On Saturday 17th July, we welcomed distinguished guests to IT4Innovations. Frans Timmermans himself came to see the plans and projects of the Moravian-Silesian Region. The second most important man in the European Union makes no secret of the fact that he sees the future in supercomputers. It is also for this reason why he chose our supercomputing centre for his meeting with Czech partners.

Such a busy Saturday morning at IT4Innovations is not really a common sight. The Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, is discussing the transition to a low-carbon economy and the transformation of heavy industry at our centre. The debate is taking the form of a roundtable with Ministers Karel Havlíček and Richard Brabec and thirty other partners from business, academia, and the non-profit sector. "I admire Ostrava for how it has managed to connect the past with the future while maintaining its identity: it has not given up and has thrown itself into data mining with a miner's tenacity. I hope that the other 30 European coal regions will build upon this experience," commented Frans Timmermans on his visit to Ostrava.

The number two of the European Commission and a clean fuel car supporter also visited the data room to take a look at our Karolina. He was pleasantly surprised to find that our newest supercomputer ranked 15th on the GREEN500 list, which tracks the world's most energy-efficient supercomputers.

His final stop of his visit to the Moravian-Silesian Region was in Dolní Vítkovice, where he was introduced to the projects for the redevelopment of the area, which will be funded from the European Just Transition Fund.

For more about the visit, see, for example, the Czech Television report.