North Macedonia became the thirtieth member of the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) in June 2019. The country’s accession was announced alongside the signature of hosting agreements for eight new European supercomputing sites at a ceremony in Strasbourg. European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel welcomed North Macedonia’s membership, noting it was part of the country’s engagement with the EU’s Digital Agenda for the Western Balkans.
As a non-EU associated state, North Macedonia committed to investing in the Joint Undertaking’s infrastructure and research objectives. The EuroHPC JU’s mandate, originally established in 2018 and expanded under Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173, includes developing and deploying quantum computing and quantum simulation infrastructure alongside classical supercomputing resources. Participating states gain access to EuroHPC supercomputers and eligibility for research and innovation calls funded through Horizon Europe and the Digital Europe Programme.
Under the EuroCC project, North Macedonia subsequently established a National Competence Center for High Performance Computing (HPC), High Performance Data Analytics (HPDA), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), led by the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. The competence center, operating in partnership with Infinite Solutions and Newman’s Business Accelerator, works to increase awareness and adoption of HPC technologies across industry, academia, and public administration in the country.