Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EUROCC (National Competence Centres in the framework of EuroHPC)
Période du rapport: 2020-09-01 au 2021-08-31
The aim of the EuroCC project is the establishment and operation of National High Performance Computing (HPC) Competence Centres (NCCs) in the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking(JU) Participating States. The NCCs shall connect to a network of hubs to provide access to leading-edge HPC technology and knowledge. Aligned with the stakeholders‘ specific needs and with every individual country’s current level of maturity, EuroCC aims to close existing gaps in HPC, High Performance Data Analytics (HPDA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). As such, the usability of these technologies in the different countries increases and thus provides a European excellence baseline. High-Performance Computing, as a key tool for science and industry, has steadily grown over the past three decades into a mature technology that supports many of Europe’s most important sectors. In many parts of the European economy, including engineering, health, climate and energy, usage of computer aided design coupled to modelling and simulation, continues to grow rapidly. The software applications used in these sectors drive innovation. In many areas from academia and industry but also public administration, the use of iterative modelling and simulation – including data management, analysis and visualisation – is becoming more and more important. HPC alone or HPC in combination with HPDA and AI provide the means to tackle not only large, complex problems but also to widen further the use and uptake of these technologies in academia, public administration and industry. Thus, a symbiotic cooperation needs to be established, where the stakeholders of HPC infrastructures, services and expertise are enabled to improve their service portfolio on base of the customers’ needs and thus to help the end users with a maximum of efficiency in their respective domain. The major task of the overall activity is to help the national centres to set up their individual operation frames and at the same time to get access to and make best use of the currently available experiences and expertise on a national and on a European level.
In each participating country, during the first project year each National Competence Centre (NCC) has defined its goals (roadmap) and worked towards achieving the first milestones.The project has set up a website/portal (EuroCC ACCESS) which bundles news from the NCCs (blog), serves as a contact and information point and displays, amongst other things, the results of the competence mapping in HPC and related technologies of the participating partners (https://www.eurocc-access.eu/). Furthermore, each NCC has already started several actions to interact with its stakeholders, including surveys, workshops and direct meetings with different user groups to identify their needs and adapt the NCC’s services to them, including tailored actions for SMEs (e.g. NCCs support SMEs in the participation in European projects such as FF4EuroHPC).
During the first year, each NCC shared their existing competences and participated in multiple workshops to exchange best practices, e.g. on Interaction with Industry or Communication and Dissemination. In addition, NCCs are participating in the Mentoring & Twinning activities organised by the Coordination and Support Action (CSA) CASTIEL to help them close gaps in their HPC/HPDA/AI expertise. Newer technologies, such as Edge or Quantum Computing are also already addressed. Also, a variety of workshops have been organised for the NCCs by CASTIEL in cooperation with HPC providers. An overview of the status at M12 can be found in the public report D1.5 “First year summary of the progress of the National Competence Centres”.
During the first year, each NCC shared their existing competences and participated in multiple workshops to exchange best practices, e.g. on Interaction with Industry or Communication and Dissemination. In addition, NCCs are participating in the Mentoring & Twinning activities organised by the Coordination and Support Action (CSA) CASTIEL to help them close gaps in their HPC/HPDA/AI expertise. Newer technologies, such as Edge or Quantum Computing are also already addressed. Also, a variety of workshops have been organised for the NCCs by CASTIEL in cooperation with HPC providers. An overview of the status at M12 can be found in the public report D1.5 “First year summary of the progress of the National Competence Centres”.
The National Competence Centres (NCCs), as implemented in EuroCC are providing an important pillar of the realization of the EuroHPC JU's overall objective, an activity to innovate and widen the HPC use and skills base all over Europe.
The NCCs are implemented in a way, which maintains existing excellence in HPC, HPDA and AI, whilst also addressing current gaps on a national level to enhance the offered services for academia, industry and public administration across Europe. EuroCC brings together most of the European countries and bases on a commitment by the participating states which shows a clear strategical thinking in each of the nations.
These lead organisations mandated by the countryies' governments are the partners of this project and they are the ones, which bring together experts on a national level to set up the Competence Centre. Within EuroCC each nation is represented as a work package on its own, which follows a global strategy (provided as a template of task) and thus simplifies the set up and ensures focused evolution. One important task is the identification of the national stakeholders in HPC, HPDA and AI and thus to create a competence map, which helps to elaborate on national synergies.
Furthermore, the common structure of the NCCs simplifies the interaction with the Coordination and Support Action (CSA) CASTIEL, which creates e.g. a European Competence Map and paves the way for interaction with industry or training. This leverages collaborations between different nations to efficiently address skill gaps and to close them.
A clear identification of relevant end users and their needs allows for a distinctive strategy for the setup and evolution of the NCCs. The work performed to implement the NCCs takes into account the diverse end users from academia, industry and public administration. A dedicated task allows for facilitating access to scientific/technical expertise/consulting, as well as for access to knowledge on state of the art, but also new technologies. The results are improved excellence in available training courses and assuring awareness raising and promotion of the capabilities to industry and academia.
Innovation comes with the identification of opportunities. Thus, the competence mapping performed by the NCCs leads to identification of further available competences in their nation. By the interaction with regional/national industries and the work out of success stories, the benefit for users of HPC/HPDA/AI advanced services is highlighted and facilitates interaction. In addition, the interaction with other NCCs on the European level enabled by CASTIEL provides insights into best practices, the exchange of knowledge and expertise as well as technology transfer.
Especially the effort put into enhancement of training and business support services by the NCCs enables end users to improve their use of HPC and HPDA. Many industrial end users/clients do not have the capacities e.g. in terms of manpower or the expertise to make optimal use of HPC and HPDA.
Therefore, tailored solutions provide required knowledge and expertise which enhance the use of HPC and HPDA without the need for high investments in specialized personnel. Collabortaion between the NCCs and national SMEs is addressed e.g. by FF4EuroHPC, stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs.
The expertise mapping, the improved training and the knowledge sharing, also with regard to new technologies, and in general a close interaction with potential end users creates and promotes a European environment where European Technology providers and HPC end users share expertise and best practices.
The NCCs are implemented in a way, which maintains existing excellence in HPC, HPDA and AI, whilst also addressing current gaps on a national level to enhance the offered services for academia, industry and public administration across Europe. EuroCC brings together most of the European countries and bases on a commitment by the participating states which shows a clear strategical thinking in each of the nations.
These lead organisations mandated by the countryies' governments are the partners of this project and they are the ones, which bring together experts on a national level to set up the Competence Centre. Within EuroCC each nation is represented as a work package on its own, which follows a global strategy (provided as a template of task) and thus simplifies the set up and ensures focused evolution. One important task is the identification of the national stakeholders in HPC, HPDA and AI and thus to create a competence map, which helps to elaborate on national synergies.
Furthermore, the common structure of the NCCs simplifies the interaction with the Coordination and Support Action (CSA) CASTIEL, which creates e.g. a European Competence Map and paves the way for interaction with industry or training. This leverages collaborations between different nations to efficiently address skill gaps and to close them.
A clear identification of relevant end users and their needs allows for a distinctive strategy for the setup and evolution of the NCCs. The work performed to implement the NCCs takes into account the diverse end users from academia, industry and public administration. A dedicated task allows for facilitating access to scientific/technical expertise/consulting, as well as for access to knowledge on state of the art, but also new technologies. The results are improved excellence in available training courses and assuring awareness raising and promotion of the capabilities to industry and academia.
Innovation comes with the identification of opportunities. Thus, the competence mapping performed by the NCCs leads to identification of further available competences in their nation. By the interaction with regional/national industries and the work out of success stories, the benefit for users of HPC/HPDA/AI advanced services is highlighted and facilitates interaction. In addition, the interaction with other NCCs on the European level enabled by CASTIEL provides insights into best practices, the exchange of knowledge and expertise as well as technology transfer.
Especially the effort put into enhancement of training and business support services by the NCCs enables end users to improve their use of HPC and HPDA. Many industrial end users/clients do not have the capacities e.g. in terms of manpower or the expertise to make optimal use of HPC and HPDA.
Therefore, tailored solutions provide required knowledge and expertise which enhance the use of HPC and HPDA without the need for high investments in specialized personnel. Collabortaion between the NCCs and national SMEs is addressed e.g. by FF4EuroHPC, stimulating the innovation potential of SMEs.
The expertise mapping, the improved training and the knowledge sharing, also with regard to new technologies, and in general a close interaction with potential end users creates and promotes a European environment where European Technology providers and HPC end users share expertise and best practices.