In Maribor laid the foundation stone for a supercomputer
In Maribor, they laid the foundation stone for the Arnes Maribor Data Center, in which a new supercomputer with an artificial intelligence factory will have a home in the coming years. Arnes will erect the data center next to the office building of Dravske elektrarne Maribor (DEM) and near the Maribor Island Hydroelectric Power Plant. The value of the works is € 18.1 million, the contractor is NTR Engineering with Advant and Energovat partners, and the implementation deadline is 31 July 2026.
« This is where supercomputer capacity, artificial intelligence factory and sustainable component combine, » the Prime Minister said Robert Golob. Such centers are very greedy energy, electricity from the hydroelectric power plant on the Drava will be supplied to the center, and the heat is then produced by heat, which will be removed and used for heating at least part of the city of Maribor, which is at least partly sustainable. “Even before the Second World War, Maribor was created in some way by the exploitation of natural resources, in which case the Drava River, in order to power the Maribor industry, and that the day, when we lay the foundation stone, it should be a symbolic beginning of a new era when the Drava River will again power the development of Maribor. This time not in the field of industry, but in the field of knowledge, in the field of artificial intelligence and, above all, a better future for the whole country, « the Prime Minister added.
The data center will be a key infrastructure pillar for the establishment of a Slovenian artificial intelligence factory, which has been selected by a joint company for European High Powerful Computer Science (EUROHPC) for co -financing together with artificial intelligence factories from 12 EU Member States. Slovenia will receive EUR 67.5 million from the European budget for the project in Maribor, estimated at EUR 150 million.
Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Igor Papič He also said that it was an extremely important infrastructure in the final establishment of the so -called open science concept. According to him, they will raise the competitiveness of Slovenian science with the supercomputer, as has been shown in the first supercomputer Vega. The infrastructure will also be largely intended for the economy, where they will use different artificial intelligence models.
The partners of the project are Arnes, the Jožef Stefan Institute, the University of Ljubljana, the University of Maribor, the University of Nova Gorica, Izum, the University of Primorska, the Faculty of Information Studies Novo mesto, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia and the Ljubljana Technology Park.
