 times more superchips than the first one and nearly 30 times more data storage capacity.
“Thanks to this, we will position our country as one of the leading nations in the region in terms of national supercomputing capacities,” said Jovanović, noting that the supercomputer, along with software and Mistral generative AI models, represents an investment of approximately 36 million EUR.
He further explained that about 14 million EUR is allocated to projects and the development of services based on artificial intelligence, particularly in the fields of healthcare, e-government, energy and transportation.
