50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSITY COMPUTING CENTRE

The University Computing Centre of the University of Zagreb (Croatian: Sveučilišni računski centar, abbreviated SRCE, which also means "heart") was established on 29 April 1971 by the decision of the University of Zagreb, at that time the only university in Croatia, in response to the needs of the academic community, but also the entire Croatian society, to start a more systematic and comprehensive application of new information and communication technologies. Thus, for fifty years now, SRCE has been at the heart of what we today call the digital transformation of science and higher education, and society as a whole. Many steps in the application of the latest technologies made by SRCE are an important part of the history of Croatian informatics. Let us mention only the continuity of the possibilities of advanced computing at SRCE, numerous information systems and digital services created at SRCE for the needs of higher education and science, but also, for example, those related to major sports competitions (Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics or 1987 Summer Universiade). SRCE played a key role in the early 1990s in bringing the Internet to Croatia and registering the Croatian national ".hr" domain, as well as in establishing the national centre for Internet Traffic - Croatian Internet eXchange (CIX). Numerous educational programs of SRCE have been and are a significant contribution to the spread of computer literacy in Croatia. SRCE's activities in the last 20 years have made a strategic contribution to the application of e-learning technologies in higher education in Croatia. Today, SRCE is the centre of modern e-infrastructure of the science and higher education system in Croatia, the builder and provider of a number of digital services important for modern and open science, as well as quality and open higher education. The current strategic project of SRCE - the project of building the Croatian scientific and educational cloud (HR-ZOO) - ensures not only a new generation of e-infrastructure for the science and higher education system but also the continuity of international connectivity of the Croatian with the European and global e-infrastructure. The University Computing Centre