Technopolis building in Cloche d'Or, Luxembourg-Gasperich;
Credit: Ali Sahib, Chronicle.lu
Chronicle.lu has compiled a new series of articles dedicated to European institutions, bodies and agencies with a presence in Luxembourg.
Standing alongside Brussels in Belgium and Strasbourg in France, Luxembourg City is one of the European Union's three official seats. A founding member of the European Union (EU), Luxembourg is known internationally as a business and financial hub and hosts several major EU institutions and other bodies.
Based mainly in Luxembourg-Kirchberg, these institutions shape European law, finance and democratic processes and employ around 15,000 international professionals.
Throughout this series, Chronicle.lu will introduce the main European institutions, bodies and agencies in Luxembourg and explain how they work. This article focuses on the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU).
Created in 2018 and based in Luxembourg, the EuroHPC JU is a legal and funding entity tasked with developing a European network of supercomputers by pooling the resources of the EU, European and associated countries and private partners. The joint undertaking achieves its mission by procuring and managing supercomputers across Europe and by supporting the wider European artificial intelligence (AI) and HPC ecosystem.
The EuroHPC JU is composed of public members - the EU (represented by the European Commission) and its member states, along with a number of associated countries - and private members - representatives from the European Technology Platform for High Performance Computing (ETP4HPC), the Big Data Value Association (BDVA) and the European Quantum Industry Consortium (QuIC).
The initiative is jointly funded by its members, with a budget of approximately €7 billion for the 2021-2027 period. Most funding comes from the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). The joint undertaking provides financial support in the form of procurement or research and innovation grants awarded through open and competitive calls.
To date, the EuroHPC JU has procured eleven supercomputers, including MeluXina, hosted by LuxProvide in Bissen (Luxembourg), which provides powerful computing capacity for scientific research, industry and innovation.
In parallel, the EU is developing a network of AI Factories and AI Factory Antennas to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups in harnessing AI and supercomputing technologies. The Luxembourg AI Factory, supported under the EuroHPC framework, brings together the expertise of five consortium members - LuxProvide, Luxinnovation, the Luxembourg National Data Service, the University of Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) - as well as several associated partners.
Like the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT), the EuroHPC JU is based at the Technopolis office building in Luxembourg City’s Cloche d’Or district. It currently has about fifteen staff members.
It is governed by three bodies: a Governing Board, composed of representatives of the EU and participating countries and currently chaired by Rafał Duczmal; an Executive Director - currently Anders Dam Jensen; and an Industrial and Scientific Advisory Board. The latter comprises the Research and Innovation Advisory Group (RIAG) and the Infrastructure Advisory Group (INFRAG), bringing together representatives from academia and industry who advise the Governing Board.
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