COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS High-Performance Computing: Europe's place in a Global Race
Date: 2012-02-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU research policy, applied research, computer systems, innovation, new technology, scientific cooperation, software

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 15.2.2012  
COM(2012) 45 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

High-Performance Computing: Europe's place in a Global Race 

 
 
 
 
 
 
1. 

PURPOSE 

This Communication highlights the strategic nature of High-Performance Computing (HPC) 
as a crucial asset for the EU's innovation capacity, and calls on Member States, industry and 
the  scientific  communities,  in  cooperation  with  the  Commission,  to  step  up  joint  efforts  to 
ensure European leadership in the supply and use of HPC systems and services by 2020.1 

This Communication follows the Communication on ICT Infrastructures for e-Science and the 
conclusions of the Council asking for ‘further development of computing infrastructures such 
as the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE)2’ and to pool ‘investments in 
high-performance computing under PRACE, in order to strengthen the position of European 
industry  and  academia  in  the  use,  development  and  manufacturing  of  advanced  computing 
products, services and technologies’.3 

2. 

HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING: WHAT FOR? 

The  race  for  leadership  in  HPC  systems  is  driven  both  by  the  need  to  address  societal  and 
scientific grand challenges more effectively, such as early detection and treatment of diseases 
like Alzheimer's, deciphering the human brain4, forecasting climate evolution, or preventing 
and managing large-scale catastrophes, and by the needs of industry to innovate in products 
and services.  

97 % of the industrial companies that employ HPC consider it indispensable for their ability to 
innovate,  compete,  and  survive5.  HPC  has  enabled  automakers  to  reduce  the  time  for 
developing  new  vehicle  platforms  from  an  average  of  60  to  24  months,  while  greatly 
improving crashworthiness, environmental friendliness, and passenger comfort. Some of these 
firms  have  cited  savings  of  EUR  40  billion  from  HPC  usage.  HPC  lies  behind  the  weather 
forecasts we rely on to plan our daily activities and to deal with severe weather conditions that 
can devastate lives and property. Hospitals in Germany use HPC to predict which expectant 
mothers will require surgery for Caesarean births, with the goal of avoiding traditional, riskier 

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High-performance  computing  (HPC)  is  used  in  this  Communication  as  a  synonym  for  high-end 
computing, supercomputing, world-class computing, etc., to differentiate it from distributed computing, 
cloud computing and compute servers. 
There’s  no  fixed  definition  of  how  powerful  a  computer  needs  to  be  for  it  to  be  considered  as  ‘high 
performance’.  This  is  because  the  performance  of  microprocessors  has  increased  exponentially  for 
many years, so any such definition is out of date quickly. It’s usual to consider a computer to be high 
performance if it uses multiple processors (tens, hundreds or even thousands) connected together by a 
network to achieve the performance well above that of a single processor. Using multiple processors in 
this way is sometimes called parallel computing. The best performing machines in 2010 use hundreds 
of  thousands of  processing  cores  and  are  capable of 1015  floating point  operations  per  second  (this is 
referred to as a ‘peta-flop'). This is 1000 times more than the most powerful machine delivered in 2000, 
which  in  turn  was  1000  times  more  powerful  than  a  decade  earlier.  Experts  predict  that  exa-scale 
computers (capable of 1018 operations per second) will be in existence by 2020. 
PRACE: www.prace-ri.eu 
COM(2009) 108; Council Conclusions (17190/09) and (9451/10) 
E.g. The Virtual Physiological Human initiative, www.vph-noe.eu  
The Human Brain Project, www.humanbrainproject.eu 
IDC  (International  Data  Corporation)  Studies  ‘A  Strategic  Agenda  for  European  Leadership  in 
Supercomputing: HPC 2020’ and ‘Financing a Software Infrastructure for Highly Parallelised Codes’ 

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last-minute decisions during childbirth. Thus, HPC is vital for the EU's industrial capabilities 
as well as for its citizens. 

At a macroeconomic level, it has been shown that returns on investment in HPC are extremely 
high  and  that  the  companies  and  countries  that  invest  the  most  in  HPC  lead  in  science  and 
economic  success.  Furthermore,  advances  in  the  area  of  HPC  such  as  new  computing 
technologies, software, energy efficiency, storage applications, etc. feed into the broader ICT 
industry and the consumer mass market, becoming available in households within five years 
of  their  introduction  in  high-end  HPC.  Conversely,  advanced  computing  technologies 
developed  for  the  consumer  domain  (e.g.  energy  efficient  chips,  graphic  cards)  are 
increasingly used in HPC.  

3. 

EUROPE’S HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING MARKET 

Europe has strengths in the application of HPC, and in the development of advanced software 
and  services.  Despite  this,  EU  HPC  suppliers  held  a  market  share  of  only  4.3 %5  in  2009. 
Most EU HPC manufacturers had disappeared by the start of the new millennium. Since then 
US-manufactured supercomputers have captured 95 % of the EU market.  

The  HPC  demand  comes  from  three  main  groups:  the  governmental  sector  addressing 
strategic  national  security  issues;  the  public  research  and  innovation  sector  consisting  of 
computing centres mainly associated with universities or as centralised national entities; and 
industry. In terms of market size, the EU market for high-end HPC systems is relatively small: 
some  EUR  630  million  in  2009  but  growing  worldwide  at  a  compound  annual  growth  rate 
(CAGR) of 3 % since 2005. Some two thirds of this market depends on public funding. The 
broader  global  HPC  market  (HPC  systems,  storage,  middleware,  applications  and  services) 
was  worth  EUR  14  billion  —  with  some  32 %  in  Europe  —  in  2010  and  had  a  CAGR  of 
7.5 %.5 

In terms of HPC capacity deployed, the EU lost 10 % of its high-end computing capacity from 
2008 to 2010, whereas other nations increased their efforts in this area during the same period. 
In 2011, the US and Japan each had more HPC capacity than all EU countries combined6, and 
China had more capacity than any individual Member State. China and Russia declared HPC 
an area of strategic priority and massively increased their efforts. Fewer high-end computing 
resources available in the EU mean that scientific know-how which critically relies on HPC 
and influences the development of new HPC systems, is weakening in Europe. Scientists may 
relocate to conduct their research in other world regions with better environments for HPC.  

The EU has many successful scientific and engineering software firms and is strong in many 
important areas of parallel software development. In fact, the large majority of the principal 
parallel  software  applications  in  use  at  EU  HPC  sites  have  been  created  and  are  further 
developed in Europe. However, the mastering of advanced HPC hardware is closely linked to 
the associated software and losing out on one side inevitably leads to a loss on the other. 

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www.top500.org/charts/list/37/countries 

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4. 

TOWARDS A RENEWAL OF HPC IN EUROPE 

The need for an EU-level policy is increasingly accepted 

The development of HPC has long been a national affair for Member States, often driven by 
military and nuclear energy applications. In recent years the increasing importance of HPC for 
researchers  and  industry,  as  well  as  the  exponential  rise  in  the  investments  required  to  stay 
competitive at world level, have led to a common understanding that ‘Europeanisation’ of this 
domain would  benefit everyone. This is also true for  those Member  States which  encounter 
difficulties  in  creating  self-sufficient  national  HPC  infrastructures  whereas  they  can  make 
valuable contributions to and benefit from EU-level HPC capabilities.  

In 2006 the "HPC in Europe Taskforce" published a White Paper entitled ‘Scientific Case for 
Advanced  Computing  in  Europe’7  that  argued  the  case  for  HPC  to  support  EU 
competitiveness.  This  work  was  carried  out  in  the  context  of  the  ESFRI8  Roadmap  for 
Research  Infrastructures.  It  led  to  the  consolidation  of  national  HPC  strategies,  e.g.  in 
Germany and France with the creation of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing e.V. and of 
GENCI  (Grand  Equipement  National  de  Calcul  Intensif)  respectively.  In  turn  these 
developments resulted in the setting up of PRACE, as Member States and national actors have 
realised that only through a joint and coordinated effort will they be able to stay competitive. 
This was supported by the Council in 2009, which called for further efforts in this domain.  

A Window of Opportunity is Opening Now 

HPC  is  currently  undergoing  a  major  change  as  the  next  generation  of  computing  systems 
(‘exa-scale systems’1) is being developed for 2020. These new systems pose numerous hard 
challenges,  from  a  100-fold  reduction  of  energy  consumption9  to  the  development  of 
programming  models  for  computers  that  host  millions  of  computing  elements.  These 
challenges are the same for all actors in the field and cannot be met by mere extrapolation but 
require  radical  innovation  in  many  computing  technologies.  This  offers  opportunities  to 
industrial and academic players in the EU to reposition themselves in the field. 

Europe has expertise across the full supply chain 

Europe  has  all  the  technical  capabilities  and  human  skills  needed  to  tackle  the  exa-scale 
challenge, i.e. to develop native capabilities that cover the whole technology spectrum from 
processor architectures to applications10. Even though the EU is currently weak compared to 
the  US  in  terms  of  HPC  system  vendors,  there  are  particular  strengths  in  applications,  low-
power computing, systems and integration that can be leveraged to engage successfully in this 
global race, getting the EU back on the world scene as a leading-edge technology supplier. 

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www.hpcineuropetaskforce.eu/files/Scientific case for European HPC infrastructure HET.pdf 
European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures  
ec.europa.eu/research/infrastructures/index_en.cfm?pg=esfri 
In line with Europe's green economy targets, ec.europa.eu/europe2020/targets/eu-targets/index_en.htm; 
COM(2009) 111, Mobilising Information and Communication Technologies to facilitate the transition 
to an energy-efficient, low-carbon economy 
HPC expert consultation meetings in September 2010 and March 2011 
cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/e-infrastructure/events-p-2011_en.html 

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Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe — PRACE is leading the way 

Following the creation of the PRACE legal entity in 2010, the academic sector is pooling its 
leadership-class computing systems as a single infrastructure and makes them available to all 
researchers  in  the  EU.  Critical  mass  is  achieved  and  access  to  these  top-of-the-range  HPC 
systems is provided on the basis of scientific excellence rather than the geographical location 
of a researcher. PRACE is further extending its services to mid-range HPC systems with the 
objective  of  providing  a  distributed  computing  platform  that  serves  its  users  irrespective  of 
their  location  and  the  availability  of  national  resources.  The  PRACE  model  of  pooling  and 
sharing systems and expertise makes optimal use of the limited resources available.  

The benefits for Europe of re-engaging in HPC 

Gaining an independent access to HPC systems and services in the EU would support growth 
and  competitiveness  in  the  ICT  industry  and  the  economy  in  general.  Investments  in  HPC 
centres  of  excellence  would  help  to  design  and  build  dedicated  HPC  systems  with  specific 
features optimised for a given societal or industrial challenge (e.g. simulating the human brain 
needs  a  different  computing  architecture  than  designing  and  simulating  a  more  efficient 
battery for electric cars). 

5. 

THE CHALLENGES AHEAD 

The confluence of the three factors discussed above, (i) the race towards exa-scale computing, 
(ii)  the  availability  of  technology  supply  in  Europe  and  (iii)  the  success  of  PRACE,  now 
makes  it  possible  for  the  EU  to  re-engage  in  HPC  and  to  strive  for  leadership  both  in  the 
supply of technologies, systems, application codes and services, and in their use for solving 
major scientific, industrial and societal problems. 

Reversing  the  current  decline  of  HPC  in  the  EU  requires  the  pooling  of  efforts  to  more 
effectively address a number of shortcomings and challenges: 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

11 

There  is  still  fragmentation  of  public  HPC  services  across  the  EU  and  within 
Member States. This leads to inefficient use of resources and only partial exchange 
of expertise.  

The EU spends substantially less than other regions on acquiring high-end computing 
systems  (only half compared to the US, at a similar level of GDP5).  Consequently, 
the  amount  and  performance  of  computing  systems  available  in  the  EU  are  simply 
too  low  compared  to  other  world  regions,  and  R&D  budgets  devoted  to  HPC  are 
small.  

Within  the  Union,  only  very  few  public  procurement  budgets  are  devoted  to  R&D 
through  Pre-Commercial  Procurement  (PCP),  in  comparison  to  the  US11.  PCP  is 
available  as  a  means  to  procure  innovative  R&D  for  achieving  specific  technology 
and system targets. Especially in the US, PCP is used to advance the state-of-the-art 

COM(2007) 799,  Pre-commercial  Procurement:  Driving innovation  to ensure  sustainable  high  quality 
public services in Europe: "The US public sector is spending $ 50Bn per year in procurement of R&D, 
an amount which is 20 times higher than in Europe" 

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(d) 

(e) 

(f) 

of HPC12. Within the Union the majority of high-end HPC systems are procured by 
the  public  sector.  Pooling  national  and  EU  resources  for  PCP  is  a  key  enabler  to 
advance the EU's HPC capabilities and to develop the exa-scale HPC systems that no 
single Member State can afford.  

It  is  very  difficult  for  European  HPC  vendors  to  sell  their  products  to  the  public 
sector  in  non-EU  countries  that  have  national  HPC  vendors,  due  to  national 
regulations e.g. for national security. At the same time, IPR developed in European 
research  projects  relevant  to  HPC  often  benefit  mainly  the  non-EU  parents  of 
participating  companies  as  the  Framework  Programme  imposes  few  restrictions  on 
the  transfer  of  IPR  to  affiliates  in  third  countries.  Therefore,  a  more  balanced 
arrangement needs to be found. 

The  interaction  between  industry  and  academia  on  the  exploitation  of  high-end 
computing  systems,  application  codes  and  services  is  limited,  especially  regarding 
the  use  of  HPC  for  industrial  and  service  innovation.  Europe  also  lacks  advanced 
experimental high-end computation facilities that would allow industry and academia 
to  explore  exa-scale  technology  options  or  co-design  hardware  and  software  for 
specific applications.  

There  is  only  a  small  workforce  available  that  has  the  adequate  educational 
background  and  is  well  trained  in  HPC  especially  in  parallel  programming.  In 
addition, scientists that look after the computational tools and application codes often 
do  not  have  an  attractive  career  path.  This  hinders  the  exploitation  of  HPC  in 
research  and  industry.  By  2020  the  computing  power  available  in  today's  most 
performant  HPC  systems  will  be  available  on  desktop  systems.  A  well  trained 
workforce capable of efficiently using this computing power is essential. 

6. 

AN ACTION PLAN FOR EUROPEAN LEADERSHIP IN HPC  

The Council asked for a further development of the European High Performance Computing 
Infrastructure and a pooling of national investments in HPC in order to strengthen the position 
of European industry and academia in the use, development and manufacturing of advanced 
computing  products,  services  and  technologies3.  This  is  the  high-level  objective  driving  a 
renewed European HPC strategy. 

Specific Objectives 

To realise this general objective, the following specific objectives have been identified: 

• 

• 

12 

Provide  a  world-class  European  HPC  infrastructure,  benefitting  a  broad  range  of 
academic  and  industry  users,  and  especially  SMEs,  including  a  workforce  well 
trained in HPC; 

Ensure independent access to HPC technologies, systems and services for the EU;  

EURAB report, PREST, 2004, US defence R&D spending: an analysis of the impacts 

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• 

• 

Establish  a  pan-European  HPC  governance  scheme  to  pool  enlarged  resources  and 
increase  efficiency  including  through  the  strategic  use  of  joint  and  pre-commercial 
procurement;  

Ensure the EU's position as a global actor. 

HPC is of high strategic importance for European society, competitiveness and innovation. To 
achieve the objective of excellence in HPC use and to ensure independent access to systems 
and services in the EU, several measures need to be put in place at the same time by Member 
States, the Commission and industry. These measures (listed below) will impact on both the 
supply and the demand of HPC, in a synergetic manner. 

Complementary  research  activities  specific  to  HPC  are  not  directly  addressed  as  such  here 
because  they  will  be  part  of  advanced  computing  under  the  EU’s  Common  Strategic 
Framework for Research and Innovation – Horizon 202013.  

6.1. 

Governance at EU Level  

An  Action  Plan  for  an  EU  HPC  renewal  requires  adequate  governance  for  setting  concrete 
objectives, deciding policies, monitoring progress and efficiently pooling and using resources 
available  across  the  Member  States.  Governance  should  be  fair,  open,  simple  and  efficient, 
helping to balance and arbitrate on interests, capabilities and resources. 

There  are  two  main  dimensions  to  such  governance.  They  are  linked  to  each  other  via  the 
HPC/PRACE centres driving development and innovation. 

(a) 

(b) 

For  industry,  through  the  industry-led  technology  platform  for  EU  HPC  suppliers, 
and  a  network  of  competence  centres  providing  expertise  and  services  on  HPC 
applications and software development;  

For science, through PRACE and centres of excellence addressing key societal and 
scientific challenges by deployment and application of HPC software and services; 

•  The EU Industry engaged in supply of HPC systems and services should coordinate 
research agendas through the technology platform and thereby create critical mass of 
industrial R&D in HPC.  

6.2. 

Financial Envelope 

The  2009  investment  level  of  EUR  630  million  per  year5  for  acquiring  high-end  HPC 
resources  across  Europe  is  not  sufficient  to  sustain  HPC  systems  and  services  at  a  globally 
competitive level. It would need to double to some EUR 1.2 billion per year to bring Europe 
back as a major actor in the field of HPC5. Consultations with stakeholders have confirmed 
such an increased investment. 

Supplementing the current efforts, an additional EUR 600 million would therefore be needed 
annually,  to  be  shared  between  national  budgets,  the  Commission  (e.g.  Joint  Programming) 

13 

COM(2011) 811 final, Specific Programme Implementing Horizon 2020 - The Framework Programme 
for  Research  and  Innovation  (2014-2020),  1.1.  Information  and  Communication  Technologies:  Next 
generation computing. 

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and industrial users. Roughly half of these additional resources would be for the procurement 
of  HPC  systems  and  testbeds,  a  further  quarter  for  training  people,  and  the  last  quarter  for 
development and up-scaling of HPC software. 

•  The Union, Member States and Industry should increase their investments in HPC to 

some EUR 1.2 billion per year – equal in terms of GDP to other world regions.  

6.3. 

Pre-commercial Procurement Mechanisms and Pooling of Resources 

The  public  sector  is  the  major  buyer  of  high-end  HPC.  Some  of  its  budget  (in  the  order  of 
10 % per year) used for acquiring HPC systems in the EU should be used for PCP in order to 
develop and maintain native EU supply capabilities that cover the whole technology spectrum 
from  processor  architectures  to  applications.  Via  these  government-initiated  investments, 
support  to  HPC  suppliers  in  the  EU  could  be  provided14  for  developing  a  leadership-class 
HPC system about every 2 years.  

PCP actions for HPC R&D in the EU could become eligible for Union co-funding (e.g. via 
Horizon  2020  –  e-Infrastructures;  cohesion  policy  instruments)15  by  following  one  of  the 
schemes given below: 

(a) 

(b) 

Joint  PCP  actions  involving  several  or  all  Member  States  (e.g.  organised  through 
PRACE)  for  developing  leadership-class  HPC  capabilities  with  a  clear  European 
mission.  

PCP  actions  carried  out  by  large  users  or  Member  States  individually  (i.e.  without 
pooling national budgets) could also receive funding15 (to a lesser extent than in (a)) 
if (i) an appropriate share of the resulting HPC development is made available to all 
European users, (ii) the PCP is open to all legal entities entitled to receive financial 
contributions  from  Horizon 2020,  and  (iii)  specifications  are  defined  so  that  they 
reflect needs at EU level. 

•  Member States are invited to carry out joint procurement activities and to use PCP to 
stimulate  the  development  of  advanced  HPC  systems  and  services.  Each  Member 
State should actively encourage the use of PCP and devote in the order of 10 % of its 
annual HPC procurement budget to it. 

•  The Commission should contribute to the funding provided collectively by Member 
States for PCP of R&D on HPC systems services with an EU-level mission and with 
EU-wide availability. 

•  HPC  e-Infrastructure  projects  receiving  funding  from  the  Commission  should  be 

encouraged to use PCP where relevant.  

•  EU  Industry  is  encouraged  to  actively  engage  in  advanced  HPC  and  application 

development efforts in response to PCP. 

14 
15 

In line with WTO Government Procurement Agreement, Article III 
Within the limits of the budget allocated in the programme for that purpose. Subject to the adoption of 
the Horizon 2020 Programme by the Legislative Authority. 

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6.4. 

Develop further the European HPC eco-system 

PRACE  ensures  the  wide  availability  of  HPC  resources  on  equal  access  terms.  It  has  to  be 
further strengthened to acquire the competence to (i) pool national and EU funds, (ii) set the 
specifications and carry out joint (pre-commercial) procurement for leadership-class systems, 
(iii)  support  Member  States  in  their  preparation  of  procurement  exercises,  (iv)  provide 
research and innovation services to industry, and (v) provide a platform for the exchange of 
resources  and  contributions  necessary  for  the  operation  of  high-performance  computing 
infrastructure.  

Additionally,  an  e-Infrastructure  for  HPC  application  software  and  tools  needs  to  be  put  in 
place.  It  should  further  consolidate  the  EU’s  strong  position  in  HPC  applications  by 
coordinating and stimulating parallel software code development and scaling, and by ensuring 
the availability of quality HPC software to users. 

•  PRACE member countries should support the evolution of PRACE towards a globally 

leading e-Infrastructure. 

•  Centres of excellence should be established for the application of HPC in scientific or 
industrial domains that are most important for Europe (e.g. in the area of energy, life-
sciences and climate). 

•  PRACE should refine its governance for the extended role described above; prepare 
for a first major PCP exercise in 2014; continue to make its services available to the 
entire  European  research  and  education  community;  and  provide  training  and 
expertise to industry. Supercomputing centres, which represent their countries as the 
main  PRACE  partners,  should  strengthen  and  organise  the  PRACE  legal  entity  in 
such a way that it is able to take on this expanded role. 

•  European Industry is strongly encouraged to make use of the services and know-how 

offered by PRACE and its partners.  

•  The Commission will continue to support PRACE and ensure it remains an integral 
part of the European e-Infrastructure; and it will provide support for establishing and 
operating a European e-Infrastructure for HPC. 

•  Hardware  and  software  co-design  centres  should  be  established  to  focus  on  the 

advancement of technologies, HPC resources, tools and methodologies. 

6.5. 

Industry Fully Exploiting HPC  

Industry has a dual role in high-end computing: firstly, supplying systems, technologies and 
software services for HPC; and secondly, using HPC to innovate in products, processes and 
services. Both are important in making Europe more competitive. Especially for SMEs, access 
to  HPC,  modelling,  simulation,  product  prototyping  services  and  consulting  is  important  to 
remain competitive. This Action Plan advocates for a dual approach: strengthening both the 
industrial demand and supply of HPC.  

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•  Member  States  are  encouraged  to  set  up  HPC  competence  centres  that  facilitate 
access  of  industry  and  specifically  SMEs  to  HPC  services,  and  should  support 
supercomputing centres to transfer expertise to them. 

•  The Commission should support the establishment of a network of HPC competence 
centres to promote pan-European services and the dissemination of best practice (e.g. 
supporting HPC expert teams assisting industry users). 

•  Member States and the Commission should take the measures necessary to develop a 
much larger workforce that is well educated and trained in HPC (e.g. through a model 
curriculum; and through training at the HPC competence centres)16.  

•  EU HPC Industry should strengthen its efforts to ensure an independent and state-of-

the-art EU supply of key HPC components, software and systems. 

•  EU Industry should take a proactive attitude towards the use and application of HPC 

as an essential tool for the development of innovative services and products. 

6.6. 

Ensuring a level playing field 

To develop an autonomous and viable industrial capability in leadership-class HPC, the EU 
needs  to  ensure  that  its  HPC  industry  has  fair  access  to  the  worldwide  markets  in  the  same 
way that industry from other world regions has access to the EU’s internal market; and that 
European R&D investments in the HPC field benefit clearly the EU economy.  

•  The Commission shall raise inequalities in HPC market access in its ICT Dialogues 
and  trade  negotiations  with  the  countries  concerned,  with  the  aim  of  ensuring  that 
their national HPC procurement and R&D are open to EU-based industry14.  

•  For  IPR  that  is  generated  in  the  area  of  HPC  with  Horizon  2020  support,  the 

Commission may apply additional exploitation obligations17. 

7. 

CONCLUSIONS 

With  the  setting  up  of  the  European  Space  Agency  (ESA)  in  1975,  Europe  decided  that 
independent  access  to  space  was  a  strategic  goal  that  was  essential  for  Europe’s 
competitiveness. This Communication advocates a similar strategic decision for HPC systems 
and services that are essential for the EU's social, economic and scientific development and its 
competitiveness. This renewed HPC strategy will position the EU as a centre of innovation, a 
hub of scientific excellence and a global partner. The EU should be among the leaders of the 
global race towards exa-scale computing. 

The Commission, working closely with the Member States, will monitor the implementation 
of this Action Plan and will report to the European Parliament and Council by 2015. 

16 
17 

In line with COM(2007) 496, e-skills for the 21st century: Fostering competitiveness, growth and jobs  
In line with Articles 40 and 41 of COM(2011) 810 final, Rules for the participation and dissemination 
in 'Horizon 2020 – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020)' 

EN 

10 

   EN