Board meeting in Frankfurt

IBM Germany hosted this ETP4HPC streering board meeting. There were 2 points of the agenda that were discussed for longer: the meeting with European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes on Sept 27th and the progress in the preparation of the SRA (strategic research agenda). It was agreed that what the ETP intended to tell the EU was centered on the strategic impact of the HPC supply chain on the European economy, the commitment of the ETP to develop this domain in Europe and the European Commission possibility to leverage the ETP action for a greater benefit to the HPC ecosystem.

Further steps in the SRA preparation were agreed, starting from the Barcelona workshop, which would serve a double goal: to allow meeting industrial HPC users and to host the 2nd SRA workshop. It is down to the SRA to indentify at high level which are the main HPC challenges now and in the future, which research topics to prioritize and which paths to undertake to sharpen the European competitiveness of HPC and of the whole economy.

Four new members were accepted:

• EPCC, a research institition
• GNODAL, an SME
• INFN, a research institition
• NUMASCALE, an SME