University of Galway is to host Ireland’s new supercomputer, following a collaboration agreement by the Government and the European Commission.
The national high-performance computing system, CASPIr, will be operated by the University’s Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC ), providing the research and innovation community across Ireland and Europe with significantly enhanced capacity to address challenges and opportunities in science and society, such as climate, environment, health, AI and big data.
CASPIr will be co-funded by the Department for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU ) as part of a five-year collaboration agreement.
Professor David Burn, President of the University of Galway, said: “The collaboration agreement for the new supercomputer CASPIr heralds a new era of research capability for Europe, and Ireland’s research community, and places the University of Galway and our Irish Centre for High-End Computing at the helm of data-driven study.”
CASPIr follows on from the supercomputer Kay, which was commissioned in 2018.
It is one of 31 supercomputers in Europe which are funded under the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. It is planned to be in service in 2027. CASPIr takes its name from Computational Analysis and Simulation Platform for Ireland.
ICHEC is hosted at the University of Galway and funded by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. It is Ireland’s national centre for high-performance computing, providing e-infrastructure, services and expertise to the academic research community, industry and the public sector. Its high-performance computing services are made available to researchers based on a peer review process by an independent panel of scientists.
Professor Lokesh Joshi, Vice-President Research and Innovation at University of Galway, said, “Leveraging supercomputing capabilities across the research and innovation domain is essential to realising solutions to pressing global issues and accelerating research impact. Today’s announcement will fuel and support the development of existing and new collaborative partnerships – regionally, nationally, and internationally.”
Four key research themes have been identified as areas of focus for CASPIr following go-live, including environment and climate, genomics, nano-materials, and mobility.
JC Desplat, Irish Centre for High-End Computing at University of Galway, said, “The signature of this Agreement with EuroHPC represents an important milestone for Ireland. It paves the way to the procurement of CASPIr, one of a new generation of supercomputers designed to execute sophisticated computer models known as ‘digital twins’, with broad domains of applications ranging from health and life sciences, to the search for new materials, mitigating the impact of climate change and improving mobility within our cities.”
Dr Michael Nolan, Chair of the ICHEC Science Council, said, “CASPIr will enable the Irish research community to take leading roles in research consortia, international research programmes, and attract industry investment that is built on the ability to integrate computational methods into R&D, alongside helping to deliver on government ambition.”
For more information, visit www.eurohpc-ju.europa.eu
