The scene is set. Two days of inspiration, knowledge sharing, and networking in the emerging field of Supercomputing for Industry, Public administration, and SMEs. Around 100 attendees at Danish Industry’s great conference facilities in beautiful Copenhagen we are all interested in understanding how to leverage AI and HPC technology to drive businesses forward. What could be the actual benefits for a specific business, what is available for my company, and how do I gain access to HPC/AI-resources?
Supercomputing – the gateway to AI
We have all heard and read about the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Most of us experience being on the receiving end of AI in everyday life and at work using a broad variety of apps on our mobile phones and computers. But how, as a business, do you work with AI to improve your business model?
First of all, you need supercomputing power. Crunching data and algorithms takes a lot of computing power. For most businesses it would not make sense to establish these HPC-resources alone. Luckily, both national and European initiatives are looking to provide regional and local facilities for AI-projects, so-called AI Factories.
As a company fully embracing AI, you can build AI-driven products for businesses, help industry leaders build smart devices, autonomous vehicles, industry 4.0, and smart cities.
“HPC has been a fundamental piece of the puzzle because engaging in very advanced and cutting-edge research. The compute (time) is always a bottleneck. It is kind of a unique proposition that we have in the European AI ecosystem”, says Pier Luigi Dovesi, AI Industry Expert.
AI Factory
An AI factory can refer to a data centre – the physical infrastructure used to produce artificial intelligence itself – the data and the models.
Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 can be defined as the integration of intelligent digital technologies into manufacturing and industrial processes. It encompasses a set of technologies that include industrial IoT networks, AI, Big Data, robotics, and automation.
From a supercomputing enabled AI business model, we move to another great example of using supercomputing in a very different type of business.
Supercomputing for fire safety at Rambøll
A large industry player, like engineering magnet, Rambøll, what benefits did actually come from using a really powerful supercomputer? Among many other things Rambøll works with designing fire safety. Basically, how to avoid a building catching fire, and if it happens how to safe life and minimize damages. In working to optimize fire safety Rambøll’s fire safety department do a lot of simulations with a lot of data. Using the LUMI supercomputer (Europe’s fastest) Rambøll cut the time by half reducing the design cycle process from 2 months to 1 month. This holds a promise of great efficiency, but it also opens up opportunities for knowledge sharing and spill over to other departments in Rambøll like Wind, Water, and Traffic, because the supercomputing powers provides opportunities to do more advanced/complex calculations and simulations.
” Using the LUMI supercomputer was an interesting experience with a great result. It was a steep learning curve, and luckily, we received support from the EuroCC2 team at DeiC”, says Frederik Nikolaj Paulin Larsen, civil engineer, Rambøll.
But what do you do if you don’t have the insights or resources to get started with supercomputing or AI, or if you feel this is a very large and overwhelming area to dive into?
Democratic Supercomputing – your gateway to knowledge and access
From the political side it is important to ensure the competitiveness of European and Danish businesses on a global scale. Strong efforts are put into providing both public and private companies, large and small, equal opportunities when it comes to exploring AI and HPC.
The EuroHPC JU is providing the option for European researchers and companies to gain access to HPC-resources on their facilities throughout Europe, and they focus on establishing and developing the necessary eco-system around that including AI Factories.
In Denmark the Danish National Competence Centre (NCC), EuroCC2 serves as a comprehensive resource for companies providing support in AI and HPC technology adoption from developing competences and training to assisting with funding applications and access to supercomputers. We can provide help for both larger and smaller companies including SMBs, public sector and academia, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
“Already now, several companies have reached out to me after the event because they are eager to know more about how we can help them”, says a happy Dennis Lange Wollbrink, Leader of the Danish NCC, EuroCC2.
Networking with peers and industry experts
We need this type of event to fuel the information dissemination and to support growing the ecosystems around supercomputing and AI for the benefit of both private and public companies, institutions, experts, organizations, in line with political endeavours and initiatives.
For this reason, the event proved to be a great success for knowledge sharing and networking across a variety of fields, types of organizations and range of interests and expertise. Industry experts, participants from across the Nordics, representatives from organizations, industry, SMB’s, embassies, public and private companies we were all enjoying the very professional conference set-up at Danish Industry. We were all very impressed with the roof-top terrasse at the top of the building looking over Tivoli on a warm, September evening. Copenhagen showing off its best side.
If you missed the event, please look to the information below, where we have provided available bits and pieces for you.
Resources
How HPC and AI can benefit my business, contact:dennis.wollbrink@deic.dk
How to access HPC resources, contact:dennis.wollbrink@deic.dk
Nordic Industry Days, program:https://www.danskindustri.dk/arrangementer/soeg/arrangementer/it-og-digitalisering/nordic-industry-days/
Nordic Industry Days, presentations:
Nordic Industry Days 2025 - Supercomputing, the gateway to AI - YouTube
Industry case
More information
What is EuroHPC JU?
EuroHPC JU is a joint initiative between the EU, European countries, and private partners to develop a world-class supercomputing ecosystem in Europe. It focuses on building and deploying exa-scale supercomputers for scientific research, industrial innovation, and public services.
What is EuroCC2?
NCC Denmark is part of EuroCC2. The project aims to establish a network of National Competence Centres (NCCs) across Europe to support high-performance computing (HPC) activities. Key goals include addressing skills gaps in HPC, coordinating cooperation across Europe, facilitating access to HPC resources for public and private sectors and supporting HPC-related fields like AI and quantum computing. Look to this link for more information: EuroCC ACCESS (eurocc-access.eu)
Follow EuroCC2 on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/eurocc-denmark/
More news articles on democratic access to Supercomputing:
https://deic.dk/da/news/2024-9-12/bredt-samarbejde-skal-hjaelpe-med-fri-adgang-til-computere
