The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and the BSC AI Factory have received the European AI Excellence Award at the FACTORY 4.0 Gala, part of the Central and Eastern Europe’s Digital Excellence Awards. Mariona Sanz, BSC Head of Innovation and Business Development and BSC AI Factory Project Lead, and Cristian Canton, BSC Associate Director at BSC, accepted the award on behalf of the centre on Tuesday 6 October 2026 in Bucharest, Romania.
The ceremony took place at the MINA - Museum of Immersive New Art, in the presence of more than 150 distinguished guests from industry, academia and the diplomatic community. The award recognises the excellence in technological innovation and European collaboration that characterises the work carried out at BSC.
"It is a great honour to receive this award on behalf of BSC and the BSC AI Factory. We are very grateful for this recognition of our excellence in technological innovation and European collaboration. It encourages us to keep working with partners across Europe to further accelerate the adoption of AI infrastructure and expertise by industry, research and society."
Speaking at the FACTORY 4.0 conference
The BSC AI Factory’s participation continued on 7 October, when Mariona Sanz spoke at the AI panel “Intelligent Automation in Action”, organised and moderated by the National Institute for Research & Development in Informatics - ICI Bucharest. The panel explored how AI-driven robotics and intelligent automation are reshaping the way factories operate, adapt and compete, connecting machines, data and decision-making to create more flexible, responsive and efficient production environments. During the panel, Mariona Sanz highlighted the valuable contribution of BSC AIF’s Romanian partner, the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics (ICI Bucharest), which participates in the BSC AIF initiative and launched its own Romanian EuroHPC AI Factory in September 2026. This collaboration reflects the importance of cross-border cooperation in strengthening Europe’s AI ecosystem, expanding access to AI infrastructure and expertise, and accelerating AI adoption across research, industry and society.
The panel was part of the FACTORY 4.0 Conference, now in its 7th edition. The 2026 edition took place at the Globalworth Nord Events Center in Bucharest, within the framework of the international FACTORY X.0 Global Forum initiative, and brought together more than 700 participants, over 50 speakers and institutional partnerships across more than 7 countries in the region.
