Construction work set to begin on £30m supercomputing centre
Work on a £30m supercomputing centre at Sci-Tech Daresbury is set to commence.
The new centre is part of the £210m Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation (HNCDI), comprising £172m in Government funding via UK Research and Innovation and a £38m in-kind contribution from IBM.
The planning and preparatory work of the new 33,000 sq ft centre is now complete and building work is imminent.
Several of the key partners in the project used the 60th anniversary of the Daresbury Laboratory on July 14, to take part in a photoshoot to mark the milestone.
The Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation is bringing together world leading expertise with innovative artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing technology, giving the public and private sectors access to cutting edge computing that will aid breakthroughs in discovery and innovation.
The joint programme between the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and IBM, will expand to include 60 additional scientists, to join the 130 existing staff within the Hartree Centre, which is part of STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory at Sci-Tech Daresbury.
The new centre will build on the ground breaking research carried out at Daresbury Laboratory since 1962, which has helped in the creation of new cancer therapies, cleaner fuel and energy.
Paul Vernon, head of STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, said: “Every day there’s incredible research happening right here which has the potential to improve our lives. We remain today as committed as we have ever been to supporting excellent research and providing access to world class research facilities and expertise to solve real world challenges.
“I look forward with great anticipation to our next 60 years, celebrating the continued successes of the facility.”
Home to some of the UK’s most advanced technologies in computing, data science and artificial intelligence (AI), the Hartree Centre is one of the UK’s only supercomputing centres dedicated to industry applications.
Businesses can access specialist expertise and supercomputers that are normally only available to academia and large scale industry, reducing the time and cost of developing new products.
STFC’s Prof Kate Royse, director of the Hartree Centre, said: “We are fully committed to providing an environment where UK science and businesses of all sizes can be at the very forefront of global research and development in the very latest digital technologies, such as AI and quantum computing.
“Providing access to these technologies and support enables businesses to reduce risk, increase productivity and achieve success, to the benefit of our economy, both here in the North West and nationally.”
