European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking
The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking is a public-private partnership in High Performance Computing, enabling the pooling of European Union -level resources with the resources of participating EU Member States and participating associated states of the Horizon 2020 programme, as well as private stakeholders. The Joint Undertaking has the twin stated aims of developing a pan-European supercomputing infrastructure, and supporting research and innovation activities. Located in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, the Joint Undertaking started operating in November 2018 and will remain operational until the end of 2026.
History
In June 2016, EU Member State leaders, meeting in the European Council called for greater coordination of EU efforts on high-performance computing as part of the EU's wider Digital Single Market strategy. The European Declaration on High-Performance Computing was launched in Rome in March 2017, initially signed by seven EU Member States committed to upgrading European computing power. In June 2018, the Council of the EU endorsed the European Commission’s proposal to establish the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. On 3 July 2018, the European Parliament voted in favour of the Commission’s proposal to create a European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking. The proposal was formally adopted by the Council of the European Union on 28 September 2018.
Funding and objectives
The Joint Undertaking will have a budget of €1 billion, half from the EU budget and half from participating states. Additional resources to the value of over €400 million will come fromprivate partners. The EuroHPC JU has the twin objectives of;
developing a pan-European supercomputing infrastructure: buying and deploying in the EU at least two supercomputers that will be among the top 5 in the world and at least two other that would today rank in the global top 25 for Europe's private and public users scientific and industrial users, for use in more than 800 scientific and industrial application fields;
supporting research and innovation activities: developing a European supercomputing ecosystem, stimulating a technology supply industry, and making supercomputing resources in many application areas available to a large number of public and private users, including small and medium-sized enterprises.
Programme
In June 2019, the EuroHPC JU governing board selected 8 sites for supercomputing centres located in 8 different EU Member States to host the new high-performance computing machines. The hosting sites will be located in Sofia, Ostrava, Kajaani, Bologna, Bissen, Minho, Maribor, and Barcelona. 3 of the 8 sites will host precursor to exascale machines that will be in the global top 5 supercomputers, and 5 petascale machines. The precursor to exascale systems are expected to provide 4-5 times more computing power than the current top supercomputing systems of the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe. Together with the petascale systems, they will double the supercomputing resources available for European-level use, meaning that many more users will have access to them. All the new supercomputers will be connected to the GEANT high-speed pan-European network, like the existing supercomputers that are part of PRACE.
Members
The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking is composed of public and private members.
Public members
As of January 2020, public members of the Joint Undertaking include, the European Union, 26 of the 27 EU Member States, and five non-EU associated states of the EU's Horizon 2020 programme. Other EU Member States or countries associated to Horizon 2020 are able to become members, provided that they accept the Statutes and financially contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the Joint Undertaking.
Observer states
has been given "observer" status for the EuroHPC JU, allowing it to participate in deliberations of the Governing Board, but not receive a vote. The United Kingdom lost its observer status following its departure from the EU on 31 January 2020.
Private members
The Joint Undertaking's private members include the European Technology Platform for High Performance Computing and the Big Data Value associations. Any legal entity established in a Member State or country associated to Horizon 2020 that supports research and innovation may apply to become a private member of the Joint Undertaking.
Governance
There are three bodies in the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking:
Governing board
The governing board is composed of representatives of the EU and participating states. The European Commission and each participating state appoint one representative in the Governing Board. Each representative may be accompanied by one expert. The EU holds 50% of the voting rights through the European Commission representative. The rest of the voting rights are distributed among the participating states according to the following lines;
for the general administrative tasks of the Joint Undertaking, the voting rights of the participating states should be distributed equally among them;
for the tasks corresponding to setting up the work plan for the acquisition of supercomputers, the selection of the hosting entity and the research and innovation activities of the Joint Undertaking, the voting rights of the participating states that are EU Member States are based on the principle of qualified majority. Participating states that are not EU Member States hold voting rights for the tasks corresponding to the research and innovation activities;
for the tasks corresponding to the acquisition and operation of supercomputers, only those participating states and the EU that contribute resources to the procurement of petascale supercomputers and the total cost of ownership of pre-exascale supercomputers have voting rights proportional to their contribution.
Industrial and scientific advisory board
The industrial and scientific advisory board consists of two Groups which provide independent advice to the Governing Board;
the Research and Innovation Advisory Group identifies key research priorities. It is composed of no more than 12 members, where no more than six are appointed by the Private Members, and no more than six are appointed by the Governing Board;
the Infrastructure Advisory Group provides advice on the acquisition and operation of the petascale and pre-exascale supercomputers. It is composed of no more than 12 members appointed by the Governing Board.
Executive director
The executive director is the chief executive responsible for day-to-day management of the Joint Undertaking.
Headquarters
The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking is headquartered in the Euroforum building, owned by the European Commission, in the Luxembourg City quarter of Gasperich, Luxembourg. The site forms part of the Cloche D'or urban development scheme. The EuroHPC JU shares its headquarters with, amongst other European Commission bodies, the Euratom Supply Agency.
