Luxembourg, 11 December 2024 – The European AI Factories Call results, which will support Europe's broader deployment of AI tools in society and industry, have been announced in Luxembourg. One of the winning projects is the LUMI AI Factory, based on the successful LUMI consortium. Until recently, it operated the most powerful European supercomputer, which the Czech Republic is also involved in through the IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center. IT4Innovations will participate in all activities of the LUMI AI Factory.
The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking has selected sites for additional EuroHPC supercomputers and AI factories. One of the selected sites is Finland, led by the LUMI AI Factory consortium, which includes the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Norway, and Poland.
The LUMI AI Factory aims to build an ecosystem that enables AI researchers and developers to access a supercomputer, datasets or the knowledge and skills they need in one place. This will make it easier for scientific researchers and industrial innovators to deploy AI methods at large scale.
The total budget for the implementation of this project amounts to CZK 15 billion, most of which will be used for the acquisition and operation of the successor to the LUMI supercomputer. This new computing system will also be located in the Kajaani data centre in Finland, one of the world’s most energy-efficient and climate-friendly data centres. The Czech Republic will participate in the project with a budget of over CZK 550 million, half of which will be covered by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic and the other half by the European Union.
“This is a very significant investment. It ensures that Europe will remain at the forefront of supercomputing development well into the future. In addition, it will contribute to the digitalisation of society as a whole, boost the data economy, and develop new technologies such as AI and quantum technologies,” says Kimmo Koski, CEO of CSC – IT Center for Science, which is leading the LUMI AI Factory consortium.
Significant societal impact
The societal impact of supercomputing is significant. According to an independent study in early 2024, one euro invested in high-performance computing services delivers between €25 and €37 in direct economic impact.
Both scientific research and industrial research, as well as development and innovation, are increasingly data-driven and, therefore, require powerful tools for their implementation, precisely supercomputers. Understanding and solving the world's most complex problems requires analysing and combining large amounts of data from different disciplines, and this is impossible without supercomputers and quantum technologies.
For example, the LUMI supercomputer models climate change and biodiversity loss using digital twins of the Earth. Supercomputers are important tools in many industries, such as developing new fuels and materials. With supercomputing, modern medical research is also possible. High-performance computing also plays a crucial role in space research, which is becoming increasingly important for society due, among other things, to increasing satellite traffic. Advanced and high-resolution modelling also enables much more accurate weather forecasts, which are widely used by society.
The LUMI supercomputer is also used by the Czech scientific community, which has access to it thanks to the involvement of IT4Innovations in the LUMI consortium. Among the interesting projects solved on the Finnish LUMI is, for example, the research for the development of new technologies and materials by a team led by Professor Pavel Hobza. IT4Innovations, which is part of the VSB – Technical University of Ostrava, not only provides access to the LUMI supercomputer but is also part of its management structure, provides expert support to users within the so-called LUST (LUMI User Support Team) or develops software tools such as HyperQueue, which enable users to use the available computing resources of LUMI effectively.
Vít Vondrák, the Managing Director of IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center, explains the Czech plans within the LUMI AI Factory: “Our goal is to provide supercomputing resources and services to a really broad AI community within the Czech Republic. In the case of the LUMI supercomputer, Czech scientists have accessed its resources exclusively. Still, we expect the new AI-focused supercomputer to also be used by commercial partners. We plan to establish coworking centres that foster collaboration and innovation between start-ups, SMEs, scientific communities, talented students, HPC/AI support teams, and incubators, which are key to developing the AI ecosystem using HPC technologies. At the same time, we will organise educational events to make it easier for users to access and use this unique AI-focused computing and data infrastructure.”
European Commission press release