Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) will coordinate themselves to develop High Performance Computing (HPC) research and technology innovation. Both organizations have signed an agreement to help promoting “a globally competitive HPC value chain and flagship industry”, echoing the European Union strategy in the domain.

These common objectives will be fulfilled by carrying out different activities. This includes definition of joint R&D programs and mobilization of their capabilities to develop relevant technology. BSC and CEA plan to drive innovation, both in collaboration with companies and through the creation of spin-offs from their R&D centers.

One of the first actions arising from this agreement will be considering the use of European Commission’s instruments such as PPIs (Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions) to deploy new HPC systems for the European scientific community.

BSC and CEA have a strong presence all along the HPC value chain and across the EU HPC strategy 3 pillars, namely, Independent access to technology, supporting world-class infrastructures and developing HPC applications. Indeed, both partners design and operate word-class computing infrastructures and systems including the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) tier-0 supercomputers, are founding members of the European Technology Platform for High Performance Computing (ETP4HPC) and collaborate in many European funded research projects and Centers of Excellence. This agreement is a step further towards still better coordination.