A BSC project proposal has been accepted in the Horizon 2020 Future and Emerging Technologies Innovation Launchpad, with the project titled “Qbeast Utility Analysis to Market and Enterprise (Quake)”. One of 19 proposals accepted from a total of 50 submitted, this marks the first time that BSC has successfully submitted a proposal to this call.
Quake proposes to prepare the Qbeast tool for the market. Qbeast is a scalable multidimensional indexing system that enables very efficient multidimensional queries of data. It is therefore oriented to big data, but is also very useful in high-performance computing (HPC) environments. Qbeast is also a transversal tool which applies interactive supercomputing and in situ techniques to reinvent traditional workflows in HPC simulations. It can be applied to numerous domains, including Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) (used in sectors such as automotive and wind energy), molecular dynamics simulations (pharmaceutical), geological prospections (oil) or weather forecasting (civil emergencies). This tool has been developed by the researchers Cesare Cugnasco and Yolanda Becerra in the Autonomic Systems and e-Business Platforms group at BSC.
“We see good opportunities for Qbeast in both the biotech and business intelligence markets. For the former, we already have a prototype available that can be used to explore possibilities in the biotech market,” says Raül Sirvent, senior researcher at the Computer Science Department at BSC and leader of the Quake project. Qbeast is also a potentially disruptive tool in the business intelligence market due to its scientific innovations.
The objectives of this project are:
- to develop a clear understanding of the potential markets for this technology,
- to develop a prototype as a demonstrator for business intelligence market outreach while exploiting the prototype already developed for the biotech sector, and
- ultimately, to create a comprehensive business plan that will outline the relevant steps required to launch this technology to the market through the creation of a spin-off company.
Dr. Sirvent was supported in writing the proposal by the BSC’s Technology Transfer unit who contributed towards defining the business strategy and identifying potential markets. The Technology Transfer unit, part of the Research Support, Transfer & Dissemination Department, helps to transfer knowledge and technology developed at the centre to industry across the world, and promotes the use of HPC by local industry in order to increase its competitiveness.