FocusCoE: Very Successful European HPC Training Stakeholder Workshop

On the 8th of October 2019, the Horizon 2020 project FocusCoE, in collaboration with the European Commission, ran a European HPC Training Stakeholder Workshop. The purpose was to gather experts and stakeholders to define the high performance computing (HPC) training requirements for different domains and target audiences across academia and industry, and to examine how those requirements may be met by existing or new European and national programmes on HPC education and training. The workshop attracted 32 participants from institutions in 14 European countries, who represented the interests of different stakeholders including HPC users and developers, along with both academic and business education/training providers. Over three thematic sessions (which focused on different research communities and career progression), the participants and panellists discussed various training methodologies (like face-to-face and online learning), initiatives (such as mobility and certification programmes) and best practices (for example, engagement with small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and integration into university programmes) to enhance awareness of, and the productive adoption of, HPC technologies in the advent of European exascale capability being realised via the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking.

The FocusCoE project aims to create a platform, the EU HPC CoE General Assembly, that enables all HPC Centres of Excellence (CoEs) to collectively define an overriding strategy and collaborative implementation for interactions with and contributions to the EU HPC Ecosystem. It supports the HPC CoEs to achieve enhanced interaction with industry, and SMEs in particular, through concerted outreach and business development actions. FocusCoE also instigates concerted action on training by and for the complete set of HPC CoEs: providing a consolidating vehicle for the user training offered by the CoEs and PRACE, as well as providing relevant training for the CoEs (for example, on sustainable business development).

FocusCoE promotes and coordinates the capabilities of, and services offered by, the HPC CoEs and the development of the EU HPC CoE brand, thus raising awareness with stakeholders and both academic and industrial users.