The National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics organized CIP Forum V 2022

Between June 14-16, 2022, at the Palace of the Parliament, the fifth edition of the international forum "CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION FORUM - CIP FORUM V 2022 - Critical Infrastructure Protection & Resilience Europe 2022" took place. The event was organized by the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics - ICI Bucharest, at the initiative of IF Idea Factory Think Tank, under the High Patronage of the President of the Chamber of Deputies - Marcel Ciolacu, and with the support of parliamentary committees and ministries in Romania.

The forum was designed as an open platform for the community of leaders and decision-makers in the administration, the public and private sector, security specialists, and innovators. This event's main objective was to strengthen governments' capacity to coordinate critical infrastructure protection activities.

This year's edition was the first to be held in partnership with CIPRE - Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience Europe. It allowed the industry to meet again to share experiences, network, and develop collaborative connections to secure Europe.

Representatives of the authorities participated in the official opening moderated by Adrian-Victor Vevera, General Director of ICI Bucharest: President of the Chamber of Deputies - Marcel Ciolacu, together with the Prime Minister's Chancellor, Mircea Abrudean, who sent the message of Prime Minister Nicolae Ionel Ciuca, Deputy Prime Minister Hunor Kelemen, President of the Court of Accounts - Mihai Busuioc, Minister of Finance - Adrian Câciu, Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitalization - Sebastian Burduja, Secretary-General of the Government - Marian Neacșu, President of ANCOM - Vlad Stoica, Director of Special Telecommunications Service - Ionel-Sorin Bălan, Head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Secretary of State within the Ministry of Internal Affairs - Raed Arafat, Secretary of State within the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure - Gabriel Bunduc, President of the Romanian Digitization Authority - Dragoș Cristian Vlad, Secretary of State within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development - Sorin Moise, and the Director of the National Directorate of Cyber ​​Security - Dan Cîmpean.

The Minister of Culture, Lucian Romașcanu, was a keynote speaker and moderator in the panel Culture, National Cultural Heritage, National Identity and Critical Infrastructures. Within the panel, a cultural debate took place, the participants being Răzvan Theodorescu, Vice President of the Romanian Academy, Florin Gheorghe Filip, President of the "Science and Information Technology" section of the Romanian Academy, Nicolae Dascălu, Patriarchal Counselor of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Doina Banciu, Vice President of the Romanian Academy of Scientists, Mihai Claudiu Covaliu, President of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Cristina Popescu, General Director of Romfilatelia, Eugen Tomac, Member of the European Parliament, Claudia Nicolae, General Director of Agerpres, Sandra Ecobescu, President of Calea Victoriei Foundation, Anita Sterea, President of the Cooltural Association "We care!" and Camelia Botezatu, the President of Emblematic Romania.

The second day began with the launch of the "Data2B" cluster and the digital innovation hub in partnership with the TEC cluster. This collaboration supports the digital transformation and ensures a high level of security by dealing with cyber threats on both companies and public authorities, developing innovation capabilities in the field, and increasing the digitalization of their activity's processes, operations, and mechanisms.

Marius Iulian Stanciu - Secretary of State, Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity, Iulian Popescu - Secretary of State, Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization - Romania, Roxana Mînzatu - Secretary of State at the Prime Minister's Office, Cristian Erbașu - President TEC Cluster / Erbasu Construction Director, Rodica Lupu - Loop Operations CEO, Mihai Manole - Energy Theme Managing Partner, Dan Niculaie-Faranga - Nuclearelectrica Chief Financial Officer, Ionuț Anghel - Accurate Business Managing Partner, Yasen Tanev - BIA Cybersecurity Council President, Andrei Manea - Project Manager Romanian Association for Smart City and Adrian Victor Vevera - General Manager of ICI Bucharest attended the panel dedicated to this cluster.

The day continued with discussions on the development of new projects in the energy sector. The topic was debated by Cosmin Mugurel Anghel, Director of the Department of Information Security at Nuclearelectrica, Endrit Demi, Senior Coordinator for Energy, Cyber ​​Security and Economic Development Assistance at the US State Department, Vytis Kopustinskas, Scientific Officer at the Securities Unit, Distributions and Market within the Directorate of Energy, Transport and Climate, JRC, European Commission, Megan Bishop, Economic Officer at the US State Department, the Employers' Organization of Renewable Energy Producers in Romania - PATRES, Alexandru Georgescu, Moderator in GT3 on the protection of critical energy infrastructure, Consultation Forum on sustainable energy in the defense and security sectors of the European Defense Agency, Silvia Vlăsceanu, Executive Director, HENRO, Mihai Manole, Managing Partner Tema Energy and Bogdan Voica, Advisor, Concept BV.

Day two ended with the panel dedicated to risks and threats to cyber structures, moderated by Cătălina Udeanu, Head of the Center for Coordination of Critical Infrastructure Protection. The participants in the discussions were Yoram Hacohen, CEO of ISOC Israel, Dan Dobrea, General Director of SALROM, Mihăiță Ursu, General Director of TAROM, George Barbu, General Director of the Higher School of Civil Aviation, Gabriel Mocanu, ANCOM Regional Director, Florin Dragomir, Head of Of the Technical Regulation Department within ANCOM, Răzvan Bologa, Professor at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Rainer Saks, Member of the Board of Directors, CybExer Technologie, Bogdan Mihai, Deputy Director at the National Bank of Romania and Paul Oncescu, Sector Account Manager public, S&T Romania.

Within CIP FORUM V 2022, ICI Bucharest organized HPC Day, an event dedicated to users and potential users of High Performance Computing (HPC) in private and industry, public institutions, educational and research institutions, and IT service providers, as well as other interested entities. ICI Bucharest is part of the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) project, acting as a National Competence Center. In this context, the institute's purpose is to promote expertise and contribute to the progress of collective knowledge in this field. A secondary objective is to connect the points between HPC technologies and their benefits in a critical infrastructure network.

The opening was attended by Adrian-Victor Vevera, General Director of ICI Bucharest, Marius Poșa, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, Marco Aldinucci, Professor at HPC, Department of Informatics, University of Turin and Carmen-Elena Cîrnu, Director Scientific ICI Bucharest and Director of EuroCC Romania.

The panel dedicated to the international HPC ecosystem included presentations by Marius Ioan Piso, President and Executive Director of the Romanian Space Agency, Sorin Zgura, Director of the Institute of Space Sciences, Vlad Diaconita, Professor at the Department of Economics and Cybernetics, Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest and Dragoș Barbu, the Romanian Substitute Representative in the Governing Board of European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC).

Cosmin Georgescu, CEO ClusterPower, Petrică Bărbieru, General Manager of PRO SYS SRL, Șerban Zirnovan, Senior Director, Infrastructure Solutions, EMEA, Dell Technologies, Emanouil ATANASSOV, Professor, Institute of Information Technology and Communications, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, EuroCC Bulgaria, Valeriu Codreanu, Head of HPC, SURF, EuroCC Netherlands, Roger Kvam, Senior Project Manager, Sigma2 AS, EuroCC Leader Norway and Laura Morselli, HPC Solutions Architect, CINECA and EuroCC Italy presented the case studies related to HPC.