The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) has announced the results of the 4th edition of Computing Projects Calls Advanced, FCT/CPCA/2023/01. This competition aims to promote scientific research and technological innovation by awarding advanced computing resources to national projects in a wide range of scientific areas.
Approved Projects
The 4th edition of Computing Projects Calls Avançada achieved a 94% acceptance rate, with a total of 163 projects approved out of 173 applications submitted. These results set a new milestone in terms of the number of projects submitted and approved, surpassing all previous editions.
The 163 projects approved represent access to more than 50 national institutions and small businesses. More than 250 million CPU core.hours and more than 230,000 GPU.hours have been allocated, with an estimated project value of more than 3 million euros.
The projects are distributed across the various types of access, with the big news this year being the entry into operation of the Deucalion and MareNostrum 5 supercomputers - a Spanish supercomputer in which Portugal owns a share, with support from the EU's PRR in Portugal - which made it possible to add the A3 type, for large accesses. This funding also contributes to the maintenance of the Portuguese supercomputer.
Find out more at https://recuperarportugal.gov.pt
The available platforms
The approved projects will be implemented on the platforms of the National Advanced Computing Network (RNCA), which offer High Performance Computing (HPC), Scientific Cloud Computing (SCC) or Virtual Research Environments (VRE) resources:
- Navigator from LCA-UC (Advanced Computing Laboratory of the University of Coimbra)
- Oblivion and Vision from HPC-UÉ (HPC Center of the University of Évora)
- Cirrus and Stratus from INCD (National Infrastructure for Distributed Computing)
- Deucalion (Azurém, Guimarães)
- MareNostrum 5 (Barcelona Supercomputing Center)
In addition to the support provided by RNCA, there is also a European partnership, EuroHPC, which has open calls for access to European supercomputers, such as LUMI, Vega or Meluxina.
Project types
Beneficiaries have 6 or 12 months to implement HPC and SCC projects or 24 months for VRE projects. The projects are divided into 4 types of access:
- A0, Experimental access: 43 projects
- A1, Development access: 63 projects
- A2, Regular access: 36 projects
- A3, Access Larger Dimension: 21 projects.
Distribution by Scientific Area
The projects approved cover a wide range of scientific areas, reflecting the diversity of the applications. Engineering, Physics and Chemistry continue to be the scientific areas that make most use of these resources. The percentage distribution of projects by scientific field is as follows:
- Physics and Mathematics: 31%
- Engineering and Technology: 26%
- Chemistry and Materials: 20%
- Life and Health Sciences: 15%
- Earth and Environmental Sciences: 8%
Impact and Future Prospects: 5th edition of the MareNostrum Competition and Access 5
The allocation of advanced computational resources allows for the continuity and development of research, as well as increasing the national and international competitiveness of science, contributing to the advancement of scientific and technological knowledge in Portugal. FCT congratulates all the researchers and institutions that submitted their applications in the 4th call, recognizing the high level of quality of the proposals submitted, and alerts you to the opening of the 5th call Computing Projects Calls Advanced, scheduled for September 10:
An Expression of Interest for access to the production phase of MareNostrum 5aimed at the national Science, Technology, Innovation and Public Administration sectors.
Interested parties should complete and submit the simplified form available until September 9, 2024.
These are initiatives of FCCN, FCT's digital services, which is responsible for promoting the development of the RNCA by coordinating national advanced computing resources, encouraging cooperation between the various centers involved and developing national and international partnerships with other entities.
For more information on Advanced Computing and calls for tenders, see the RNCA website, the FCT website or contact rnca@fccn.pt.
