With the UK’s membership in EuroHPC, British academics are poised to gain access to substantial future supercomputer research funding.
Joining the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC) will boost the UK’s world-leading supercomputing research community, which can power the discovery of new drugs and harness AI’s potential.
The supercomputer scheme brings together supercomputing resources from across 35 countries, including Norway, Turkey, and all 27 EU Member States.
Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary, Michelle Donelan said: “This deal will only strengthen the UK’s science and tech superpower credentials, by giving our scientists and businesses even greater access to a leading network of expertise and powerful computing systems from Finland to Portugal.”
Benefits of joining EuroHPC
The move will support UK scientists to make use of Europe’s supercomputing facilities.
Their ability to solve problems with more speed than traditional computers makes these systems vital to the development of new discoveries that will benefit society.
Joining EuroHPC will boost the UK’s leadership in supercomputing as members pool resources to develop scientific excellence.
UK scientists will now have the opportunity to bid for research support, strengthening the UK’s computer capacity.
The move builds on the government’s £1.5bn plan to deliver world-leading computer facilities for the nation’s businesses and researchers.
This includes backing for the Isambard-AI supercomputer in Bristol and the Dawn supercomputer in Cambridge, both of which will come online this year.
Access granted through EuroHPC
UK researchers will have access to:
- LUMI, a pre-exascale supercomputer located in Kajaani, Finland
- Leonardo, a pre-exascale EuroHPC supercomputer in the Bologna Technopole, Italy
- MareNostrum 5, a pre-exascale EuroHPC supercomputer located in Barcelona, Spain
- MeluXina, a petascale supercomputer located in Bissen, Luxembourg
- Karolina, a petascale supercomputer located in Ostrava, Czech Republic
- Discoverer, a petascale supercomputer located in Sofia, Bulgaria
- Vega, a petascale supercomputer located in Maribor, Slovenia
- Deucalion, a petascale EuroHPC supercomputer located in Guimarães, Portugal
Association with Horizon Europe
In November 2023, the UK’s deal to associate with Horizon Europe secured access to future EuroHPC supercomputers.
The Horizon Europe-funded part of the programme will be worth over £770m between 2021 and 2027.
With match funding from the UK Government, researchers can bid confidently for further EuroHPC grants, ensuring access to cutting-edge facilities.
EuroHPC grants require match-funding from the UK on a case-by-case basis. More information on how this will be made available will be provided soon.
Researchers can apply for time on EuroHPC systems and for Horizon-funded research and innovation grants on the EuroHPC website.
