The United Kingdom’s HPC community is receiving a boost from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in the form of a £145 million investment. Funding was made available following a report on the future of e-infrastructure in the UK. While the initial assets have been allocated, the organization is taking a unique approach towards future spending. Digital Science detailed the news in a blog post yesterday.
The projects are aimed at assisting business, industry, academia and research. Representatives from these various sectors have joined a leadership council, tasked with advising government officials of best uses for the funds. Areas of focus in the e-infrastructure umbrella include networks, compute, software, training and new technologies.
As a member of the leadership council, Digital Science plans to lobby for investments that advance a start-up culture. The publication believes public funding is the best resource for emerging tech businesses. To promote their cause, they have released a survey titled “The future of UK’s digital infrastructure.” Interested parties are encouraged to contribute to the results before June 13th. Final results will be presented to the leadership council in July and made available publicly.
The survey aims to give stakeholders a say in future funding decisions. This allows end users to provide input without needing to join decision-making bodies. The survey can be accessed here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/einfrastructure.