Public sector research organisations can bid to become UK link to supercomputers

UK public sector invited to host UK’s ‘AI Factory Antenna’ for pan-European research via the continent’s supercomputer.

Public sector organisations in the UK can now apply to host an “AI Factory Antenna”, part of an EU-wide scheme to provide the compute power for projects requiring intense number crunching from Europe’s most powerful supercomputers.

The UK joined the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) in May 2024, just before the last election, giving UK researchers free access to EuroHPC’s supercomputers via the UK’s association with the €95.5 billion Horizon Europe.

The government is now calling on public sector organisations to apply to host the British arm of this EU-wide scheme. The intention is that the pooling of researchers and compute power will help them develop solutions to global challenges, such as overcoming disease, and helping to develop advanced AI systems for use in healthcare and energy.

Applicants will be eligible for funding from UK Research & Innovation.

“By strengthening our partnership with Europe, we’re giving British innovators the compute power to solve climate and health challenges, grow the economy, and deliver our Plan for Change,” said Feryal Clark, the minister for AI.

He continued: “This is about more than faster processing – it’s about putting the UK at the forefront of global AI. With access to some of Europe’s most advanced systems, our researchers and startups will be equipped to lead on cutting-edge breakthroughs and strengthen Britain’s role as a trusted partner in international AI development.”

Chris Williams, a partner in Clyde & Co’s technology practice, explained how this fits with wider government policy.

“The is a further sign of the UK government’s commitment to deliver on the recommendations set out in the AI Opportunities Action Plan,” he told Computing.

“Access to these increasingly powerful AI models will make a substantial contribution to shortening development cycles which the government understands is key to ‘putting the UK at the forefront of global AI’ and is another sign that the UK is looking to collaborate with its European neighbours.

“Equally, this runs alongside the billions of pounds worth of investment that is being ploughed into UK-based data centres. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s announcement underscores the government’s objective for the UK to be at the centre of global technological innovation. This will be very encouraging for the UK tech sector,” he said.

The initiative announced today follows on from the agreement between the UK and EU negotiated earlier this month. The EU, meanwhile, is keen to build a “sovereign technology stack” in a bid to become less dependent on technology developed and/or made in the US and China.