Government promises £145m investment in supercomputer industry

Government promises £145m investment in supercomputer industry

Chancellor George Osborne says HPC vital to UK economy

By | Computerworld UK | Published 18:00,

Chancellor George Osborne today told delegates at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester that the government will step up investment in high performance computing (HPC).

“We will invest £145 million in High Performance Computing and the associated e-infrastructure,” he said.

“This will make the UK a world leader in supercomputing. Improving computing infrastructure is vital to driving growth and giving businesses confidence to invest in the UK.”

The news comes as the government said it was taking other steps to bolster the country’s technology infrastructure, including making a £150 million investment to improve mobile phone coverage from 95 to 99 percent of the country.

Osborne said that the BAE Systems sites in Brough, Warton and Samlesbury, the most heavily hit by 3,000 job cuts announced by the company last week, will be turned into enterprise zones to develop new businesses and to maintain as much as possible of the technical expertise.

The government is also investing £50 million in graphene, in order to improve commercial opportunities for the UK-discovered material that could be used in touch screens and computer circuitry.

The headline financial measure for the taxpayer, however, was a freeze on council tax for a second year.

Comments

  • Julian Fielden How could anyone argue against the bones of this announcement It seems like great news It is a very large sum of moneyThere will be more than enough demand for the funds from research driven UK universities If the UKs seven Research Councils are to act as referee as reported in a few places then the projects already sitting in the Councils collective in-trays will surely benefit Some of the research projects that possibly werent going to get funding will now be consideredHowever the funds are spent increased investment in our HPC capabilities here in the UK is going to aid what IBM refers to asSmarter Planet Although we shouldnt be nave enough to think that any money invested in UK based academic supercomputing facilities will benefit just UK research and development Universities are intrinsically connected to overseas partner establishments this investment will bring new capabilities and resource to establishments all over the WorldThere should of course be a degree of skepticism about this being announced at a party conference The research community must now hold the Government to account and ensure that any investment actually materialisesJulian Fielden Managing Director OCF plc
  • Andrew Carr The Governments decision to make this significant investment in high-performance computing should be applauded It demonstrates a clear understanding of how developing this kind of technology can help drive future economic growth However it is not only about as George Osborne says giving businesses confidence to invest in the UK the development of HPC is critical to the long-term health of our own home-grown manufacturing sector and ultimately to that of the UK economy as a wholeIf manufacturing is to reverse its current downward trend and retain its role as a driver for economic success in the UK the key will be in driving efficiencies through the product development cycle IT can play a major part in this and for many manufacturers HPC will have a particularly critical role to play The primary benefit of HPC is its ability to drive time to insight the length of time taken between the presentation of the problem and reaching an understanding of how to solve it By streamlining the process manufacturers can compress the design cycle add time to the build space and reduce time to marketHPC gives manufacturers the opportunity to drive through innovation understand more complex issues achieve more accurate and predictable outcomes and make product development faster and more efficient And as the government no doubt recognises all of this has the potential to translate to renewed economic recovery by showing a positive impact on GDPAndrew Carr sales and marketing director Bull UK and Ireland
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