Investing in Advanced Computing is an essential condition for scientific and economic progress, enabling the development of new academic and scientific activities, promoting training and stimulating technology-based business activities. In this sense, the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) takes another step towards the affirmation of this area in Portugal, through the creation of a new institutional structure, the National Center for Advanced Computing (CNCA). This is an initiative funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, being one of the actions registered in measure RE-C05-i08 Ciência Mais Digital, contracted between the FCT and the Recover Portugal Mission Structure.
The CNCA was created with the purpose of managing, framing, monitoring and promoting efforts to implement new Advanced Computing initiatives in Portugal, in order to realize the benefits that result from them for the research and innovation communities.
Initially, the FCT will proceed with the presentation of the project to all potentially interested entities. The aim is to ensure that the center begins its activities in a comprehensive and inclusive manner, involving as many partners as possible from the National Science and Technology System.
Online presentation session is open to all
At 3:00 pm on January 31st, an online session will begin where the new center, its operating model, initial resources and the procedure for interested entities to join were presented.
The session is open to everyone, but requires enrollment prior, after this registration the link will be made available that ensures participation in webinar.
The FCT also invites interested parties to send questions that they consider relevant to address in the session to the email cnca-questoes@incd.pt until January 27th. Any other queries or questions should also be sent to the same address.
The role of FCT in the area of Advanced Computing
The National Center for Advanced Computing joins the other initiatives that the FCT, through its digital services unit FCCN, has been developing and that fall within this technological area.
Of note are the regular holding of computing project competitions, the funding of R&D projects in the area of Advanced Computing and its applications, and the acquisition of national computing resources, within the framework of the initiative. 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 are part of these efforts.
