Hewlett Packard Enterprise to power Edinburgh International Data Facility
04 Aug 2020 • 3 minute read
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has won a bid to power Europe’s first regional data innovation hub in Edinburgh.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has won a bid to power Europe’s first regional data innovation centre, taking Edinburgh one step closer to becoming the data capital of Europe.
Europe's first region-wide data innovation hub
Scotland's data science capability is a catalyst for innovation and positive change. The University of Edinburgh has teamed up with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to build Europe’s first region-wide data innovation hub that will offer R&D resources to unlock solutions to global problems across science, healthcare, climate change and more.
The deal, which has an expected value of more than US $125 million over 10 years, will help 1,000 public, private and non-profit organisations to develop products and services using R&D and other data-driven programmes.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise will deliver an end-to-end infrastructure featuring its industry-leading high-performance computing, software and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.
Tackling global challenges head on
As a hub for innovation, the Edinburgh International Data Facility (EIDF) opens in a new window will enable R&D on projects that are focused on addressing global issues such as food production, climate change, space exploration and personalised healthcare.
Researchers will benefit from access to high-performance computing and AI technologies at EIDF. They’ll also have the ability to analyse modelling and simulation to increase accuracy of results and speed time to discovery.
By allowing users to securely access shared datasets and analytics from public and private sources, the EIDF will be able to improve overall insights.
Data-driven innovation
The EIDF will play a critical role in the region's Data-Driven Innovation programmeopens in a new window, which involves greater collaboration between industry, the public sector and academia.
The Data-Driven Innovation programme is another step towards cementing Edinburgh’s place as the data capital of Europe.
The University of Edinburgh is partnering with Heriot-Watt University in pioneering the programme. The programme aims to tackle societal and industrial challenges and deliver benefits from the data economy, while improving the digital and data skills of over 100,000 people from across the region.
A ray of light in response to Covid-19
Scotland's world-leading researchers are working in partnership with other UK universities and life sciences firms providing a ray of light amid the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on people’s lives and livelihoods around the globe.
EIDF and EPCCopens in a new window (formerly Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre), a supercomputing hub at the University of Edinburgh, are working closely with public agencies to support responses to Covid-19. For example, they're working with the NHS and Public Health Scotland to create a secure data and computing environment for urgent research in Scotland into Covid-19.
EPCC is also working with clinical and genomic experts from Oxford, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh universities, including Edinburgh’s Roslin Instituteopens in a new window, to provide a data and computing environment to help search for possible genetic markers in Covid-19 patients.
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