EuroCC 2 and CASTIEL 2: Promoting HPC to boost digital skills and competitiveness in Europe

EuroCC 2 and CASTIEL 2 are two linked projects which work to identify and address the skills gaps in the European HPC ecosystem and coordinate cooperation across Europe to ensure a consistent skills base. The role of EuroCC 2 is to establish and run a network of more than 30 national competence centers (NCCs) across the EuroHPC participating states. NCC Estonia was established on the basis of the ETAIS consortium. EuroCC 2 delivers training, interacts with SMEs, develops competence mapping and communication materials and activities, and supports the adoption of HPC services in other related fields, such as quantum computing and AI to expand the HPC user base. CASTIEL 2 promotes interaction and exchange of expertise and competence across the NCC network. Starting on 1st January 2023, the project EuroCC2 will run for a 3-year period with a total budget of up to €62 million, provided by the Digital Europe Programme and the EuroHPC participating states. CASTIEL 2 will also run for a 3-year period starting 1st January 2023 and receive up to €3 million funding from the Digital Europe Programme.
EuroCC 2 and CASTIEL 2 follow on from EuroCC and CASTIEL, which started on 1 September 2020 and ran for two years. The two projects received funding from Horizon 2020. The two projects will be coordinated by the High-Performance Computing Centre Stuttgart (HLRS).