The UK has joined the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), allowing British researchers and scientists to apply for Horizon Europe-funded research and innovation calls relating to supercomputing.
Under the agreement, the UK will also have access to EuroHPC JU supercomputers and benefit from projects funded by Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation funding program.
EuroHPC JU is a joint initiative between the European Union, 35 European countries, and private partners to develop a supercomputing ecosystem in Europe.
Launched in 2018 and headquartered in Luxembourg, its mission is to develop, deploy, extend, and maintain a secure and connected supercomputing and quantum computing ecosystem, while supporting the development of key HPC skills for European science and industry.
“We warmly welcome the United Kingdom as an official member of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. This adhesion is the continuation of our cooperation,” said Anders Dam Jensen, executive director of the EuroHPC JU. “The UK’s longstanding expertise in supercomputing will contribute to Europe’s objective of becoming a global leader in HPC and quantum computing. British scientists will once again be able to work with their European counterparts to support the development of exascale computing in Europe.”
Earlier this week, the UK announced the country’s fastest supercomputer, Isambard-AI, had officially come online.
The move is the latest from the UK as it looks to rejoin EU research schemes that it lost access to after the 2016 Brexit vote.
In 2023, the UK announced its plans to rejoin the European Union's £85 billion ($106bn) flagship Horizon Europe science research program, which covers a wide variety of areas, including healthcare, climate change, and agriculture. It also funds the EuroHPC supercomputing program, semiconductor research, and studies into space-based data centers.
In March 2024, the UK joined the European Union’s ‘Chips Joint Undertaking’ program as a “participating state,” providing the country with access to a €1.3 billion (around $1.4bn) semiconductor research and development fund.
