The Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC ) at NUI Galway has been selected by the EU as a home for a new supercomputer.
Ireland is one of five successful countries, along with Germany, Hungary, Greece, and Poland, chosen to operate the next generation of European high performance computing. The announcement of EU funding is the first step in a process which will be completed subject to national co-funding arrangements.
The new EuroHPC supercomputer will be by far the most powerful in the country and, according to NUI Galway president Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, will radically expand the university's research opportunities.
“Our core values at NUI Galway include openness and respect, and computing infrastructure of this capacity will be a significant asset in that regard as it futureproofs our approach to research, respecting the evidence and making a major contribution to openly supporting the scientific research community in Ireland," Professor Ó hÓgartaigh said. "It also fits with so many aspects of our research strategy, using data to support research and policy-making in the environment, marine, healthcare, and in supporting a good society.”
Professor J-C Desplat of ICHEC added: “A new supercomputer, expected to be around 25 times more powerful than the current national supercomputer, Kay, would provide a national competence development platform for both numerical modelling and for the next generation of data-centric techniques and platforms and, as such, accelerate the adoption of powerful new hybrid techniques embedding machine learning within mainstream computational science models and Grand Challenges.”
According to Professor Jim Livesey, vice president for research and innovation at NUI Galway, the key feature of a machine of this nature is its capacity to model complexity. "As weather patterns change, as the future of distributed energy networks change, as we attempt to predict food supply needs of the future, we need a totally new kind of computing capacity to support our endeavours in these areas for the public good," he added.
EuroHPC supercomputers will be available to serve a wide range of European users, including the scientific community, industry, and the public sector, powering new applications in a wide range of areas, from designing medicines and new materials to fighting climate change, they will advance science, boost the innovation potential of enterprises, and ultimately improve people’s quality of life.
