She was welcomed by Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, the University’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, and Professor Mark Parsons, Director of EPCC, who showed her around EPCC’s Advanced Computing Facility and its existing supercomputer ARCHER2.
During the visit, Ms Reeves was also given a tour of the site of the UK’s next national supercomputer which was announced in the Chancellor’s Spending Review last month.
The UK Government has confirmed funding of up to £750 million for this vital piece of national infrastructure.
National project
Ms Reeves visit follows last week’s launch of the UK Government’s new Compute Roadmap, which set out the long-term plan to expand computing infrastructure and position the country as a global leader in artificial intelligence and scientific innovation.
As part of the Compute Roadmap, EPCC at the University was named as the first in a new network of National Supercomputing Centres that will be set up in locations across the UK.
The University’s new status as a National Supercomputing Centre, alongside hosting the next national supercomputer, places Edinburgh and its wider region at the centre of a nation-wide effort to drive technological innovations and support industry using computing and AI.
During her visit, the Chancellor hosted a roundtable with some of the Edinburgh region’s leaders, founders and CEOs from the tech sector, who are leveraging supercomputing and data, and discussed how the UK government’s Industrial Strategy, particularly the Digital and Technologies Sector plan can support SMEs.
Tech leader
A world-leader in AI for more than 60 years, the University is regarded as the birthplace of AI research and learning in Europe.
For more than 30 years it has pioneered the use of high-performance computing technologies that have created breakthroughs in health, advanced engineering and climate change solutions.