Reinforcing e-science in the Western Balkan region
e-Science is a relatively new concept that deals with technological and applied scientific research through analysis of vast amounts of data accessible over the Internet. To facilitate such analyses new visualisation methods and vast computational resources are required. To this end, the EU funded the project ‘Centre for scientific visualisation’ (Cenvis) to reinforce the infrastructure research capabilities of the RBI’s Centre of Information and Computer Science in Zagreb, Croatia. The project wanted to create an internationally recognised research and education centre for scientific visualisation technologies and introduce e-science technology to the national and regional research community. By establishing a regional and national human network, the Cenvis project managed to bring together researchers interested in the advancement of computer usage in scientific work on the basis of e-science technologies. The activities of the project included an improvement of existing RBI e-infrastructure to facilitate the setup and integration of e-science equipment. Additionally, support on this new e-science infrastructure was provided by trained experts who also promoted the usage of e-science methodology. Through appropriate promotion, the Centre of Information and Computer Science of the RBI was established among the Centres of Excellence (CoE) Network that can provide scientific visualisation on the computer grid environment. The benefits of the Cenvis project included increased competency level in the research and development (R&D) capability of the Centre as well as provision of research experience to graduate students. Furthermore, reinforcement of the Centre for scientific visualisation is expected to enhance European collaborations and participation in EU Framework Programme (FP) projects.