The Minister of Research and Universities of the Generalitat de Catalunya visits the installation works of the new supercomputer MareNostrum 5 and highlights the decisive participation of the BSC in the European manufacturing chip initiative
The Minister of Research and Universities of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Joaquim Nadal i Farreras, has visited this Friday the Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) for the first time since he took office. Nadal highlighted "the extraordinary level of excellence in the field of computing at the center, which will continue to be a clear commitment in the future for the Catalan Government".
The Minister also highlighted the fact that the BSC "is capable of attracting resources beyond the basal contributions of public administrations, with a clear growth that is based on competitive funds raised on the basis of the scientific work of its researchers.”
The Minister held a meeting with the center's executive team headed by the director, Mateo Valero, the associate director, Josep M. Martorell, and the BSC advisor, Enric Banda; later, with the BSC executive team and the rector of the UPC and member of the center's board of trustees, Daniel Crespo, Nadal visited the installation works of the new MareNostrum 5 supercomputer and the current MareNostrum 4 supercomputer.
Nadal has defended that the Govern "will continue to respond to the needs of the BSC to provide it with resources for a growth that is embodied in far-reaching projects such as the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer now under construction, the new corporate headquarters already in operation or the decisive participation in the European manufacturing chip initiative".
For his part, the associate director of the BSC, Josep M. Martorell, emphasized that MareNostrum 5 will have a strategic value of the first level, since it will allow the BSC to become an important element in the European map of scientific infrastructures and to plan long-term research. In the strictly scientific field, Martorell stressed the relevance of the "great leap that MareNostrum 5 represents at the scientific level, since it will allow us to face challenges that were not within our reach until now in areas such as personalized medicine, climate change, Artificial Intelligence or new energy sources".
