Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Asymptotic Speedups for Free through Automatic Incremental Computing

Project description

Advancing software efficiency with incremental computing

As data centres and ICT devices are projected to consume 20 % of global energy by 2030, optimising software efficiency becomes critical. Incremental computing (reacting to input changes instead of recalculating results from scratch) promises significant speed and energy savings. However, existing methods are limited by their need for expert knowledge or narrow applicability. In this context, the ERC-funded AutoInc project aims to revolutionise incremental computing by developing a library of incremental operators, creating a new intermediate representation for incremental computations, and designing an optimising compiler to convert existing code. By automating the incrementalisation process, AutoInc will enhance programme efficiency and offer new insights into automatic incremental computing.

Objective

The energy consumption of data centers and ICT devices grows at an alarming rate and will be responsible for up to 20% of the global energy consumption by 2030. To sustain the ongoing digital transformation, we must find ways to run software dramatically more efficiently. A promising direction is incremental computing. Incremental computations react to input changes rather than recomputing their result from scratch, which is known to deliver asymptotic speedups in theory and order-of-magnitude speedups in practice. However, current approaches to incrementality have limited applicability: They either require expert knowledge, or only support specialized domains (e.g. database queries), or only yield modest speedups. The goal of this project is to develop a methodology for automatically incrementalizing computations and significantly improving their time and energy efficiency.

The AutoInc project achieves this ambitious goal by establishing a novel foundation for incremental computing in three complementary parts. First, the project develops a library of incremental operators for atomic and other essential data types as part of a novel framework of differential theories, which ensure the correctness and composability of the operators. Second, the project designs a low-level intermediate representation (IR) for describing compositional incremental computations as computation networks and provides a novel differential recomputing semantics for the IR. Third, the project develops an optimizing compiler that translates existing code to the low-level incremental IR and uses operators from differential theories where possible. Each part is useful in its own right, but together AutoInc enables developers to automatically incrementalize the reactive parts of existing programs. Besides improving the efficiency of programs, this project will produce fundamental insights about the nature and limits of automatic incremental computing.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2023-COG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

JOHANNES GUTENBERG-UNIVERSITAT MAINZ
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 999 720,00
Address
SAARSTRASSE 21
55122 MAINZ
Germany

See on map

Region
Rheinland-Pfalz Rheinhessen-Pfalz Mainz, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 999 720,00

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0