Background

The development of HPC Wales was led by the Government's Department for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning and the Department for the Economy and Transport, in collaboration with Welsh universities.

The universities of Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, Glamorgan, Swansea and the University of Wales (representing Alliance Universities across Wales), established a unique partnership arrangement to deliver HPC Wales and a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to manage the project.

A key goal within government and academia across Wales was and still is to support the private sector in improving the scope, scale and impact of research and development and innovation activities. HPC Wales will be a catalyst to accelerate innovation in Digital, Low Carbon, Health and Biosciences, and Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing, all identified as priorities for R&D investment by the Welsh Government (WG).

HPC Wales is set to have a major impact on the economy and business competitiveness, not only in terms of research, innovation and enterprise engagement, but also in it’s holistic approach to training and educating its user community.

HPC Wales has received £40 million funding for a five year period to June 2015.

This initial funding was provided as follows:

• £19 million from ERDF and ESF European funds channelled through the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO);
• £10 million from the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS);
• £4 million from collaborating institutions;
• £5 million from the Welsh Government/Higher Education Funding Council Wales (HEFCW);
• £2 million from private sector and research income

This investment covers infrastructure development, equipment, software research, management and operational costs over the first five years to 2015 by which time HPC Wales expects to become self-supporting.

HPC Wales’ cutting-edge computing facilities are available to researchers and businesses working independently or in collaboration.