In the Joint Science Conference (GWK), the federal and state governments have agreed to jointly promote not only research buildings and large-scale facilities but also high-performance computing at universities. The aim is to create a coordinated network of several National High Performance Computing (NHR) computing centres that offer resources and services for high-performance computing to all German universities.
The new funding concept envisions that the federal and state governments will no longer only cover investment costs, but also operating and personnel costs. Up to 62.5 million euros will be available annually for the entire NHR network.
The German Research Foundation (DFG) is responsible for reviewing applications for funding within the framework of national supercomputing at universities. After the corresponding publication of the call for proposals on January 7, 2020, computer centres interested in funding had to submit a funding proposal until April 17, 2020.
The RWTH Aachen University applies together with the Technical University Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt) - in cooperation with the JARA Center for Simulation and Data Science - for the admission in the national network for high and supercomputing. For both universities the Computational Engineering Sciences (CES) are already a main focus, which is reflected in Collaborative Research Centres and other interdisciplinary activities as well as in CES Bachelor and Master courses.
Beside the RWTH Aachen University also the University of Paderborn from NRW applied for admission of their computer centre. The state NRW expressly approves and supports both applications.