The Advanced Computing service of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) launches the 7th Advanced Computing Projects Competition (CPCA), providing the scientific and innovation community in Portugal with access to high-performance computing resources, including national and European infrastructures.
The competition allows applicant teams to request resources made available through... CNCA, specifically in the Deucalion system, funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, Cirrus and Stratus, as well as in MareNostrum 5 (MN5), the European supercomputer installed at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), which also has the support of the PRR.
Through this competition, researchers and Research and Development (R&D) teams from different scientific and technological areas can access resources from High Performance Computing (HPC), Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Suitable for different needs and levels of experience in using advanced computing. The allocation of resources is organized according to the different access types foreseen in the competition.
Over 320 projects approved at the 6th CPCA.
The demand for these resources has been growing consistently. The 6th CPCA concluded with 334 applications, with over 320 projects approved., totaling over 3 million euros in allocated advanced computing resources.
The results demonstrate the increasing use of advanced computing infrastructures by the national scientific and innovation community and the importance of these resources for projects that require high processing capacity, GPU use, large data volumes, or specialized computing environments.
Changes to resource limits
In this 7th edition there are some Changes to the conditions and limits of available resources, particularly with regard to GPUs.
The FCT therefore recommends that all potential candidates carefully consult the Notice of Opening of the Competition, which describes the eligibility conditions, access types, available resources, applicable limits, and other application rules.
Consulting the Opening Notice is particularly important to ensure that the requested resources are compatible with the conditions defined for the respective type and computing platform.
The FCT's annual Advanced Computing Projects competitions aim to strengthen research and innovation capacity in Portugal, providing the scientific and technological community with access to high-performance computing infrastructures and contributing to projects in multiple areas of knowledge.
Information session on October 16th.
To support researchers and research teams in preparing their applications, a sonline clarification session, on October 16th, dedicated to presenting the main rules, access conditions and new features of this edition.
The session will clarify doubts about the different types of access, the available advanced computing resources, usage limits, eligibility criteria, and the application process. It will also be an opportunity for interested parties to ask questions directly to the team responsible for the competition and ensure a properly prepared application. Registration for the session is now open at [website address]. registration platform.
