EuroCC 2 and Castiel 2 are two linked projects which work to identify and address the skills gaps in the European High Performance Computing (HPC) ecosystem and coordinate cooperation across Europe to ensure a consistent skills base.
The role of EuroCC 2 is to establish and run a network of more than 30 NCCs across the EuroHPC Participating States. The NCCs act as single points of access in each country between stakeholders and national and EuroHPC systems. They operate on a regional and national level to liaise with local communities and SMEs, map HPC competencies and facilitate access to European HPC resources for users from the private and public sector.
EuroCC 2 delivers training, interacts with industry, develops competence mapping and communication materials and activities, and supports the adoption of HPC services in other related fields, such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence (AI), high performance data analytics (HPDA) to expand the HPC user base.
The latest phase of this initiative will build on the achievements of EuroCC, supporting and further developing the HPC Competence Centres and building the overall European HPC ecosystem.
CASTIEL 2 promotes interaction and exchange of expertise and competence across the NCC network. The project encourages collaboration, knowledge exchange between HPC practitioners, expertise and best practices between Participating States and the mapping of skills and competencies across Europe to support cohesion and a more consistent level of expertise across Europe. In this next phase of the project, the CASTIEL 2 project also takes on an additional role of providing similar coordination support to the EuroHPC Centres of ExcellenceSearch for available translations of the preceding (CoEs). The CoEs gather HPC expertise in developing HPC applications by the scientific domain at a European level. CASTIEL 2 will build a stronger HPC community which will foster strategic collaboration in HPC research and deployment of skills and in expertise in HPC technologies and applications between CoEs and NCCs.
The objective of both projects is to strengthen the European Union (EU)’s technological autonomy and competitiveness by ensuring a coordinated and consistent high level of knowledge sharing across Europe in HPC and related disciplines such as high-performance data analytics (HPDA) and HPC-based artificial intelligence.
EuroHPC JU Executive Director Anders Dam Jensen welcomed the renewals of EuroCC and CASTIEL, commented: “EuroCC and CASTIEL were two of the first EuroHPC projects to get off the ground. The work of these two projects underpins the mission of the EuroHPC JU by supporting European HPC users and the development of a consistent skills base across Europe. I am very pleased to see these projects will be further established and support the strengthening of our European HPC ecosystem.”
Dr Bastian Koller, HLRS’s General Manager and the Project Coordinator of EuroCC and CASTIEL added: “During the first funding period of EuroCC and CASTIEL, it quickly became clear that the HPC communities in different countries — at all levels of expertise — have much to gain by discussing their knowledge, experiences, and needs with others, and we were excited to see the enthusiasm for collaboration.” He added, “As these projects enter their second phase, these interactions will lead to further improvements and impressive success stories in the usage of HPC, HPDA, and AI for research and industrial applications across Europe.”
