Brussels, 15 feb ( EFE).-the European Commission (EC) has approved today to double their contribution, from 630 to 1,200 million euros, for the development of computers of high capacities ( HPC in English), an essential technology for industries such as the automotive or aviation, as well as for the health sector.
The Commission’s plan aims to help develop these “ supercomputers“, that can be executed a trillion operations per second, by 2020, Brussels said in a statement.
The EC wants to invest half of that budget in the creation of new centres of research and training, which, according to its calculations, will create thousands of jobs.
The Commission recalled that hospitals there are in Germany use this type of computers to make last-minute decisions in childbirth, or to generate images in three dimensions of the brain that allow early diagnosis about a disease.
These computers also allow car manufacturers to develop new models in two years instead of five, which is a savings for the sector of 40 billion euros, noted the EC.
, 97% Of firms that use these computers claim that they are “indispensable” for its ability to “innovate, compete and survive”.
The contribution of the EC will strengthen the electronic infrastructure of the HPC across Europe, as well as the academic and industrial research.
Furthermore, considers that it will help to create a workforce in that area of high qualification, and to stimulate the European market so that it is attractive for companies to acquire the services of these machines.
This plan will also favour the mobilization of funds for the Member States to share costs, and will strengthen the independence of the EU in the field of provision of technology through the Innovation Fund and pre-commercial procurement, the Commission indicated.
According to the EC, a computer of such calculations can cost manufacture more than EUR 100 million and keep it, about 20 million a year.
The most powerful supercomputers in Europe are the “Curie HPC” system, which occupies the number nine spot in the ranking of the most powerful computers in the world and is located in France, and the “Hermes HPC” system, which is in Germany and is ranked thirteen on that ranking. EFE
