The University of Ioannina, within the framework of the “DIONI” program, after an Open International Competition, signed a Contract with the company OPTIS SA. for the supply of COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS OF A LARGE VOLUME OF DATA” with a budget of €1,175,000.00 including VAT.
In the modern competitive environment of research, innovation and entrepreneurship, the University of Ioannina undertook an important initiative to support the convergence of the Epirus Region in terms of employment, competitiveness and development with European averages. The Computing Infrastructure under procurement will effectively support the modern requirements of experimental scientific research at the University of Ioannina, the development of methods and systems for data management, processing and analysis and the strengthening of entrepreneurship and digital governance in the Region of Epirus.
The research activity includes a wide range of scientific fields in physics, medicine, chemistry, materials science and mathematics with the aim of addressing challenges in climate change, cosmology, optoelectronics and polymer materials, radiation therapy, genome sequencing, pharmacology, cardiology and anesthesiology.
The procured Infrastructure will support the experimental development of data management and parallel processing systems, methods for efficient representation and analysis of multimodal data, tools for improving security and modeling the spread of malware. In artificial intelligence (eg deep machine learning with neural networks), research activities are proposed to improve computer vision, automated robotic navigation, optimization of production and supply chain management, and development of advanced diagnostic methods.
In nanoelectronics, simulation methods and programmable hardware (FPGA) will be used to improve reliability and develop innovative products for demanding applications in artificial intelligence and robotics.
The software defined storage can allocate sufficient resources to safely and reliably store data sets of the scientific activity of the University, local bodies (e.g. self-government), but also private companies with increased requirements (e.g. primary sector, processing etc.). A part of the available resources will be allocated in the form of cloud services to host digital services of private and public sector entities, as well as to start-ups to support the development of innovative systems and applications with commercial exploitation prospects.
Key advantages of the infrastructure being procured are the support of experimental interdisciplinary research with the participation of a large number of laboratories, the possibility of experimental software development of large-scale systems and applications, the fast execution of demanding machine learning and scientific modeling operations. This modern infrastructure and related research activity will allow the scientific community to be connected with local bodies and businesses, while at the same time supporting both National and International efforts to utilize IT to promote innovation and competitiveness in research and the economy.