These are just some of the potential benefits of the new compute roadmap, launched today by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
The roadmap heralds a significant increase in publicly accessible compute capacity.
Significant investments
Investments include up to £2 billion to deliver a holistic and user-centred compute ecosystem with £1 billion to expand the AI Research Resource 20-fold by 2030.
It also provides up to £750 million for UKRI to invest in a new national supercomputing service at Edinburgh.
UKRI investing in skills and access
UKRI is further supporting the compute roadmap with over £59 million of additional investments in world-class skills and training, UK-wide capability and access.
Many measures will help grow knowledge exchange between business and research experts.
Key investments
Within this UKRI package, key investments include:
- five Digital Research Technical Professional (DRTP) Skills NetworkPlus awards, totalling £9 million, to University of Warwick, University of Southampton, The University of Edinburgh, University College London and Imperial College London to tackle critical technical skills gaps and support national connectivity of digital skills
- £6 million for the University of Surrey and Durham University to enhance technical professional skills to match those found across the globe.
- £1.6 million for The University of Edinburgh to share best practice and knowledge exchange around the future of supercomputing
Driving economic growth
Compute, or high-performance computing power, is a critical foundation for many areas of modern research.
It will power the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, especially training AI models to revolutionise both public and private sector business practices while driving economic growth across the UK.
Smarter, faster, more accurate
With demand set to increase in the years ahead, investing in the UK’s digital research infrastructure can significantly improve lives and livelihoods.
It’ll enable the development of smarter devices, more accurate health diagnostics, improved prediction and mitigation of the effects of climate change, energy storage and generation solutions, and better data-driven decision-making.
These lead to healthier communities, more sustainable practices, and stronger economic growth.
Unlocking new opportunities
Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, said:
Britain has top of the class talent in AI and our plan will put a rocket under our brilliant researchers, scientists, and engineers, giving them the tools they need to make Britain the best place to do their work.
This will mean we can harness the technology in Britain to transform our public services, drive growth, and unlock new opportunities for every community in the country.
Harnessing advanced computing power
Professor Charlotte Deane, Executive Chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and UKRI Digital Infrastructure Champion, said:
This new roadmap contains many measures to take digital infrastructure to the next level across the UKRI, bringing many benefits to businesses, communities and families everywhere.
By harnessing advanced computing power, there is the potential to drive progress in many areas of life, such as health, energy, transport and public services.
Our vision is for researchers and innovators to be able to access and exploit the best digital infrastructure for the benefit of lives and livelihoods across the UK.
Further information
UKRI is supporting the compute roadmap launch by confirming over £59 million of new investments into many areas of critical digital research infrastructure, including career development for digital research and technical professionals.
Just over £6 million will help create two new national hubs hosted by University of Surrey and Durham University.
These will provide a robust training curriculum, career pathways and a talent pipeline bridging data, software and hardware development, as well as fostering engagement with large-scale UK and international initiatives.
KEC NetworkPlus
To enhance large-scale computational science and broaden participation in computational practices, showcasing UK strengths internationally, a £1.6 million investment will support one Knowledge Exchange and Communications NetworkPlus (KEC NetworkPlus) to be hosted by The University of Edinburgh.
It will drive activities to unite diverse communities, represent UK advancements at national and international initiatives, and share best practice.
DRTP Skills NetworkPlus awards
UKRI is also investing £9 million in five Digital Research Technical Professional (DRTP) Skills NetworkPlus awards. This investment will build new cross-domain communities of diverse, inclusive and interdisciplinary DRTPs, bringing together researchers and innovators, and supporting the development of skills across domains and disciplines.
These networks will tackle critical skills gaps, establishing clear career pathways and recognition for technical professionals in areas such as high-performance computing, data stewardship and research software engineering.
Funding for the continuation of iDAH
The funding includes a further £2.2 million to support the continuation of the infrastructure for Digital Arts and Humanities (iDAH) for a further three years.
Embracing work on compute, skills and research software, the iDAH programme includes a network of five interconnected data services, which are pioneering innovative approaches to curation and enhanced access to complex data and driving technological innovation in AI and associated technologies.
These include the Museum Data Service, Archaeology Data Service and Enact, which works with complex practice and performance-based data.