EU mulls initiative to develop Europe’s supercomputers
The European Commission launched last week a consultation calling for opinions on the future development of supercomputing, aiming to create a European initiative on high performance computing.
The EU executive says the results of the consultation will help support the development of the next generation computing and data infrastructure in Europe.
High performance computing carries enormous potential for science, society, and investment in the European Union because of its ability to analyse vast quantities of data in real time.
The Commission says it can effectively address societal and scientific challenges in areas such as the development of personalised medicine, decoding the human brain, forecasting climate change and mitigating large-scale industrial and natural disasters.
In its 2017 Mid-Term Review of the Digital Single Market Strategy and in the 2016 European Cloud Initiative, the Commission announced proposals for a European high performance computing initiative, underlining it as crucial element for the future of European research and industry.
It says major investments are needed to develop the next generation of supercomputers, and that it is 'essential' that EU Member States, the public and private sectors join forces through a European initiative.
Support for the development of an integrated world-class high performance computing and data infrastructure in Europe was boosted this year by the 'EuroHPC' Declaration signed by nine EU Member States so far: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. All other Member States are invited to sign the declaration.
The consultation runs until 5 September. The results will be used to prepare the European high performance computing initiative.
The Commission intends to adopt the initiative in 2018. Everyone interested – academic and researchers, private and public sector representatives and associations – are invited to participate in the consultation.