Transnational Access Programme for a Pan-European Network of HPC Research Infrastructures and Laboratories for scientific computing

Project Information

HPC-EUROPA3

Grant agreement ID: 730897

DOI

10.3030/730897

Project closed

EC signature date 28 April 2017

Start date 1 May 2017

End date 30 April 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Research Infrastructures

Total cost

€ 9 206 161,50

EU contribution

€ 9 206 161,50

Coordinated by

CINECA CONSORZIO INTERUNIVERSITARIO
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - HPC-EUROPA3 (Transnational Access Programme for a Pan-European Network of HPC Research Infrastructures and Laboratories for scientific computing)

Reporting period: 2020-05-01 to 2022-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In the last years, numerical simulation methods have come to prominence and are at the base of new gains in knowledge and progress in all scientific domains. At the same time, the panorama of High Performance Computing (HPC) in Europe has reached a remarkable level of consistency, and it could reach a still further level of completeness thanks to the Transnational Access (TA) model that is offered by the HPC-Europa initiative. In this scenario, complementing the long-established techniques with the use of numerical simulation has become an increasingly important scientific method of advancing the careers of European researchers.
Thanks to HPC-Europa3, researchers are being supported in the use of HPC throughout their scientific careers until they become self-sufficient users of the large-scale facilities included in the pan-European initiative for supercomputing, leading to maximum exploitation of the experience gained and of the scientific network created through the HPC-Europa programme.
The objective of HPC-Europa3 is to implement a programme of TA visits, giving European-based researchers the opportunity to spend a period of time (on average 7 weeks) at one of the HPC centres partners of the project, collaborating with one of the associated research teams (host labs), and to benefit from using some of the most relevant HPC research infrastructures in Europe complemented by strong technical on-site support from staff with varied expertise.
To summarize, targets of HPC-Europa3 are:
¬ 1'098 visits expected in the project lifespan in more than 200 host research groups in the associated countries;
¬ Wide participation of the EU computational science community: applications to be invited from all eligible countries and a wide range of disciplines;
¬ New Regional Access Programme for Baltic and Western Balkans regions with 80 visits and strong targeted support;
¬ Expected visitor successes: joint publications with hosts, repeat or reciprocal visits, new joint research grants, and visitors gaining research posts in their former host departments;
¬ TA users’ meetings to allow users of all levels an early opportunity to present their work;
¬ Increase awareness of HPC among SMEs via the organisation of dedicated workshops;
¬ Increase synergy and relationship with PRACE and other HPC initiatives with the signature of Memorandums of Understanding.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the project lifetime, the TA team has coordinated 18 calls for applications (including dissemination, support in the application preparation phase, review of the applications, organisation of the SUSP meetings to rank the applications, and then organisation of the approved visits to each centre).
In total 1'247 applications were received, of which 1'004 were accepted (80%). Applications were received from researchers in 32 European and associated countries and also from outside Europe, with a broad range of scientific disciplines represented. Among applicants, there was a broadly even split between postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and senior researchers, and the number of female applicants stood at 27% - higher than in previous HPC-Europa programmes.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted the programme with a long period during which travelling to other countries was almost impossible. This led to a decreased number of applications being received during 2020 and 2021 and a high number of cancelled visits (157 in total) which made the overall number of completed visits to be 847.
The project has seen the first Transnational Access Meeting for users taking place in Edinburgh on the 23rd of October 2018, with a high number of visitors attending enthusiastically to present their achievements. Unfortunately, the second and third Transnational Access Meetings for users had to be moved to online events due to the COVID-19 pandemic (they took place respectively on the 22-23 October 2020 and on the 3-4 November 2021); despite the difficulties both have seen a high participation rate and high-quality presentations and posters.
The networking activities in HPC-Europa3 are devoted to strengthening the collaboration between HPC centres and research communities in a mutually beneficial partnership, leading to a considerable enhancement of scientific progress in Europe. 14 Memorandums of Understanding for collaboration have been signed with different EU Centres of Excellence, other EU projects and PRACE. Three workshops for SMEs have also been organised in Stuttgart (Germany), Milan (Italy) and Edinburgh (UK) to increase awareness and involvement of industries.
In parallel, the activities related to the JRA have been also successfully completed with several public deliverables being produced to help researchers on how to improve the portability of their applications to different HPC centres.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

HPC-Europa3 ensures that European researchers can gain easy and supported access to state-of-the-art HPC infrastructures, thereby boosting the competitiveness and innovativeness of the European scientific community through cutting-edge research. HPC-Europa3 also introduces a regional dimension to the previous TA model by providing targeted action in geographical regions to enable the largest HPC centres in the locality to support researchers by improving their HPC competencies and disciplinary know-how, to equip them to apply for access to larger HPC facilities and to compete for HPC resources on a more equal basis with researchers working in larger countries. This will increase the competitiveness for the access to the top level of the HPC infrastructure pyramid represented by PRACE and now EUROHPC.
The closer interactions between a larger number of researchers active in and a number of infrastructures provided by HPC-Europa3 facilitates cross-disciplinary fertilization and a wider sharing of information, knowledge and technologies across fields and between academia and industry.
- Building on an existing extensive network of scientific hosts, an outreach programme aims to identify new host research groups, leading to increased chances of finding a good match of research interests for each applicant.
- Productive links between research communities in different countries are established, resulting in joint publications, subsequent reciprocal visits, and visitors securing research positions in their former host groups, with the potential to stimulate the structuring of pan-European collaborations.
Innovation is fostered through a reinforced partnership of research organizations with industry.
- Strong existing links are promoted between HPC-Europa centres and their industrial partners, i.e. technology providers and partners from projects such as ETP4HPC.
- Specific activities have been carried out to engage with the SMEs in order to increase awareness on the advantages of the use of HPC in the development of new products or services and to increase innovation.
A significant impact is expected as the consortium builds on a strong existing partnership of some of the leading HPC centres in Europe, who have long experience on opening up their HPC infrastructures to the full European user community, and have been successful in attracting an extremely wide variety of users, both in geographic terms and in terms of application area.

hpce3-logo-medium.png