The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted by all member states of the United Nations in 2015, provides a global framework for improving the quality of life of all people on our planet. At the heart of this plan are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which direct efforts towards eradicating poverty, reducing inequality and stimulating economic growth, while simultaneously caring for the environment.

Universities play a key role in achieving the goals of sustainable development, as they serve as incubators of new ideas and solutions for the numerous global challenges we face.

The UN therefore launched The United Nations Academic Impact initiative in 2010, which connects students, the academic community, scientists and researchers around the world. Thanks to a dynamic network of higher education institutions, this initiative serves the wider international community as a source of energy and innovation for young people and the research community.

Prof. Makoto Nagata from the University of Kobe in Japan will hold two lectures on Monday, December 9, 2024, in the Gray Hall of FER.

As a distinguished lecturer of the IEEE SSCS (Solid-State Circuits Society), he will hold the first professional lecture entitled "Hardware Security and Safety of IC Chips and Systems" at 12 noon. On this occasion, all those interested will have the opportunity to learn more about how, in addition to the faster and better operation of new chips, it is extremely important to ensure that they are resistant to external interference, whether accidental or intentional, already in the design phase.

In the second lecture, starting at 3 p.m., it will be possible to hear more about the organization of Kobe University, the education system there and the entire journey from advanced research in science and technology to the development of an innovation strategy for the transfer of research results into new products.

There is time for questions after each lecture.

The lectures will be held in English and are open to the public. For all those interested who are unable to attend the lectures live, we have provided a live broadcast on our YouTube channel.

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing is pleased to invite you to the Research Trainings, a series of lectures and practical sessions focused on cutting-edge advancements in robotics, UAV technologies, and optimization methods. These trainings are organized by CATEC and the Project AEROSTREAM.

Location: Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, Unska ul. 3, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia
Room: A204
Date: Monday, 9th December 2024 – Thursday, 12th December 2024

Join us to explore topics ranging from non-linear model predictive control for multi-rotor aerial robots to practical applications in GNSS, vehicle routing, and UAV visual landing control.

The transition towards a clean and renewable future with a focus on hydrogen as a key element of energy decarbonisation is the main topic of the scientific colloquium "Energy transition: the present and future of hydrogen", held on October 7, 2024 at FER.

The goal of the event was to bring the role of hydrogen closer to the general public, to answer key questions about its future, to strengthen cooperation between leading Croatian research institutions and to transfer research knowledge to industry and the business world, and at the same time to answer the question: is hydrogen a myth or a hit?

Dean of FER prof. Vedran Bilas, PhD, greeted the audience and thanked the Ruđer Bošković Institute, the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology of the University of Zagreb (FKIT) and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture of the University of Zagreb (FSB) for their participation and co-organization of the scientific colloquium.

Cooperation between the Czech Republic and the Republic of Croatia in the field of science, research and development is the main topic of the seminar that brought together experts from both countries at FER on October 2, 2024 with the aim of strengthening ties between academic institutions, research centers, and private and public sectors from Croatia and the Czech Republic. The seminar was organized in cooperation with the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Zagreb, under the auspices of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and FER.

Key opportunities for cooperation between Croatia and the Czech Republic were presented at the seminar, with a special emphasis on the exchange of innovative solutions, technologies and the application of joint projects within European programs. Special attention was paid to sectors such as energy, robotics, cyber security and the development of new technologies, which are key to the future economic growth of both countries.

A lecture by a professor from one of the most innovative European universities, KU Leuven (KUL), opened an expert meeting on the topic "Chips, universities and technological development", which was held on 24 of September 2024, in the organization of FER with the aim of encouraging technological development in the Republic of Croatia.

Professor Georges Gielen from the prestigious Belgian University of KUL, expert in analog chip design and former vice-chancellor for research, engineering and technology at KUL, shared the key factors in his introductory lecture entitled "Why is KU Leuven an entrepreneurial and successful university?", emphasizing that a top university must combine top education with top research and the valorization of that research in order to have a maximum impact on society.

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering at University of Zagreb (FER) is proud to announce that it has provided a significant contribution to European sovereignty, with valuable business impacts. European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) finalized the 273-M€ procurement contract for JUPITER, the first EuroHPC exascale supercomputer granted to the consortium of Eviden and ParTec. JUPITER  will be hosted at Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany, where the brain of the system will be based on the brand new general-purpose Rhea processors by SiPearl that have been designed in Europe with FER being one of the key partners of SiPearl in design and verification of those processors.

"FER is proud to be at the forefront of what is among the most advanced global supercomputer processor technology research and to partner with leading European industry and research organizations SiPearl, Eviden, Barcelona Supercomputing Center and others to create the first European general purpose processor for supercomputers. Partnering with SiPearl allowed us to have a unique opportunity to be able to work with great industry experts on the design and verification of what will be the family of globally one of the most advanced and powerful processors.

Also, being a member of European Processor Initiative project funded by EuroHPC JU, we team with the brightest minds, share ideas and solutions and make Faculty of Electrical Engineering at University of Zagreb recognized on the global research map" , said Mario Kovač, professor and Director of FER HPC research center.     

What are exascale supercomputers

Supercomputers solve problems that are significantly beyond the capacity of a single office computer/laptop, since they can process significantly larger amounts of data and make calculations in seconds that would otherwise take months or even decades. Supercomputers are built out of the most advanced components and use large and complex building blocks.

One way of describing the power of computers is by comparing how many basic operations, such as e.g. additions, they can compute in one second. Thus, the metric is given in so called FLOPS (floating point operations per second).

An "Exascale supercomputer" can perform more than billion billion or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10¹⁸) operations (FLOPS) per second, or in short more than one exaFLOPS. To put this into perspective: it would take one million typical laptops to do the same number of computations in the same amount of time.