Invites students to solve important challenges for society and companies with a supercomputer

Author
Riga Technical University

September 12, 2024

How to prepare for potential environmental elements and protect real estate, improve next-generation drone communication or create a database for vocal recordings with the help of a supercomputer? Students of Latvian universities will seek solutions to these and other challenges by participating in the program "Creating innovative digital solutions to HPC challenges" implemented by Riga Technical University (RTU). A student of any university in Latvia can apply for participation in the program until September 20.

Application – ej.uz/hpcizaicinājumi

This is already the second season when students will learn to create innovative digital solutions with the help of digital prototyping and design thinking methods. Using digital tools that are also used in industry and high-performance computing technologies, they will develop solutions in the form of a prototype, conceptual project or research together with experts from RTU and industry in interdisciplinary teams, where students from different branches and study levels will work. Upon successful completion of the program, students will receive a certificate attesting to a high level of digital skills. Participation in the program can also be equated to a three-credit free-choice course.

During the autumn season, five companies and organizations offer challenges. VAS «Valsts nekustamie īpašumi» invites students, using historical events, survey opinions, construction engineer assessments, measurements and characteristics of potential elements, to predict the impact of natural elements on real estate in order to prepare resources even before the damage is done. On the other hand, the company "Cenos" wants to develop a model in cooperation with students that would improve the accuracy of the program's radio frequency antenna design, which is essential for the next generation of drone communication and radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. Meanwhile, Sonarworks' challenge is related to data acquisition and processing of high-quality vocal monophonic human voice recordings. The data is needed to replicate or clone human vocal tendencies. The production company "Bucher municipal" encourages students to develop a digital tool to perform welding work more quickly and organize the work of welders, which is currently planned manually. The challenge - to generate horoscopes - was also presented to students by the brand "draugiem.lv" of the technology company "Draugiem Group".

The program "Creating innovative digital solutions in HPC challenges" is part of the project "Learning of high-level digital skills in Latvia in the field of high-performance computing technologies" (No. 2.3.1.1.i.0/1/22/I/CFLA/003), in which RTU, Riga Stradiņš University and the University of Latvia are developing and implementing 12 study modules in the field of high-performance computing technologies. The project is financed by an investment from the EU Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. Its aim is to increase the number of specialists in Latvia with high-level digital skills (DigComp level 7-8) who are able to use technology to develop knowledge- and technology-intensive new products and services in various sectors, as well as to create synergy between higher education, science and industry.