Centres of Excellence for HPC Applications

The European Centres of Excellence (CoEs) for High Performance Computing (HPC) applications were selected following the calls under the European Research Infrastructures. They promote the use of upcoming exascale and extreme performance computing capabilities and scale up existing parallel codes towards exascale scaling performance.

Furthermore, they address the skills gap in computational science in the targeted domains by specialized trainings for increased adoption of advanced HPC in industry and academia. They bring together the European world-class knowledge and expertise in applying established mechanisms, user driven development, performance tools and programming models for HPC, and co-design activities for real systems based on leading edge technologies.

Areas of Excellence

The Centres of Excellence cover the areas of engineering, environmental science, renewable energy, materials modelling and design, molecular and atomic modelling, Big Data and Global System science, bio-molecular research, and tools to optimize HPC applications performance.

Active CoEs

Why is this important?

The work of the European HPC Centers of Excellence in areas like environmental science, renewable energy, bioscience, medicine or Big Data and Global System science is influencing many aspects of our everyday life. 

As an example, EXCELLERAT P2 is a CoE with a strong focus on HPC in engineering. One major use case of high-performance computing in engineering is the improvement of aerodynamics of cars and airplanes, which reduces fuel consumption and emissions. The improvements achieved through the simulations on HPC resources therefore not only add to the competitiveness of the industries, but also to the societal goal of better air quality.

Personalised medicine and life science

Cardiovascular diseases are the most frequent cause of death worldwide and half of these deaths are due to cardiac arrhythmia, disorders of the heart’s electrical synchronization system. To fully understand what is going on also in non-standard, e.g.  already diseased cases, a simulation of the heart on cell level is necessary – a formidable task tackled by the MICROCARD-2 CoE, which requires computing power at the exascale. Similarly, the CoE dealii-X aims to develop digital twins of human organs, with a special focus on the human brain and neurological disorders.  Drug discovery today is increasingly supported by computational methods. BioExcel-3 develops an ecosystem of the most  essential, widely used  computational tools for such tasks. Those applications have a wired range of applications in biomolecular modeling challenges, as showcased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Natural hazards – prevention & emergency handling

Natural disasters have been a constant threat for humankind – think of earth quakes, volcano eruptions or tsunamis. In the age of rapid climate change, some kinds of hazards are getting both more frequent and more violent: Forest fires, heavy rain and flooding, or heat waves and droughts. Turns out that HPC simulation can help prevent catastrophic outcomes (e.g. by predicting regions affected by a flooding and evacuating) or guide emergency measures. For instance, during the eruptions of the volcano outbreak on La Palma in 2021, using volcano ash dispersal simulation provided by CoE ChEESE-2P in an urgent computing mode helped local authorities to make the right decisions about airport closures and other confinements. Other applications involve understanding of earthquakes, tsunami forecast (ChEESE-2P), wildfire simulation, urban air quality simulation (HiDALGO2), or high-resolution climate simulation (ESiWACE3).