CASTIEL 3

CASTIEL 3 builds on CASTIEL 2, continuing the Europe-wide support for NCCs and ensuring complementarity to further projects in HPC and AI in Europe, directly supporting the Digital Europe Programme goals: advancing skills, technological sovereignty and broad access to HPC and AI capabilities.

CASTIEL 2 coordinated and supported collaboration among the network of National Competence Centres for HPC and the HPC Centres of Excellence, promoting the development of HPC expertise and the adaption of HPC applications across Europe.

Since 2020, the CASTIEL coordination and support action has worked closely with the EuroCC network of National Competence Centres (NCCs) for High-Performance Computing (HPC) to identify and address differences in HPC expertise among the participating countries, and to find synergies that could enhance the development of pan-European HPC competences. 

In its third project phase, CASTIEL 3 continues the original project’s mission and work with the National Competence Centre initiative and collaborates with projects via all its work packages, including cooperation regarding training with EVITA and EUMaster4HPC, connecting with industry (e.g., via the HPC Service Hub) and CoEs, and alignment with AIF(A)s.

CASTIEL 3 forms the backbone of the NCC network, uniting national HPC efforts within a European framework. It develops expertise in the NCCs through promoting collaboration within the NCC network and with other relevant European HPC initiatives. It links the NCC network to other European initiatives, maximising synergies and avoiding duplication. As such, CASTIEL 3 aligns with EVITA's certification and training standards to promote high-quality training formats. Promoting training, events, and services via the HPC in Europe Portal and the HPC Service Hub, and exchanging (e.g., on best practices) with other projects like EPICURE, MINERVA, or AIF(A), further positions NCCs as a central point of access for HPC (and AI) users.