SUNNYVALE, Calif. and SINGAPORE, June 30, 2020 — The HPC-AI Advisory Council (HPCAIAC) in collaboration with the National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore today announced the teams competing in the co-organized, third annual APAC HPC-AI Competition supporting ongoing student development and mastery in high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) disciplines. Comprised of undergraduate and graduate competitors from some of Asia Pacific’s leading academic institutions, thirty teams complete the 2020 roster and will compete across the region in an all remote contest. Winning teams will be announced in November, during the US’ SC20 Conference, followed by an official award ceremony in the new year at the SupercomputingAsia 2021 (SCA21) Conference which is scheduled for March 2021 in Singapore. The champion team will go on to compete in the 2021 ISC-HPCAIAC Student Cluster Competition in Frankfurt, Germany next June.

Representing nine of the region’s kingdoms, republics, city-states, nations and many of its ‘Ivy League’ equivalent institutions, colleges and universities, the thirty academic ambassador teams for 2020 include:

Australia
University of New South Wales

Bangladesh
KUET: Khulna University of Engineering & Technology

Bhutan
CST: College of Science and Technology

China (8)
Fudan University
NANDA: Nanjing University
SJTU: Shanghai Jiao Tong University
SUSTech: Southern University of Science and Technology
THU: Tsinghua University (x2)
USTC: University of Science and Technology of China
DUT: Dalian University of Technology

Hong Kong
IVE: Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education

India
IITGN: Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar

Malaysia (2)
CU: Curtin University Malaysia
UPM: Universiti Putra Malaysia

Singapore (5)
A*STAR: Graduate Academy of Scholars
NTU: Nanyang Technological University (x4)

Sri Lanka (5)
UOM: University of Moratuwa (x4)
UOP: University of Peradeniya

Taiwan (4)
NCKU: National Cheng Kung University (x2)
NCNU: National Chi Nan University
NTHU: National Tsing Hua University

Thailand
TU: Thammasat University

“We are extremely encouraged by the response to this year’s competition, which shows the growing interest and advancements in HPC and AI skillsets of the region’s student communities,” said Associate Professor Tan Tin Wee, Chief Executive at NSCC. “The competition is continuously evolving to teach and train these students about the relevance and benefit of HPC and AI in helping provide viable solutions to some of humanity’s greatest challenges, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.”

Combining classical and novel challenges, the third annual competition will test each teams’ combined knowledge and skills in natural language processing (BERT); climate simulation (NEMO) and two new challenges being introduced to this year’s competition to support the global research effort to combat and rid the planet of the devastating COVID-19 virus. This year’s ‘real-world’ team tasks include a dedicated bio science challenge (NAMD) and an open innovation challenge requiring competitors to choose and champion an AI or HPC application each team perceives to have the highest potential for making a positive contribution in the research community’s tireless efforts to end the pandemic.

“The competition exposes students to real-world disciplines and encourages new ways of thinking and tackling problems,” said Gilad Shainer, HPC-AI Advisory Council chairman. “While gaining practical experience they approach problems with a fearless curiosity. Nurturing that now means they not only have the potential to make a major contribution in solving for catastrophic challenges like the COVID-19 crisis but in shaping their own successful outcomes and futures.”

Co-organized by the HPCAIAC and NSCC, the 3^rd annual competition is sponsored by AMD, NVIDIA and WekaIO with additional support from the Singapore Advanced Research and Education Network (SingAREN).

For more information on the 3^rd APAC HPC-AI Competition: http://hpcadvisorycouncil.com/events/2020/APAC-AI-HPC/

About HPC-AI Advisory Council

Founded in 2008, The HPC-AI Advisory Council (HPCAIAC) is a for community benefit organization with over 400 members committed to promoting HPC and AI through education and outreach. More: www.hpcadvisorycouncil.com

About National Supercomputing Centre Singapore

Established in 2015, the National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore manages Singapore’s first national Petascale facility providing high performance computing (HPC) resources. As a National Research Infrastructure, NSCC supports private and public sector research including commercial companies, government agencies as well as high learning and research institutes. Through the support of its stakeholders including the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR); Nanyang Technological University (NTU); National University of Singapore (NUS); Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD); the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Technology Centre for Offshore and Marine, Singapore (TCOMS); and funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF), NSCC catalyses national research and development initiatives, attracts industrial research collaborations and enhances Singapore’s research capabilities. For more information, please visit https://www.nscc.sg/

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Source: HPC-AI Advisory Council