SME/HPC is a tailor-made high-performance computing (HPC) education programme for SMEs. HPC allows for big data to be processed with unprecedented efficiency. While most advanced HPC infrastructures and knowledge are located at HEIs and research institutions, enterprises, especially SMEs, have little or no access or competences to use it, in spite of remote access. In fact few SMEs are aware of the potential of how HPC can drive enterprises’ competitive advantage and enhance the levels of innovation capacities, capabilities and practices of SMEs. This leads to both the under-utilisation of existing expensive infrastructure and the less-than-optimal solving of real-life socio-economic issues. Furthermore, in less developed regions the lack of competences to embrace new technologies, like HPC, leads to a range of adverse conditions such as lower levels of innovation, few patents, low value-add and major brain-drain, which further increases the economic gap and digital divide between European regions. SME/HPC takes a pioneering step towards improving the awareness about the innovative potential of HPC by SMEs by co-designing tailor-made courses delivering a coherent set of competences required for the application of HPC in SME and micro-enterprise contexts. SME/HPC begins with a strategic dialogue yielding an assessment of the required HPC competences, continues with the development of innovative strategies for raising HPC awareness and building HPC skills, and finishes with testing the new educational material with HEIs and enterprises. Three semi-peripheral regions will pilot the SME/HPC methodologies of HEI-Business engagement and the HPC education material. The key beneficiaries of SME/HPC are enterprises, with a particular focus on SMEs, acquiring both HPC competences and access to hard infrastructure.
The overall aims of SME/HPC are: i) to enhance the levels of innovation capacities and capabilities of SMEs in peripheral regions by co-designing high-performance computing (HPC) awareness and education programmes for SME staff and owner/managers. While achieving this, SME/HPC will also ii) increase the levels of innovation, adaptability, relevance and responsiveness of HEIs to the needs of enterprises, to be able to deliver much more specialised and tailor-made courses for SMEs.
High-performance computing (HPC) is one of the most relevant technologies today with a variety of applications. The ability to efficiently process huge amounts of data is a game-changer not just for science, but also for real economies, which are now required to solve more complex problems and respond to more challenging market demands. It is not only used for academic pursuits, but can also be applied to develop and redesign products, optimise production and delivery processes.
<< Background >> High-performance computing (HPC) is one of the most relevant technologies today with a variety of applications. The ability to efficiently process huge amounts of data is a game-changer not just for science, but also for real economies, which are now required to solve more complex problems and respond to more challenging market demands. It is not only used for academic pursuits, but can also be applied to develop and redesign products, optimise production and delivery processes. << Objectives >> The overall aims of SME/HPC are: i) to enhance the levels of innovation capacities and capabilities of SMEs in peripheral regions by co-designing high-performance computing (HPC) awareness and education programmes for SME staff and owner/managers. While achieving this, SME/HPC will also ii) increase the levels of innovation, adaptability, relevance and responsiveness of HEIs to the needs of enterprises, to be able to deliver much more specialised and tailor-made courses for SMEs. << Implementation >> The project's 8 partners (3 HEIs, 3 SMEs and 2 gov agencies) contributed to the project above and beyond what is stipulated in the Detailed Project Description. All partner organisations were well presented at the Steering Committee meetings, monthly on-line conference calls, and the Final Conference. All partners took an active role in all the deliverables. The interactions, exchange of knowledge and experience, and the supportive environment between all partners was excellent. << Results >> Not alone have all targets been met and all deliverables submitted, two additional deliverable have also been created and submitted. Overall, the major learning from the SME/HPC project was that the HEIs, SMEs and public sector organisations learned each other’s organisation’s languages, concepts and needs. This helped the project team to compile and deliver meaningful outputs that are applicable to and usable by HEI, SME and public sector staffs.