EuroCC Belgium - Empowering the Belgian supercomputing community

WHO ARE WE?

EuroCC Belgium is the National Competence Centre (NCC) in the area of high-performance computing (HPC) and high-performance data analytics (HPDA). 

EuroCC Belgium coordinates activities in all HPC-related fields at a national level and serves as a reference contact point on HPC/HPDA/AI at a national level and for customers from industry, science, (future) HPC experts, and the general public alike. 

Mission

The tasks of EuroCC Belgium are diverse including (but not limited to): 

• Set-up communication and dissemination actions 
• Offer a formal framework between HPC-related activities
• Develop and display a comprehensive and transparent map of HPC competences and institutions 
• Act as a gateway for industry and academia to providers with suitable expertise or relevant projects, may that be national or international
• Collect HPC training offers and display them on a central place together with international training offers collected by other NCC’s
• Foster the industrial uptake of HPC
• Facilitate access to systems, scientific and technical expertise and knowledge pools  

EuroCC Belgium consortium and partners: 

Do you want to receive information about HPC news, events and trainings? Contact us at contact [ati] enccb [dota] berel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" . 

WHAT IS HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING?

High-performance computing (HPC) is typically defined as "using computing power that is vastly larger than available in a typical desktop computer". 

Utilizing high-performance computing requires both the hardware, i.e., supercomputer, as well as software, i.e., the tools for programming HPC applications and using the supercomputer.*

*© by CSC – source Edukamu course. ‘Elements of Supercomputing’ https://edukamu.fi/elements-of-supercomputing
 

WHAT IS A SUPERCOMPUTER?

©PRACE: https://prace-ri.eu/

WHY DO WE NEED SUPERCOMPUTING?

Because a supercomputer operates remarkably faster than a conventional computer, supercomputing can help to solve extraordinarily
complex problems in science and industry. There are used in a multitude of application areas: 

• Health care/Drug development
  • User story of Manon Mirgaux (University of Namur): discover how HPC contributes to the design of new drugs in the treatment of cancer.
     
• Biology/Biotechnology 
  • User story of Martin Grignard (University of Liège): learn how radio waves propagate in the head with Shamo
  • User story of Stefan Weckx (VUB): improving chocolate with supercomputing
     
• Climate change/Weather forecasting 
  • LUMI pilots: modelling weather and space environment 
  • User story Global warming  
     
• Environment  
  • User story IRCEL: learn how the VSC HPC infrastructure is essential for the reporting of air quality for the whole of Belgium
  • User story VITO: learn how HPC infrastructure helped to provide the calculations for the high-resolution air quality modelling for the Environmental Impact Assessment Report in the context of the Oosterweelverbinding. 
     
• Logistics 
  • User story LOG Research Group UHasselt: supercomputing is used here to improve efficiency and productivity in a warehouse
     
• Industry
  • User story Optimizing particle processes through simulation with MPacts
• Space
  • LUMI pilots: modelling weather and space environment
• ...

High-performance computing resources and knowledge are hugely important assets for any modern society providing a competitive advantage for research and industry.  

*© by CSC – source Edukamu course. ‘Elements of Supercomputing’ https://edukamu.fi/elements-of-supercomputing

PROJECT EUROCC

The first part of the EuroCC project (Sept. 2020-Dec.2022), funded under the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking call in Horizon2020, aimed to bring the participating European countries to a common high level in the fields of supercomputing (HPC), high-performance data analytics (HPDA) and artificial intelligence (AI).
To this end, the project established national competence centres (NCC) in the participating countries. 

For Belgium, the National Competence Centre is called EuroCC Belgium. 

Discover the EuroCC project and CASTIEL in this interview with project coordinator Bastian Koller.
 

EUROCC2

Since February 2023, the EuroCC project has entered phase 2 and will further raise awareness about supercomputing HPC (focus on SMEs and industry)  and grow/maintain the Belgian HPC Network through regular communication. The project strives to support supercomputing/HPDA/AI users by providing a clear overview of tools, training and services. We will also identify & fill the gaps in training and services.  

 

 

EuroCC works closely with the Coordination and Support Action (CSA) CASTIEL to link the national centres throughout Europe and to ensure successful collaboration between the participating countries.
 

 

The EuroCC project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101101903.