With the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Office for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Government of the Republic of Serbia and the National Research Centre for Supercomputing, Big Data and Quantum Computing (ICSC), the two countries are aiming for a major step forward in their economic, scientific and diplomatic relations.
The agreement, signed by Professor Antonio Zoccoli, President of the ICSC and the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics, and Mihailo Jovanović, Director of the Office for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Government of the Republic of Serbia, reflects the determination of both countries to share computing resources, talent and governance capabilities in order to keep pace with the social, economic and political transformations driven by supercomputers and artificial intelligence.
In his address, Professor Mihailo Jovanović emphasised that the agreement reaffirms Serbia’s regional leadership in the sector, following consistent investment over the past decade that has enabled the country to climb global eGovernment rankings and develop the Kragujevac Data Centre, one of the most significant in South-Eastern Europe.
“The future lies not only in further investment, but in international cooperation capable of pooling national infrastructures in order to develop joint research initiatives and shared solutions with our partners,” Jovanović stated.
The Italian Ambassador to Serbia, Luca Gori, recalled that the agreement is one of many elements in a broader effort to promote scientific, technological and medical cooperation between Italy and Serbia over recent years. This cooperation has included the bilateral scientific forums of 2023 and 2024, ministerial agreements signed in Trieste in 2023, and numerous memoranda of understanding concluded between the competent ministries in the fields of scientific research and education. It is also expected to be further strengthened at the scientific forum due to take place in Belgrade on 8 and 9 June.
“The ability to manage vast, high-quality data sets and interpret them is a strategic asset for states and is now fundamental to their capacity to remain efficient and competitive. Research into forms of artificial intelligence increasingly requires cooperation between states, their institutions, their expertise and their talent. Technological infrastructures for processing and transmitting data are therefore national platforms that must be shared if states wish to keep pace with the global race for superintelligence and maintain scientific relevance and, even more importantly, strategic autonomy,” Gori underlined.
In his presentation, Professor Antonio Zoccoli outlined the model of the National Centre for Supercomputing, Big Data and Quantum Computing (ICSC), which is based on a hub-and-spoke architecture. The Bologna hub coordinates activities, while the 11 spokes are responsible for infrastructure development (Spoke 0) and research across ten strategic thematic areas. 
This model has made it possible to integrate all of Italy’s leading research centres – each with their own technological and methodological specialisations – without creating regional disparities, distributing funding according to research priorities and practical solution requirements.
The involvement of public institutions and private companies has proven essential, as the infrastructure operates as a national system. Currently, 12 research centres and 13 Italian private companies collaborate within the framework, contributing €6.325 million annually to finance and utilise the infrastructure.
Funding from the Next Generation EU programme has enabled Italy to make substantial investments in computing capacity and talent acquisition, with installed AI computing capacity increasing by 449 per cent year-on-year in 2024. Italy now manages 838 billion floating-point operations per second, placing it third globally after the United States and Japan.
This represents one of the strongest examples of effective use of EU funding, enabling Italy not only to eliminate its previous lag but also to rise to the top ranks globally in installed computing capacity.
During the subsequent discussion, State Secretary Marija Gnjatović highlighted how a small country must carefully select its technological investment priorities and concentrate resources and expertise in areas where it intends to specialise. In this respect, international cooperation becomes essential in overcoming budgetary limitations.
Cooperation and partnership “Cooperation between states, between their research institutions, and with and among private companies is a crucial factor in addressing the challenges of artificial intelligence, supercomputing and quantum computing. Rather than placing universities and research centres in competition with one another, coordinating them makes it possible to achieve levels of computing power and solutions that would be impossible individually. Private companies must likewise be involved through a cooperative approach, both regarding large firms already engaged in research and development, and through an educational approach towards small and medium-sized enterprises, which often possess valuable data but do not know how to use it to improve services, innovate products and compete internationally.” Data governance “Today, the world of data governance is characterised by three models: the American model, where essentially everything is permitted; the Chinese model, where there is strong state control; and the European model, which has introduced very strict regulations that are theoretically justified, but which risk causing Europe to fall behind the other two models.” Supercomputing diplomacy “The national ICSC platform has already developed numerous international partnerships with Austria, Slovenia, Greece and now Serbia. In Africa, also thanks to the Mattei Plan, we are developing significant cooperation with Morocco, while more recently, thanks to Minister Anna Maria Bernini, we have initiated collaboration with Kenya.”
