INESC TEC part of project to support users of European supercomputers, including the Portuguese Deucalion

EPICURE (High-level specialised application support service in High-Performance Computing) is the project that brings together the supercomputers of the European EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) network to support its users.

Over the past few years, EuroHPC JU has been working to push advanced computing to new all-time heights by installing novel machines capable of competing with their international counterparts: three pre-exascale, five petascale and two exascale supercomputers. Now, the entities that host these supercomputers have joined the EPICURE project – with INESC TEC as one of the 16 partners.  

Until now, the support provided to HPC users focused mainly on short-term operational support based on basic HPC skills and knowledge. Thanks to EPICURE, it will be possible to go even further – with more advanced technical monitoring that will allow users of EuroHPC supercomputers to move from system to system (regardless of the supercomputer architecture) faster and without major difficulties. 

This evolution represents an important qualitative leap, empowering users with advanced tools and knowledge to deal with the diversity of HPC systems available. According to João Barbosa, researcher at INESC TEC, “users will be able to exploit the full potential of supercomputers, maximising their efficiency and performance, instead of relying only on elementary knowledge. It is a new capacity-building/training strategy that promises to improve the user experience significantly and increase their productivity and efficiency in the use of advanced computing resources”. 

EPICURE is ready to provide a variety of essential services, including code enablement and scaling, performance analysis and benchmarking, as well as code refactoring and code optimisation. To achieve these objectives, the project will draw on the experience and knowledge of its partners in operations and advanced computing and will feature training activities and hackathons – towards promoting knowledge sharing in portability, optimisation, parallelism, and GPU programming. 

The project also features several Centres of Excellence and Centres of Competence, which will share knowledge and provide support services to users on an integrated platform. This collaborative and integrated approach promises to significantly boost responsiveness and excellence in advanced computing support in Europe. 

Through this project, INESC TEC restates the institutional commitment to advanced computing, standing out as a crucial European partner in the area. “This project represents a significant complement to INESC TEC’s role in the operationalisation of the Deucalion supercomputer, reinforcing our commitment to advanced computing”, stated the researcher. João Barbosa also highlighted the role of the INESC TEC team in this context: “this project also demonstrates the European partners’ acknowledgment of the work carried out by the INESC TEC team”. This initiative not only consolidates the institution’s position as a national leader in advanced computing, but also boosts INESC TEC relevance as a strategic partner in European projects in the area. 

Led by Finland’s IT Center for Science (CSC), EPICURE welcomes 16 partners from 14 European countries: Portugal, Finland, Spain, Italy, Czechia, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, Germany, and France. In addition to João Barbosa, INESC TEC is also represented by Rui Oliveira, member of the Board of Directors of INESC TEC and Director of the Center for Advanced Computing of the University of Minho (MACC), as well as André Pereira, Paula Rodrigues, and Rita Moutinho.  

EPICURE received €10M under the collaboration between EuroHPC and the European Union, under the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL). 

The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC and UMinho.