The commitment to Advanced Computing is an essential condition for scientific and economic progress, providing the development of new academic and scientific activities, the promotion of training and the stimulation of technology-based business activities. With this in mind, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) is taking another step towards affirming this area in Portugal by creating a new institutional structure, the National Center for Advanced Computing (CNCA). This is an initiative funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, and is one of the actions included in measure RE-C05-i08 Ciência Mais Digital, contracted between the FCT and the Recovering Portugal Mission Structure.
The purpose of the CNCA is to manage, frame, monitor and promote efforts to implement new Advanced Computing initiatives in Portugal, in order to realize the benefits they bring to the research and innovation communities.
Initially, FCT will present the project to all potentially interested parties. The aim is to ensure that the center starts its activities in a comprehensive and inclusive manner, involving as many partners as possible from the National Science and Technology System.
Online presentation session open to all
At 3pm on January 31st, an online session will be held to present the new center, its operating model, initial resources and the procedure for interested entities to join.
The session is open to everyone, but requires prior registration, after which a link will be provided to ensure participation in the webinar.
The FCT also invites interested parties to send questions that they consider relevant to the session to the following email address cnca-questoes@incd.pt by January 27th. Any other doubts or questions should also be sent to the same address.
FCT's role in the field of Advanced Computing
The National Center for Advanced Computing joins the other initiatives that FCT, through its digital services unit FCCN, has been developing in this technological area.
Noteworthy are the regular calls for tenders for computing projects, the funding of R&D projects in the area of Advanced Computing and its applications. These efforts also include the acquisition of national computing resources within the framework of the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), such as Deucalion and MareNostrum 5, and the expeditious allocation of computing time on these new FCT supercomputers to the beneficiaries of any FCT projects already evaluated.
