Project Coordinator: Dr. Carmen Elena CÎRNU – Scientific Researcher II

The general objective of the project

The EuroCC project aims to establish and operate National Competence Centers in HPC (High Performance Computing) in the countries participating in the EuroHPC JU (Joint Undertaking) program.

A total of 33 National HPC Competence Centers (33 states) will connect in a network of hubs and centers to join forces and provide access to HPC technologies, knowledge, expertise and expertise, aligned with their specific national needs and depending on the level of maturity of the HPC of each state. Each NCC Center will identify and analyze the needs and requirements of the HPC (academia, public administration and industry) which will be the key factors in the actions of each NCC Center. Each NCC Center will represent the national contact point for providing support in training activities, technical expertise, access to HPC resources, consulting services and coordination of HPC activities at national level.

In addition to the above, the NCC Center in Romania aims to analyze the current state of skills, infrastructure and education of HPC in Romaniaat. Another aim is to identify the needs of HPC on two levels (beginner / potential users and more advanced users), from academia, public administration and industry/SMEs. Subsequently, the NCC Center aims to facilitate access to a variety of solutions, knowledge, resources, skills, etc., depending on the needs identified. Also, it seeks to encourage collaboration between academia, administration and industry, as well as to facilitate access to various opportunities and actions in the field of HPC in Europe.

Project description

The project "EuroHPC-04-2019 - HPC (High Performance Computing) Competence Centers" is based on the expertise of 33 participants from Member States and associates in order to develop and implement an integrated network of national competence centers in HPC. It will act as a point of single contact, in order to make available the HPC expertise, experience and resources available in Europe through a wide range of personalized resource access services, technology consulting and / or training courses. The training part is addressed mainly to industry, academia and national public administrations.

The National Competence Centers, which are part of the project-enhanced network, will act locally to map the available HPC competencies and identify existing knowledge gaps, coordinating HPC expertise at national level and facilitating access to European HPC opportunities.

The project also aims to develop national competencies in the fields of HPC (High Performance Computing), HPDA (High Performance Data Analytics) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) and increase the use of these technologies in the Member States while promoting cooperation and implementation of good practices across Europe to effectively address and eliminate skills gaps, which is key to strengthening technological autonomy and competitiveness in the European Union.

The project, coordinated by the Stuttgart High Performance Computing Center (HLRS), one of the members of the Gaussian Center for Supercomputing (GCS), will run for 2 years with co-financing through the European Horizon 2020 program.

Results

The project is currently underway, with an Agile approach, in the sense that the results are created continuously as the project progresses, its deliverables and results being periodically updated during the 2 years.

The expected results are:

• creating a RO-NCC website as a point of information and facilitating a unique access to a network of knowledge, expertise, skills and HPC resources in Romania and Europe;
• creating a map of HPC competencies in Romania (services, infrastructure, education, training) which will be updated periodically;
• creating analyzes and studies on the identification of various HPC needs in Romania (basic and advanced needs), for HPC resources (training, skills development, infrastructure, funding opportunities, etc.). for three main categories of users (potential or existing), respectively from the Academic environment, Public Administration and Industry / SMEs;
• encouraging collaboration between HPC competence holders and identified HPC needs, in particular between academia and SMEs / Public Administration, as well as encouraging the formation of collaborations towards projects, opportunities and / or funding of HPC projects and activities in Europe;
• setting up a catalog of services of the RO NCC center (assistance and consultancy services, expertise, facilitation of access to resources, etc.);
• creation and use of investigation tools (questionnaires) for the evaluation of HPC competencies and needs in Romania;
• collaboration with the other NCC centers to increase the level of experience, knowledge and expertise of NCC Romania through access to good practices, expertise, knowledge, models, resources from the EUROCC network;
• creating dissemination / awareness events for the target audience as well as organizing and / or facilitating participation in courses, workshops, seminars, etc. in the field of HPC for those interested;
• publishing materials in this regard - results for dissemination, announcements and information about opportunities and events, statistics, analysis reports, newsletters, case studies, etc. - about HPC in Romania and especially in Europe.