For the implementation of the initiative on European High Performance Computing, a Joint Undertaking within the meaning of Article 187 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) (the ‘European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking’, the ‘Joint Undertaking’) is hereby established for a period until 31 December 2033.
Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 of 13 July 2021 on establishing the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking and repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1488
Council Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 of 13 July 2021 on establishing the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking and repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1488
Article 1 Establishment
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2.
In order to take into account the duration of the MFF 2021-2027 and of Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme and the Connecting Europe Facility, calls for proposals and calls for tenders under this Regulation shall be launched by 31 December 2027. In duly justified cases, calls for proposals or calls for tenders may be launched by 31 December 2028.
3.
The Joint Undertaking shall have legal personality. In each Member State, it shall enjoy the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under the laws of that Member State. It may, in particular, acquire or dispose of movable and immovable property and may be a party to legal proceedings.
4.
The seat of the Joint Undertaking shall be located in Luxembourg.
5.
The Statutes of the Joint Undertaking (‘the Statutes’) are set out in the Annex.
Article 2 Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:
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‘acceptance test’ means a test conducted to determine if the requirements of the system specification are met by a EuroHPC supercomputer;
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‘access time’ means the computing time of a supercomputer that is made available to a user or a group of users to execute their computer programmes;
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‘affiliated entity’ means any legal entity as defined in Article 187(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046;
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‘Centre of Excellence in High Performance Computing’ means a collaborative project selected in an open and competitive call for proposals to promote the use of upcoming extreme performance computing capabilities enabling user communities in collaboration with other High Performance Computing stakeholders to scale up existing parallel codes towards exascale and extreme scaling performance;
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‘co-design’ means a collective approach between technology suppliers and users engaged in a collaborative and iterative design process for developing new technologies, applications and systems;
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‘conflict of interest’ means a situation involving a financial actor or other person as referred to in Article 61 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046;
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‘constituent entity’ means an entity that constitutes a Private Member of the Joint Undertaking, pursuant to the statutes of each Private Member;
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‘consortium of private partners’ means an association of Union legal entities coming together for the purpose of acquiring jointly with the Joint Undertaking an industrial-grade supercomputer; one or more of these private partners may be participating in the Private Members of the Joint Undertaking;
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‘EuroHPC supercomputer’ means any computing system fully owned by the Joint Undertaking or co-owned with other Participating States or a consortium of private partners; it can be a classical supercomputer (high-end supercomputer, industrial-grade supercomputer, or mid-range supercomputer), a hybrid classical-quantum computer, a quantum computer or a quantum simulator;
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‘exascale’ means a performance level capable of executing ten to the power of eighteen operations per second (or 1 Exaflop);
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‘high-end supercomputer’ means a world-class computing system developed with the most advanced technology available at a given point in time and achieving at least exascale levels of performance or beyond (i.e. post-exascale) for applications addressing problems of greater complexity;
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‘hosting consortium’ means a group of Participating States or a consortium of private partners that have agreed to contribute to the acquisition and operation of a EuroHPC supercomputer, including any organisations representing these Participating States;
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‘hosting entity’ means a legal entity which includes facilities to host and operate a EuroHPC supercomputer and which is established in a Participating State that is a Member State;
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‘hyper-connected’ means a communication capability of transferring data at 10 to the power of twelve bits per second (1 Terabit per second) or beyond;
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‘industrial-grade supercomputer’ means at least a mid-range supercomputer specifically designed with security, confidentiality and data integrity requirements for industrial users that are more demanding than for a scientific use;
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‘in-kind contributions to indirect actions’ funded from Horizon Europe means contributions by the Participating State or the Private Members of the Joint Undertaking or their constituent entities or their affiliated entities, consisting of the eligible costs incurred by them in implementing indirect actions less the contribution of that Joint Undertaking, of the Participating States of that Joint Undertaking and of any other Union contribution to those costs;
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‘in-kind contributions to actions’ funded from the Digital Europe Programme or the Connecting Europe Facility means contributions by the Participating State or the Private Members of the Joint Undertaking or their constituent entities or their affiliated entities, consisting of the eligible costs incurred by them in implementing part of the activities of the Joint Undertaking less the contribution of that Joint Undertaking, of the Participating States of that Joint Undertaking and of any other Union contribution to those costs;
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‘mid-range supercomputer’ means a world-class supercomputer with at most one order of magnitude lower performance level than a high-end supercomputer;
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‘national High Performance Computing Competence Centre’ means a legal entity, or a consortium of legal entities, established in a Participating State, associated with a national supercomputing centre of that Participating State, providing users from industry, including SMEs, academia, and public administrations with access on demand to the supercomputers and to the latest High Performance Computing technologies, tools, applications and services, and offering expertise, skills, training, networking and outreach;
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‘observer State’ means a country eligible to participate in the actions of the Joint Undertaking funded by Horizon Europe or the Digital Europe Programme that is not a Participating State;
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‘Participating State’ means a country that is a member of the Joint Undertaking;
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‘performance level’ means the number of floating point operations per second (flops) that a supercomputer can execute;
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‘Private Member’ means any member of the Joint Undertaking other than the Union or Participating States;
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‘quantum computer’ means a computing device that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to solve certain particular tasks using therefore fewer computational resources than classical computers;
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‘quantum simulator’ means a highly controllable quantum device that allows to obtain insights into properties of complex quantum systems or to solve specific computational problems inaccessible to classical computers;
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‘security of the supply chain’ of a EuroHPC supercomputer means the measures to include in the selection of any supplier of this supercomputer to ensure the availability of components, technologies, systems and knowhow required in the acquisition and operation of this supercomputer; this includes measures for mitigating the risks related to eventual disruptions in the supply of such components, technologies, and systems, including price changes or lower performance or alternative sources of supply; it covers the whole lifetime of the EuroHPC supercomputer;
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‘Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda’ means the document covering the duration of Horizon Europe that identifies the key priorities and the essential technologies and innovations required to achieve the objectives of the Joint Undertaking;
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‘multiannual strategic programme’ means a document laying out a strategy for all the activities of the Joint Undertaking;
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‘supercomputing’ means computing at performance levels requiring the massive integration of individual computing elements, including quantum components, for solving problems which cannot be handled by standard computing systems;
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‘total cost of ownership’ of a EuroHPC supercomputer means the acquisition costs plus the operating costs, including maintenance, until the ownership of the supercomputer is transferred to the hosting entity or is sold, or until the supercomputer is decommissioned without transfer of ownership;
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‘work programme’ means the document referred to in Article 2, point (25), of Regulation (EU) 2021/695 or, where relevant, the document which also functions as the work programme referred to in Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2021/694, or Article 19 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1153.
Article 3 Mission and objectives
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The mission of the Joint Undertaking shall be: to develop, deploy, extend and maintain in the Union a world-leading federated, secure and hyper-connected supercomputing, quantum computing, service and data infrastructure ecosystem; to support the development and uptake of demand-oriented and user-driven innovative and competitive supercomputing systems based on a supply chain that will ensure components, technologies and knowledge limiting the risk of disruptions and the development of a wide range of applications optimised for these systems; and, to widen the use of that supercomputing infrastructure to a large number of public and private users, and support the twin transition and the development of key skills for European science and industry.
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The Joint Undertaking shall have the following overall objectives:
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to contribute to the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2021/695 and in particular Article 3 thereof, to deliver scientific, economic, environmental, technological and societal impact from the Union’s investments in research and innovation, so as to strengthen the scientific and technological bases of the Union, deliver on the Union strategic priorities and contribute to the realisation of Union objectives and policies, and to contribute to tackling global challenges, including the Sustainable Development Goals by following the principles of the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(1);
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to develop close cooperation and ensure coordination with other European Partnerships, including through joint calls, as well as to seek synergies with relevant activities and programmes at Union, national, and regional level, in particular with those supporting the deployment of innovative solutions, education and regional development, where relevant;
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to develop, deploy, extend and maintain in the Union an integrated, demand-oriented and user-driven hyper-connected world-class supercomputing and data infrastructure;
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to federate the hyper-connected supercomputing and data infrastructure and interconnect it with the European data spaces and cloud ecosystem for providing computing and data services to a wide range of public and private users in Europe;
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to promote scientific excellence and support the uptake and systematic use of research and innovation results generated in the Union;
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to further develop and support a highly competitive and innovative supercomputing and data ecosystem broadly distributed in Europe contributing to the scientific and digital leadership of the Union, capable of autonomously producing computing technologies and architectures and their integration on leading computing systems, and advanced applications optimised for these systems;
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to widen the use of supercomputing services and the development of key skills that European science and industry need.
3.
The Joint Undertaking shall contribute to safeguarding the interests of the Union when procuring supercomputers and supporting the development and uptake of High Performance Computing technologies, systems and applications. It shall enable a co-design approach for the acquisition of world-class supercomputers, while safeguarding the security of the supply chain of procured technologies and systems. It shall contribute to the Union’s strategic autonomy, support the development of technologies and applications reinforcing the European High Performance Computing supply chain and promote their integration in supercomputing systems that address a large number of scientific, societal, environmental and industrial needs.
Article 4 Pillars of activity
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The Joint Undertaking shall implement the mission referred to in Article 3 according to the following pillars of activities:
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administration pillar, covering the general activities for the operation and management of the Joint Undertaking;
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infrastructure pillar, encompassing the activities for the acquisition, deployment, upgrading and operation of the secure, hyper-connected world-class supercomputing, quantum computing and data infrastructure, including the promotion of the uptake and systematic use of research and innovation results generated in the Union;
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federation of supercomputing services pillar, covering all activities for providing Union-wide access to federated, secure supercomputing and data resources and services throughout Europe for the research and scientific community, industry, including SMEs, and the public sector, in particular in cooperation with PRACE and GÉANT; those activities shall include:
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support to the interconnection of the High Performance Computing, quantum computing and data resources owned fully or partially by the Joint Undertaking or made available on a voluntary basis by the Participating States;
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support to the interconnection of the supercomputing, and quantum computing data infrastructures with the Union’s common European data spaces and federated, secure cloud and data infrastructures;
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support to the development, acquisition and operation of a platform for the seamless federation and secure service provisioning of supercomputing and quantum computing service and data infrastructure, establishing a one-stop shop access point for any supercomputing or data service managed by the Joint Undertaking, providing any user with a single point of entry;
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technology pillar, addressing ambitious research and innovation activities for developing a world-class, competitive and innovative supercomputing ecosystem across Europe addressing hardware and software technologies, and their integration into computing systems, covering the whole scientific and industrial value chain, for contributing to the Union’s strategic autonomy; it shall also focus on energy-efficient High Performance Computing technologies, contributing to environmental sustainability; those activities shall address inter alia:
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low-power micro-processing components, interconnection components, system architecture and related technologies such as novel algorithms, software codes, tools, and environments;
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emerging computing paradigms and their integration into leading supercomputing systems through a co-design approach; these technologies shall be linked with the development, acquisition and deployment of high-end supercomputers, including quantum computers, and infrastructures;
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technologies and systems for the interconnection and operation of classical supercomputing systems with other, often complementary computing technologies, such as quantum computing or other emerging computing technologies and ensure their effective operation;
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new algorithms and software technologies that offer substantial performance increases;
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application pillar, addressing activities for achieving and maintaining European excellence in key computing and data applications and codes for science, industry, including SMEs, and the public sector; those activities shall address inter alia:
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applications, including new algorithms and software developments, for public and private users that benefit from the exploitation of the resources and capabilities of high-end supercomputers and their convergence with advanced digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, high performance data analytics, cloud technologies, etc. through the co-design, development and optimisation of High Performance Computing-enabled large-scale and emerging lead-market codes and applications;
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support, among others, to Centres of Excellence in High Performance Computing in applications and large-scale High Performance Computing-enabled pilot demonstrators and test-beds for big data applications and advanced digital services in a wide range of scientific, public and industrial sectors;
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widening usage and skills pillar, aiming at developing capabilities and skills that foster excellence in supercomputing, quantum computing, and data use, taking into account synergies with other programmes and instruments, in particular Digital Europe Programme, widening the scientific and industrial use of supercomputing resources and data applications and fostering the industrial access and use of supercomputing and data infrastructures for innovation adapted to industrial needs, as well as providing Europe with a knowledgeable leading scientific community and a skilled workforce for scientific leadership and digital transformation of industry and public administration, including the support and networking of national High Performance Computing Competence Centres and Centres of Excellence in High Performance Computing;
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international cooperation pillar, in line with the external policy objectives and international commitments of the Union, defining, implementing and participating in activities relevant to the promotion of international collaboration in supercomputing to solve global scientific and societal challenges, while promoting competitiveness of the European High Performance Computing supply and user ecosystem.
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In addition to the activities referred to in paragraph 1, the Joint Undertaking may be entrusted with the implementation of additional tasks in the event of cumulative, complementary or combined funding between Union programmes in accordance with the relevant Commission work programme.
Article 5 Union’s financial contribution
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The Union financial contribution to the Joint Undertaking including EEA appropriations shall be up to EUR 3 081 300 000, including EUR 92 000 000 for administrative costs, on the condition that that amount is at least matched by the contribution of Participating States, distributed as follows:
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up to EUR 900 000 000 from Horizon Europe;
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up to EUR 1 981 300 000 from the Digital Europe Programme;
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up to EUR 200 000 000 from the Connecting Europe Facility.
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The Union financial contribution referred to in paragraph 1 shall be paid from the appropriations in the general budget of the Union allocated to each relevant programme.
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Additional Union funds complementing the contribution referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article may be allocated to the Joint Undertaking to support its pillars of activities referred to in Article 4, except those referred to in Article 4(1)(a).
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Contributions from Union programmes corresponding to additional activities entrusted to the Joint Undertaking in accordance with paragraph 3 shall not be accounted for in the calculation of the Union maximum financial contribution.
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Additional Union funds complementing the contribution referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article may be allocated to the Joint Undertaking from third countries associated to Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme or the Connecting Europe Facility in accordance with their respective association agreements. Those additional Union funds shall not affect the Participating States’ contribution referred to in Article 7(1), unless the Participating States agree otherwise.
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The Union financial contribution referred to in paragraph 1(a) of this Article shall be used for the Joint Undertaking to provide financial support to indirect actions as defined in Article 2, point (43), of Regulation (EU) 2021/695, corresponding to the research and innovation activities of the Joint Undertaking.
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The Union financial contribution referred to in paragraph 1(b) shall be used for capability building across the whole Union, including the acquisition, upgrade and operation of High Performance Computers, quantum computers or quantum simulators, the federation of the High Performance Computing and quantum computing service and data infrastructure and the widening of its use, and the development of advanced skills and training.
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The Union financial contribution referred to in paragraph 1(c) shall be used for the interconnection of the High Performance Computing and data resources and the creation of an integrated pan-European hyper-connected High Performance Computing and data infrastructure.