FCT, UMinho and UTAustin sign protocol for the creation of the Minho Advanced Computing Center

The installation of the first supercomputer in Portugal, together with the creation of the Minho Advanced Computing Centre (MAAC) will be formalized this Saturday, November 25, through the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the University of Texas at Austin (UTAustin) and the University of Minho (UMinho). The session will take place from 11am to 12.30pm at UMinho's General Library on the Gualtar Campus in Braga.

The signing will take place during a session attended by the Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, the President of the FCT, Paulo Ferrão, the President of the Northern Regional Coordination Commission, Fernando Freire de Sousa, and the outgoing Rector and Rector-elect of the University of Minho, António Cunha and Rui Vieira de Castro, respectively, as well as researchers, entrepreneurs and various representatives of scientific institutions and companies.

This new computing infrastructure includes twenty racks of the STAMPEDE 1 advanced computing platform, provided to the FCT by the Texas Advanced Computing Centre (TACC) at UTAustin as part of the International Partnership between the University of Texas at Austin and Portugal, making it possible to develop new areas of computing in Portugal, as well as various scientific and business applications in areas covering climate, maritime safety, fisheries support, monitoring mobility patterns in cities, stimulating biodiversity, risk management in forests and health applications, including bioinformatics.

Among other potential applications, this computing infrastructure will serve the AIR Centre, recently created by the "Florianópolis Declaration", signed on June 20 at Portugal's initiative in close international cooperation. The MACC will serve as the basis for establishing the "AIR CENTRE DATA INTELLIGENCE NETWORK (AIR_DataNet)", to be developed during 2018 together with the Texas Advanced Computing Centre (TACC) at UTAustin and the Barcelona Supercomputer Centre (BSC), among other international partners involved in the AIR Centre, in order to facilitate the development of data science and applications to climate-ocean interaction. 

This new infrastructure is also part of the national effort underway as part of the e.2030 National Digital Skills Initiative (INCoDe.2030) which, under the coordination of the FCT, includes stimulating new R&D activities in the areas of scientific computing, quantum sciences and technologies, artificial intelligence and digital media.

Also in this context, Portugal was one of the signatories of the European Declaration for the Advancement of Advanced Computing, EuroHPC, on March 23, 2017 in Rome, which aims to establish the intergovernmental framework to develop and operate the next generation of European advanced computing infrastructure.

The new infrastructure, owned by the FCT, will be installed in the first quarter of 2018 at the University of Minho, complementing the existing resources in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley and Center regions. Its operation will be fully integrated into the national, European and international networks in completely open access modes, facilitating the adoption of the National Open Science Strategy. The management of this new infrastructure is the responsibility of a committee of experts, including users, coordinated by FCT's advanced computing services.