VEZILKA Strengthens Cooperation with Greek AI Factory – PHAROS

During a recent visit to Athens, Prof. Gjorgji Madjarov, PhD, from the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering (FCSE), UKIM, met with Prof. Stefanos Kollias, Chairman of GRNET and Coordinator of the Greek AI Factory – PHAROS, and Ilias Hatzakis, Project Manager at GRNET. The meeting provided an opportunity to exchange experiences, discuss ongoing work and look at ways in which the cooperation between PHAROS and VEZILKA can continue to develop in areas of shared interest.

The discussions focused on how knowledge, expertise and computing resources can be shared more effectively across the two initiatives, including cooperation in sectors of common interest and approaches to federated resource provisioning. By exchanging experience with PHAROS and looking at how different parts of the European AI Factory ecosystem work together, VEZILKA can further strengthen the way it supports researchers, companies and institutions that want to explore, test and apply artificial intelligence in practice.

This visit also opened a broader conversation about the practical challenges of building an AI ecosystem – from making advanced computing resources easier to access to connecting technical expertise with real needs from research, industry and the public sector. Learning from the experience already developed within PHAROS can provide useful guidance as VEZILKA continues to shape its own services, support mechanisms and pathways for organisations moving from an initial idea towards practical AI implementation.