Framework Partnership Agreement in European low-power microprocessor technologies

Proposals should address the following points:

• The general and specific objectives of the partnership;
• The related research and innovation roadmap for the development of innovative low-power Processing Units: functional and non-functional requirements; architectural aspects; firmware and system software; boards and blades; power efficiency options; performance measurement metrics; handling of different technology generations, role of open-source hardware and open-source software, building and demonstrating a machine prototype including TRL and size targets for the machine prototype;
• The initial consortium which will implement the initiative, and its governance structure;
• The consortium's perspectives of building microprocessor technologies (i.e. today's solutions and their perspectives; the industrial players; a strategy for building up the European approach);
• The ability of the consortium to seize exploitation opportunities, including the mar

  In the Communication one the European Cloud Initiative (COM(2016) 178 final), the EC announced its aim to support, together with the EU Member States and European industry, the creation of a world-class European High Performance Computing (HPC) and Big Data ecosystem built on two exascale computing machines, which would rank in the first 3 places of the world. One of the specific objectives stated in the Communication is to ""foster an HPC ecosystem capable of developing new European technology such as low power HPC chips"".

  The objective of the Call is to establish a stable and structured partnership between the EC and the institutions and organisations who commit themselves to establish, maintain and implement a strategic research and innovation roadmap for building European low-power microprocessor technologies underpinning the build-up of future machines for exascale-class HPC, big data and emerging applications. A co-design approach is necessary to bridge the gap between suppliers and users to dev

  • Strengthening the competitiveness and leadership of the European industry & science, in particular the European technology supply, in low-power microprocessor technologies for HPC, Big-Data and other emerging applications.
  • Potential for European microprocessor technology with drastically better performance/power ratios compared to current offerings for HPC, Big-Data and emerging applications.
  • Covering important segments of the broader and/or emerging HPC and Big-Data markets