Supercomputer center
For many years, Flanders was the example of a wealthy European region without supercomputer capacity for research and innovation. To fill this void in infrastructure, the Flemish Government commissioned on December 14, 2007 a consortium of the Flemish university associations (the K.U.Leuven association, awlp Ghent University Association, the Universitaire Associatie Brussel, the Antwerp University Association and the Associatie Universiteit-Hogescholen Limburg) to draw up a blueprint for high-performance computing or supercomputing.
The consortium had to develop a proposal for reinforcing the existing calculating power for the Flemish universities (capacity computing) and a proposal for a central entity with sufficient rack capacity in the European framework to perform as a local centre (capability computing). The Flemish Government formulated the objective to install a supercomputer which belongs to the top 500 in the world. Also, a model had to be presented for the integration of the infrastructure and for the exploitation by a (virtual) Flemish supercomputer centre.
Parallel with the implementation of this feasibility study, the Flemish universities submitted an application at the Hercules Foundation within the first call for large-scale research infrastructure for capacity computing. The Hercules Science Commission assessed this application positively.
At the same time, the Flemish Government approved a one-shot investment subsidy for the development of a Flemish supercomputer.
After she had been informed of the Hercules Foundation’s decision, the Flemish Minister of Science and Innovation asked the consortium of university associations to submit an integrated proposal including both capability computing, i.e. the further development of the proposal which has been already submitted at the Hercules Foundation, and capacity computing.
On 20 November 2008, the application entitled `Flemish supercomputer centre, also called the VSC application, was submitted with a detailed investment and exploitation plan.
The Hercules Foundation was given the task to assess this proposal.
To support the Hercules Invest Commission in the assessment of the VSC application, the Board of Directors of the Hercules Foundation set up on 27 November 2008 a panel consisting of four authoritative experts in the field of capacity and capability computing who do not work in Belgium. This panel assessed the technical quality of the presented investment and exploitation plan. In its report, this panel praised the proposal and also formulated recommendations to the applicants, the Flemish Government and the Hercules Foundation. Together with an analysis of building problems, this report formed the basis of the recommendation of the Hercules Invest Commission to the Board of Directors of the Hercules Foundation.
Based on this recommendation, the Board of Directors of the Hercules Foundation decided on 18 December 2008:
- to recommend the Flemish Minister of Science and Innovation to co-finance the application;
- that Hercules funds would subsidise the capacity-computing aspect for an amount of EUR 2,090,000, provided that the Flemish Government also supports this application and institutions provide the promised co-financing from their resources;
- to bring the recommendations of the Hercules Invest Commission and the expert panel concerning the further development of the Flemish supercomputer to the attention of the competent minister.
Based on the recommendation of the Hercules Foundation, the Flemish Government approved on 3 April 2009 the one-shot subsidy of EUR 5,200,000 for co-financing the VSC application.
The VSC application is in other words an integrated proposal for the development of infrastructure for `capacity’ and `capability’ computing for which co-financing is requested from two different funding sources. There is a one-shot investment by the Flemish Government of EUR 5,200,000 and a subsidy from the Hercules Foundation in the "large-scale research infrastructure" programme of EUR 2,090,000.
For the follow-up of the stipulations of the financing decision of the Flemish Government and the subsidy agreement with the Hercules Foundation, an advisory commission will be established. This commission has to periodically evaluate the implementation of the VSC and to give recommendations concerning the possible adjustments. It consists of 6 members:
- three experts, who are non-residents in Belgium;
- a representative of the Flemish Minister of Science and Innovation;
- a representative of the department of economy, science and innovation;
- a representative of the Hercules Foundation.
The secretariat of this advisory commission will be carried out by the Hercules Foundation.