British tech companies and researchers will gain access to EU supercomputers after an official report warned the UK was falling behind in the race for processing power.
The government is expected to announce on Monday that Britain has joined the European High Performance Computing Joint Venture, an EU program to pool access to the most powerful supercomputers.
Under the scheme, known as EuroHPC, companies and scientists will bid to win grants to use eight powerful supercomputers, which will be used for tasks such as drug discovery, artificial intelligence and weather simulation. be able to.
Machines in the program include supercomputers from Finland, Italy, and Spain, which are ranked 5th, 6th, and 8th in the world.
By comparison, the most powerful supercomputer in the UK is Edinburgh’s Archer 2 system, which ranks 39th according to the widely used Top500 list.
A government-commissioned study into the future of computing found last year that Britain had fallen from third place in the world in supercomputing power to 10th in 2005. He said the lack of investment “posed a threat.” [the UK’s] Establish our position as an international leader in science and technology. ”
The UK left EuroHPC following its exit from the European Union in early 2021, but became a member last year as part of its rejoining of the Horizon Europe science program.
In addition to EU countries, countries such as Norway and Türkiye are also participating in the plan.
Participation in the program will not cost any additional taxpayers up front, but if UK researchers or companies receive grants from the program to access supercomputing resources, the funding will The same amount will be provided by the government.
Digital Economy Minister Saquib Bhatti said joining the plan was “an example of cooperation that we think will be beneficial to us.”
In March, the UK also joined the EU’s semiconductor research program to enable microchip companies to carry out advanced research.
The government has committed £1.5 billion to boosting Britain’s supercomputing facilities, installing AI computing hubs in Bristol and Cambridge and a new ‘exascale’ supercomputer in Edinburgh.
Michelle Donnellan, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, said: “It’s my mission to unlock the benefits of AI to the British people, and supercomputers are the essential tools that Britain’s brightest researchers need to deliver breakthroughs that will grow our economy.” From Healthcare It improves our entire lives, right down to energy security. ”
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