Supercomputing set to boost region's competitiveness  

A £3.5 million supercomputing hub is set to power growth and innovation in the Midlands and London by opening up its vast number-crunching power to local firms.

The University of Nottingham is one of four top universities to launch MidPlus, a high-performance computing centre, to help SMEs and larger firms with the modelling, simulation and analysis needed to design world-leading products and services.

Professor Saul Tendler, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at The University of Nottingham, said: “This exciting co-operation with regional partners builds on our university’s strong track record in high performance computing and is an excellent opportunity to enhance further our interactions with local industries.”

MidPlus will provide extra computing capacity to sectors such as aerospace, automotive, biomedical and advanced materials as well as delivering supercomputing skills to the local workforce.

The investment consists of £2 million from the research funding agency EPSRC and £1.5 million from the four partners — The University of Nottingham, the University of Warwick, University of Birmingham, and Queen Mary, University of London.

The move is linked to a Government drive to increase the UK’s capacity to exploit high-performance computing in optimising process design — a key requirement to boost industries such as advanced manufacturing, scientific research and financial services. The new centre’s facilities will be available to businesses along the M1/M6 corridor in the East and West Midlands and London.

Professor Jonathan Hirst, a computational chemist leading the project at The University of Nottingham, said: “Computer simulations and the ability to extract patterns from huge datasets are playing an increasingly critical role in much of the UK’s industrial base, from the creative industries through to the biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors.

“The high-performance computing facilities and expertise that MidPlus offers will reduce the barrier that SMEs face in terms of stepping up into new and expanding markets. The UK has to continue and even accelerate investment in e-infrastructure in order to compete on a global scale. MidPlus is part of this and is set to have a far-reaching impact on established and emerging industries in the Midlands and London.”