National Competence Centres in the Framework of EuroHPC Phase 3

National Competence Centres (NCCs) are central points of contact for high-performance computing (HPC) and related technologies in their country. Their mission is to map out HPC competences and institutions within the country and act as a gateway between industry, academia and providers for expertise and relevant projects. The NCCs also collect and display HPC training offers and foster industrial uptake of HPC. 

The development and operations of more than 30 NCCs are funded by the EU’s Horizon and Digital Europe programmes, beginning with the EuroCC project (1.9.2020 – 31.12.2022), followed by EuroCC 2 (1.1.2023 – 31.3.2026).

EuroCC 3 builds on the results of the previous project phase. Its main task, in addition to high-level management to monitor progress in the NCCs’ development, is to support national centres in setting up their individual operational frameworks. This is done while accessing and making the most of the experience and expertise currently available at the national and European levels. In EuroCC 3, the focus is on supporting industry, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and public sector organisations in utilising HPC resources.

CSC’s role in the project is to support, build and enhance the capability and competence of users in Finland to harness the potential of HPC, data analytics and AI. The activities and services offered by NCC Finland are targeted towards industry/SME users. However, they are also useful for other user groups, including the academia, research institutions and public administration. NCC Finland will heavily focus on paving the users’ way to LUMI, the EuroHPC pre-exascale system located in Finland. CSC provides, for example, training, courses, practical level support and consultation to operate in HPC environment.

More information about the funding

This project is supported by the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under Grant Agreement No. 101306701 and the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.

The JU receives support from the European Union‘s Digital Europe Programme and Germany, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, and Kosovo.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. Neither the European Union nor the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking can be held responsible for them.

HPC in Europe is the umbrella brand uniting Europe’s high-performance computing initiatives across 36+ countries.