Call Advanced Computing Projects (4th ed): A3 Larger Access - MareNostrum 5

The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) manages the National Advanced Computing Network (RNCA). FCT manages the RNCA and seeks to aggregate national advanced computing resources, promoting cooperation between the various centres involved and developing national and international partnerships with other entities. Under the terms of the Advanced Computing Projects Regulation, published under no. 10/2022 in the Diário da República, the allocation of RNCA computing resources is made following a tender procedure whose terms are publicised on the FCT website.

All available advanced computational models (HPC,SCC,VRE) aim to support applications in various areas, such as bioinformatics, climate, materials and life science, computational chemistry, physics, and civil engineering, among others, thus supporting research and enhancing the industry competitiveness. 

For more details on High Performance Computing (HPC) and MareNostrum 5 platform, please check the Technical sheet.

Are beneficiaries, individually or in co-promotion:

• R&D (Research and Development) institutions;
• Collaborative laboratories;
• Technological interface centers;
• Science and technology infrastructures;
• Science and technology networks and consortia;
• Private non-profit institutions whose main objective is R&D activities;
• Digital Innovation Poles;
• Other public and private non-profit institutions that develop or participate in research, development, or innovation activities;
• Companies developing advanced computing projects in research, development or innovation activities;
• Individuals operating in Portugal and who wish to develop advanced computing projects in any scientific area.

Regarding applications from companies as beneficiaries, the advanced computing projects should:

• occur within the scope of pre-competitive research and innovation, without market value;
• not exceed 50% of the total computational allocation to be allocated in this call.

• A0 – Experimental Access recommended for teams with no previous experience or history of using RNCA resources or for using visualisation resources.
• A1 – Development Access recommended for software performance testing, code optimisation, scalability testing, benchmarking, re-factoring or for short duration projects.
• A2 – Regular Access recommended for scientific or innovation projects whose team has consolidated previous experience and needs resources in Navigator, Oblivion, Vision, Cirrus and Stratus platforms.
• A3 - Larger Access recommended for scientific or innovation projects whose team has consolidated previous experience and require larger amounts of resources on the Deucalion or MareNostrum 5 platforms.

See more details on the limits and maximum duration for each type in section 3 of the Call Notice - check supporting documentation in the sidebar.

Under the terms of Articles 14 and 15 of the Advanced Computing Project Regulations, all applications received will be processed according to the criteria that are specified and detailed in the evaluation guide.

A0 - Experimental Access and A1 - Development Access submitted for technical validation only.
A2 - Regular Access and A3 - Larger Access submitted for scientific evaluation and technical validation.

A2 applications will be subject to scientific merit evaluation by external evaluation panels invited by FCT, I.P. according to the following evaluation criteria:
- S1: Scientific relevance (40%);
- S2: Innovation and impact (30%);
- S3: Project planning and implementation (30%);

Validation of technical suitability will be carried out by the technical teams operating the computing platforms according to the following simplified criteria:

T1: Technical suitability for RNCA resources
T2: Reasonableness of the resources requested
T3: Planning the use of resources
Technical validation is based on the qualitative classification of "accepted" and "not accepted".

Applications for MareNostrum5 Access on the A3 access type must be submitted in English on a special form on the myFCT platform.

Submission dates between 28 March and 30 May 2024 (6pm Lisbon time)

At the end of the deadline, applications will be subject to administrative validation, scientific evaluation, validation of technical suitability and subsequent allocation on the computational platforms.

Important note - Check the submission limits set out in point 9 of the call notice:

• Access type A0 and A1: Each IR can submit a maximum of ONE application every 3 months, in non-consecutive batches of applications and always subject to the availability of resources.
• Access type A2 and A3: Each IR and co-IR can submit only ONE application in each of these typologies. In other words, in each type each person can only appear once, either as an IR or co-IR. Applications submitted in breach of this condition will not be accepted.
• If an A2 application and an A3 application from the same pair IR and co-IR are submitted, even if they are in reverse positions, only one of the applications can be approved. In this situation, the application with the highest classification will be chosen. If both applications have the same classification, only the A2 application can be approved. If the resources for type A2 are exhausted, the A3 application will then be approved.

Information about applications can be requested through the email address: rnca@fccn.pt.

No information published on this page replaces or supersedes the Regulation and the Call Notice.