CASTIEL´s mission is to contribute to the success of the activities of the National Competence Centres (as realized in the Research and Innovation Action (RIA) in the same call – EuroHPC-04-2019 by tackling both the maintenance and strengthening of excellence, while identifying and closing gaps due to the diverse levels of maturity between the different nations. CASTIEL will therefore bring together a core consortium to setup a framework of activities that will support the evolution of each single National Competence Centre and enable them step by step to get closer together in terms of capabilities and expertise. The greatest challenge hereby is the integration of the single nations into the overall strategy at European level while preserving their autonomy and without interfering with their national strategy. This will address, the challenge of maximising existing European HPC knowledge and expertise across Europe, and CASTIEL will take the role of a single and central reference point at European Level to coordinate and support the National Competence Centres.

New architectures for Exascale and post-Exascale computers will have massively parallel and heterogeneous processing capabilities that will require the complete redesign and reimplementation of the used algorithms to fully exploit the possibilities of these supercomputers. The objective of the Inno4scale project is to promote the efficient use of European HPC systems by identifying and funding the most promising novel algorithms for applications. Through this action, the project will facilitate the design and development of highly efficient application software for European Exascale computers, the most successful of which should later be taken up by science and industry, resulting in important performance gains. The project will design and implement a call for proposals based on the cascade funding mechanism, financing the most promising ideas on novel algorithms for applications to fully exploit and benefit from these valuable European Exascale resources. Proposals received will be evaluated by external experts based on their potential innovation and impact on the upcoming Exascale era, and the CASTIEL/EuroCC2 and PRACE networks will be used to ensure the widest possible reach of the call. The Inno4scale consortium, made up of two major European HPC research centres and two experienced partners in managing HPC-related programmes, is in the ideal position to carry out the project in an effective and efficient manner. The results of the selected innovation studies that will receive more than 4 million euros in total, include the development and publication of the novel algorithms to reduce the time-to-solution or energy-to-solution of existing computing problems, as well as to provide novel approaches for large-scale projects. In this way, the Inno4scale project will contribute to the realisation of the EuroHPC JU overall objectives and those specific for this call, as well as enable an optimal exploitation of European Exascale and Post-Exascale HPC systems.

PRACE, the Partnership for Advanced Computing is the permanent pan-European High Performance Computing service providing world-class systems for world-class science. Systems at the highest performance level (Tier-0) are deployed by Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland, providing researchers with more than 17 billion core hours of compute time. HPC experts from 25 member states enabled users from academia and industry to ascertain leadership and remain competitive in the Global Race. Currently PRACE is finalizing the transition to PRACE 2, the successor of the initial five year period. The objectives of PRACE-6IP are to build on and seamlessly continue the successes of PRACE and start new innovative and collaborative activities proposed by the consortium. These include: assisting the development of PRACE 2; strengthening the internationally recognised PRACE brand; continuing and extend advanced training which so far provided more than 36 400 person·training days; preparing strategies and best practices towards Exascale computing, work on forward-looking SW solutions; coordinating and enhancing the operation of the multi-tier HPC systems and services; and supporting users to exploit massively parallel systems and novel architectures. A high level Service Catalogue is provided. The proven project structure will be used to achieve each of the objectives in 7 dedicated work packages. The activities are designed to increase Europe's research and innovation potential especially through: seamless and efficient Tier-0 services and a pan-European HPC ecosystem including national capabilities; promoting take-up by industry and new communities and special offers to SMEs; assistance to PRACE 2 development; proposing strategies for deployment of leadership systems; collaborating with the ETP4HPC, CoEs and other European and international organisations on future architectures, training, application support and policies. This will be monitored through a set of KPIs.

EInfraCentral's mission is to ensure that by 2020 a broader/ more varied set of users (including industry) benefits from European infrastructures. A common approach to defining and monitoring e-infrastructures services will increase their uptake. It will also enhance understanding of where improvement can be made in delivering services. The challenge is to shift towards an e-Infrastructure ''market place'' to initiate new service offerings and to engage with a broader set of users and needs. This will be achieved through an exchange of know-how between e-infrastructures consultations with a broad range of existing or potential users. EInfraCentral will pursue 3 specific objectives: 1. Structure an open and guided discussion between e-infrastructures to consensually define a common service catalogue 2. Develop a one-stop shop portal for users to browse the service catalogue and enhance the monitoring of key performance indicators that focus on availability and quality of services and user satisfaction 3. Draw policy lessons for a future European e-infrastructure market place as an extension of the common service catalogue and portal (incorporating a larger number of e-infrastructures). Key highlights of the proposal are: 1.A multidisciplinary team combining technical knowledge & insights from the e-infrastructure community with independent expertise in community building consultation, policy and data mapping and monitoring 2. A co-design process that will involve funders, the e-research infrastructure community and a representative user group (incl. SMEs) 3. On-going user interaction will guide the design and development of the eInfraCentral portal (as the main entry point to European e-infrastructures services) in two phases: a prototype with a first set of services and a full release with a KPI dashboard 4. Reinforce collaboration between e-infrastructures and optimise access to and increase uptake of e-infrastructures services by end users.