FFplus on the Road: Insights from Key Events

ISC 2025

At this year’s ISC25 conference in Hamburg, taking place 10-13 June, Tina Črnigoj Marc, FFplus Communication Lead and Project Manager at Arctur, took the stage at the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) booth to present the FFplus project and its Second Open Call for Business Experiments. The presentation, delivered to a high-level international audience of HPC and AI experts, ICT providers, innovators, and decision-makers, highlighted the strategic importance of enabling SMEs to access and experiment with HPC and AI technologies.

Furthermore, the FFplus gained its visibility at four booths: HLRS - High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart team provided info in their co-shared booth with the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing, Arctur promoted the Open Call in the co-shared booth with the ETP4HPC European Technology Platform for HPC, Academic Computer Centre CYFRONET AGH provided information on their booth, and EuroHPC Joint Undertaking team gave visibility to the project through the digital poster exhibition and offering promo materials. 

 

FFplus participation at Startup Summit BW 2025

The Start-up BW Summit 2025 is a trade fair and congress held in Stuttgart, Germany, on June 2nd. It serves as a platform for startups, investors, corporate representatives, and stakeholders from the startup ecosystem to engage in pitching sessions, networking, and knowledge exchange.

This year’s program featured thematic stages, including the Main Start-up BW Stage, Pitching Stage, Yellow Stage, Venture Partnering Stage (with NXTGEN), Financing Stage (with L-Bank), GreenTech Stage (with GreenTech BW), International Stage, and Festival Stage. Initiatives, state agencies, and other organizations showcased their support services for startups at the “LÄND of Opportunities”.

FFplus was present at Startup Summit BW 2025 on June 2 through representation in the Ecosystem-Area at the Internationalisierungs-booth, together with FFplus partner HLRS/HammerHAI, to promote the Open Call for proposals. While some interest was shown – for example, through the distribution of FFplus business cards – many of the startups engaged in conversation seemed to be at an early stage of development and were not yet focused on the concrete application of HPC and AI. Additionally, suboptimal thematic booth placement may have limited visibility and engagement. Overall, the event provided exposure but generated limited relevant outcomes.

 

 FFplus Workshop - Discover Real Business Impact of HPC for SMEs

On Tuesday, 1 July 2025, the Fortissimo/FFplus community gathered online for a dynamic one-hour workshop titled "Discover Real HPC Business Impact for SMEs", organized by partner TERATEC. The event offered a deep dive into real-world examples of how High-Performance Computing (HPC) is driving innovation across sectors and empowering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Europe.

The workshop delivered three FF4EuroHPC success stories, presented by recognized speakers from the companies:

·  Panagiotis Papadimitruals, Bioemtech: A Pediatric Simulated Dosimetry Platform for Clinical Use

·  Kevin Charpot, Oceanwings: HPC-based Design of Wind Assisted Propulsion Technology

·   Giacomo Barigazzi, Axyon AI: Leveraging HPC for AI and Deep Learning Powered Solutions for Asset Management

Speakers provided the first-hand insights into how HPC and expert support enabled them to overcome technical and computational challenges, develop smarter products and processes and achieve measurable business impact. Samir Been Chabane, Teratec, provided the information on the second Open Call for Business Experiments.

The session attracted SMEs, NCCs, and innovation stakeholders across Europe — whether already active in the HPC space or just beginning to explore its potential.

Missed the event? Find the recording of the video here.

 

Best Practices for a Successful FFplus Proposal

On Thursday, 17 July 2025, NCC Italy hosted an insightful webinar titled "Best Practices for a Successful FFplus Proposal", aimed at equipping National Competence Centres (NCCs) and their SME stakeholders with practical tools and strategies to enhance their FFplus project applications.

The session attracted strong interest from across Europe, with participants eager to learn how to better position their proposals for success in the highly competitive FFplus Open Calls, which support innovation through High-Performance Computing (HPC), High-Performance Data Analytics (HPDA), and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Key Highlights:

• Guy Lonsdale from scapos opened the webinar with a concise overview of the FFplus Open Calls, focusing on funding opportunities and how the calls are structured.
• Claudio Arlandini from NCC Italy followed with a rich set of “tips (and no tricks)”, based on years of hands-on experience. His presentation covered:
  • How to build a balanced and effective consortium
  • Budget planning strategies that align with project goals
  • How to demonstrate real business and innovation impact
  • Common mistakes to avoid when drafting a proposal

Attendees left the webinar with actionable advice and a clearer understanding of how to craft compelling, high-impact proposals. The session was particularly valuable for those new to EU funding, as well as more experienced applicants looking to sharpen their approach.

 

 SSC-Services GmbH Summerfest AI 2.0

The SSC-Services GmbH Summerfest AI 2.0 took place in Stuttgart on July 17th. FFplus Coordinator Dr. Bastian Koller (HLRS - High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart) presented FFplus project and the Open Call. A highlight of the presentations in the afternoon was the talk by Dennis Huber (SSC-Services GmbH) on their FFplus Innovation Study, titled “LLM-based CAD Information Extraction”. The study explores how multimodal Large Language Models (LLMs) can extract valuable metadata from rendered 2D CAD files, a major challenge in manufacturing data exchange, especially in the automotive sector.