Scientists Join Forces to Create European Supercomputer

Some 37 national grid projects have teamed up as part of the European Grid Initiative (EGI) to set up a distributed computing network that will enable laboratories to collaborate via thousands of computers merged into one supercomputer. The project is bringing together national experts in order to set up the design of a sustainable European Grid Infrastructure.

The 'EGI-Design Study', running from September 2007 to December 2009, will rely on National Grid Infrastructures (NGI), with the ultimate goal of launching the construction of the European Grid Initiative (EGI). The aim of the EGI will be to enable European scientists to make the most of grid network technology in their research endeavours.

Grid networks are used to perform computing tasks on very large data sets, which are broken down into smaller portions.

While national grid initiatives already provide local connectivity and resources to researchers, the EGI will enable pan-European scientific collaboration via the connection of thousands of computers in universities and research laboratories.

The new EU initiative, making accessing resources on widely-distributed computers as easy as accessing those on the user's own desktop, is expected by those involved to have a major impact by changing the way in which scientists work.

For example, in order to tackle the recent outbreak of avian flu, scientists needed to accelerate their research into possible new drugs. The existing e-infrastructure allowed an international group of researchers to test a huge number of drugs in a very short period of time. With this new supercomputer this timeframe could be reduced still further.

For further information, please visit:
http://www.eu-egi.org

Copyright ©European Communities, 2007
Neither the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, nor any person acting on its behalf, is responsible for the use, which might be made of the attached information. The attached information is drawn from the Community R&D Information Service (CORDIS). The CORDIS services are carried on the CORDIS Host in Luxembourg - http://cordis.europa.eu. Access to CORDIS is currently available free-of-charge.

Most Popular Now

Philips Foundation 2024 Annual Report: E…

Marking its tenth anniversary, Philips Foundation released its 2024 Annual Report, highlighting a year in which the Philips Foundation helped provide access to quality healthcare for 46.5 million people around...

New AI Transforms Radiology with Speed, …

A first-of-its-kind generative AI system, developed in-house at Northwestern Medicine, is revolutionizing radiology - boosting productivity, identifying life-threatening conditions in milliseconds and offering a breakthrough solution to the global radiologist...

Scientists Argue for More FDA Oversight …

An agile, transparent, and ethics-driven oversight system is needed for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to balance innovation with patient safety when it comes to artificial intelligence-driven medical...

New Research Finds Specific Learning Str…

If data used to train artificial intelligence models for medical applications, such as hospitals across the Greater Toronto Area, differs from the real-world data, it could lead to patient harm...

Giving Doctors an AI-Powered Head Start …

Detection of melanoma and a range of other skin diseases will be faster and more accurate with a new artificial intelligence (AI) powered tool that analyses multiple imaging types simultaneously...

AI Agents for Oncology

Clinical decision-making in oncology is challenging and requires the analysis of various data types - from medical imaging and genetic information to patient records and treatment guidelines. To effectively support...

Patients say "Yes..ish" to the…

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be integrated in healthcare, a new multinational study involving Aarhus University sheds light on how dental patients really feel about its growing role in...

Brains vs. Bytes: Study Compares Diagnos…

A University of Maine study compared how well artificial intelligence (AI) models and human clinicians handled complex or sensitive medical cases. The study published in the Journal of Health Organization...

'AI Scientist' Suggests Combin…

An 'AI scientist', working in collaboration with human scientists, has found that combinations of cheap and safe drugs - used to treat conditions such as high cholesterol and alcohol dependence...

Start-ups in the Spotlight at MEDICA 202…

17 - 20 November 2025, Düsseldorf, Germany. MEDICA, the leading international trade fair and platform for healthcare innovations, will once again confirm its position as the world's number one hotspot for...