PRACE officially launches, UK keeps checkbook closed

Last week the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe, or PRACE, officially launched after several years of organizing and studies (the EU doesn’t do anything in a hurry). 19 countries are part of the effort that will establish a pan-European HPC infrastructure of epic proportion

PRACE logoPRACE will maintain a pan-European HPC service consisting of up to six top of the line leadership systems (Tier-0) well integrated into the European HPC ecosystem. Each system will provide computing power of several Petaflop/s (one quadrillion operations per second) in midterm. On the longer term (2019) Exaflop/s (one quintillion) computing power will be targeted by PRACE. Users will be supported by experts in porting, scaling, and optimizing applications to novel, highly parallel computer architectures. An in-depth training program accompanies the PRACE offering teaching scientists and students how to best exploit the unprecedented capabilities of the systems. A scientific steering committee will provide advice to PRACE and operate alongside a bespoke peer review process through which access to the Tier-0 resources will be granted based on scientific excellence.

Of the 19 countries currently listed as partners, only four are contributing cash while the rest are contributing “resources and expertise.” From an article at e-Week Europe

The scheme is being funded by contributions of €100 million (£82m) each by Spain, France, Italy and Germany over the next five years. The EC is also contributing around €70 million (£58m) via the EU’s 7th Research Framework Programme.

Who’s not in that list? The UK, which has the 3rd highest GDP in Europe, after Germany and France. That means that everyone in the top 5 highest European GDPs contributed, except the UK. What’s up with that? You guys need to get with the programme.

Comments

  1. It’s all down to cash, or the lack of it.. 🙁