Fortissimo and the Bigger Picture: Connecting with EuroHPC and EuroCC 2

The FFplus project continues the successful Fortissimo series (Fortissimo, Fortissimo 2, FF4EuroHPC), which aims to support European SMEs and startups in utilising High-Performance Computing (HPC), High-Performance Data Analytics (HPDA) or Artificial Intelligence (AI) to optimise or develop their products or processes. Based on the EuroHPC JU’s strategy, FFplus’ goal is to strengthen the global competitiveness of the European industry. But what is that strategy and how does it relate to its bigger brother EuroCC2?

Let’s zoom out a bit and take a glimpse at the bigger picture. Founded back in 2018, the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (JU) is a joint initiative between the EU, European countries and private partners to make Europe a global leader in the field of supercomputing. Society as a whole as well as politics benefit from supercomputing applications in fields such as medicine, climate change, disaster control, but also national security and defence. Use cases for industry are manifold and encompass fields such as automotive, aerospace, renewable energy and health (e.g., developing drugs, therapies, medicine products). The use of HPC+, HPC+ meaning HPC and related technologies such as AI and HPDA, has proven successful when it comes to reducing product design and production cycles, minimizing costs, and increasing resource efficiency.

Through open and competitive calls for Research & Innovation (R&I) grants, the JU supports the emergence of a strong HPC ecosystem in Europe by fostering technologies, skills & usage, federation & hyperconnectivity, international cooperation, applications, infrastructure and AI Factories (the so-called 7 pillars of its strategy).

One core element is to build a European network of National Competence Centres (NCCs) for High-Performance Computing (HPC) and related technologies. Within the framework of the EuroCC 2 & EuroCC4SEE projects NCCs in 33 European countries have been established so far, acting as central points of contact for potential users to receive information about HPC+ competences and services in their countries. The NCCs both catalogue HPC+ competences in their countries, and display and provide tailored services to users from industry (particularly SMEs), public administration and academia, thereby enhancing the HPC+ uptake. Services encompass training, consulting on access to HPC+ resources, providing access to codes and tools, expertise and matchmaking, as well as Proof-of-concept studies, to name some of the most common. The NCCs also raise awareness about the benefits of HPC+, e.g. by showcasing use cases and success stories, including those produced within FFplus. SMEs and startups without any prior knowledge in HPC+ can contact their NCC to get more general information about use cases. They may then ask for consulting to define a suitable topic for a Proof-of-concept study, or decide to submit a proposal to one of the FFplus calls. Their NCC can then support the SME in writing their FFplus funding proposal, or applying for compute time on one of the JU systems.

Among the Research and Innovation (R&I) projects supported by the JU are 14 HPC Centres of Excellence (ChEESE-2P, Bioexcel-3, HiDALGO2, MultiXscale, EXCELLERAT P2, ESIWACE3, MaX, SPACE, Plasma-PEPSC, CEEC, EOCOE III, POP3, DEALII-X, Microcard-2) that develop and scale up existing computing codes for the exascale and post-exascale era. Flagship codes, developed by the CoEs (Centres of Excellence), will be deployed on all EuroHPC supercomputers and made available to HPC+ users across Europe. Collaboratively, NCCs and CoEs offer targeted training courses for users on how to effectively use the codes produced. Trainings tailored to the needs of SMEs and startups can be offered, supporting them to get started with HPC+ applications, or further advance their skills. NCCs can moreover offer consulting on how to optimize already existing code, or port it to a selected hardware architecture.

Collaboration between NCCs and CoEs is further fostered by the CASTIEL 2 project, focusing not only on knowledge-exchange the field of training (incl. mentoring), but also with regards to competences, industry interaction and dissemination. While the NCCs focus more on the uptake of HPC+ in their countries, CASTIEL 2 brings in the European dimension, which allows countries without a long HPC+ history to develop necessary skills much faster, and makes it easier for all countries to align their strategies. Within the scope of CASTIEL 2 a new European HPC Portal (called HPC in Europe Portal) has been developed, providing information on training, competences, available codes, success stories, funding opportunities for potential users across Europe, and connecting them to the European HPC service hub.

To wrap up, the projects funded by EuroHPC JU offer all an SME or startup needs to use supercomputing, big data and AI to fully uncover their potential and boost their business. So, take your chance and get in touch with the NCC in your country to receive more information.

Authors: Cosima-Maria Weyers, Sophia Honisch, Sandra Becker