BSC hosts ACM Europe Conference 2017 and EXDCI Final Event

07 September 2017

With over 250 attendees, the ACM Europe Conference and the EXDCI Final Event will gather HPC experts, students and ACM members worldwide.

On 7 and 8 September BSC hosts both the Annual ACM Europe Conference 2017 and the co-located EXDCI Final event. With over 250 attendees, Barcelona will gather HPC academia and industry, students and ACM members worldwide.

The ACM Europe Conference will be a truly international event, bringing together computer scientists and practitioners from around the world. The two main themes of this year conference are Cybersecurity and High Performance Computing. For this reason, EXDCI project co-located its final event next to the ACM Europe conference with the objective to join forces between various computing and scientific organizations and initiatives in Europe.

“We are glad to host this conference at BSC for all ACM members and HPC experts with two dedicated topics key in Computer Science nowadays: Cybersecurity and HPC”, says Mateo Valero, BSC director and ACM fellow since 2002.

EXDCI holds its final event with the objective of disseminating the future path of HPC, discussing the trends, challenges and innovations of the next generation of HPC. The programme starts on Thursday, where Sergi Girona, BSC Operations Director, will open the EXDCI Final Conference followed by an overview of the global trends, next HPC generation and technological challenges. After the afternoon break, the ACM Europe Conference will start with a Turing Lecture and Cybersecurity Panel, and will close the day with the Reception and ACM Fellow Celebration open to all attendees.

On Friday morning, EXDCI holds a joint session with the two ongoing European projects EuroLab-4-HPC and HiPEAC. Sergi Girona finalizes the EXDCI final conference with a visit to the recently upgraded supercomputer MareNostrum4 installed at Torre Girona chapel. In the afternoon, ACM Europe Conference will continue with the High Performance Computing Track. Katherine Yelick will deliver a keynote lecture titled “Breakthrough Science at the Exascale” on applications of Exascale computing followed by an HPC panel. The panel of top experts includes BSC’s director, Mateo Valero, Paul Messina, Satoshi Matsuoka, Qian Depei, Alison Kennedy and Per Stenström who will review progress and current plans for the worldwide roadmap toward Exascale computing. Thomas Skordas, Director for Digital Excellence and Science Infrastructure at the European Commission, will moderate this panel.

More information about both events:

About EXDCI

EXDCI’s objective is to coordinate the development and implementation of a common strategy for the European HPC Ecosystem. The two most significant HPC bodies in Europe, PRACE and ETP4HPC, join their expertise in this 30-month project with a budget of € 2.5 million, starting from September 2015. EXDCI aims to support the road-mapping, strategy-making and performance-monitoring activities of the ecosystem, i.e.:

  • Producing and aligning roadmaps for HPC Technology and HPC Applications
  • Measuring the implementation of the European HPC strategy
  • Building and maintaining relations with other international HPC activities and regions
  • Supporting the generation of young talent as a crucial element of the development of European HPC

EXDCI will complement the Horizon 2020 calls and projects in the achievement of a globally competitive HPC Ecosystem in Europe. Following the vision of the European Commission in HPC, this ecosystem is based on three pillars: HPC Technology Provision, HPC Infrastructure and HPC Application Resources. More information: https://exdci.eu/

About the ACM Europe Council

The ACM Europe Council was created by ACM to recognize and support European ACM members and activities. The ACM Europe Council aims to increase the level and visibility of ACM activities across Europe. The Council is comprised of European computer scientists committed to fostering the visibility and relevance of ACM in Europe, and is focused on a wide range of European ACM activities, from high-quality ACM conferences in Europe, to expanding ACM chapters, to encouraging greater participation of Europeans in all dimensions of ACM. More information: https://www.acm.org/governance/acm-europe-council