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High and ultra-high performance computing
Computers do not carry out calculations by themselves: to use them effectively, highly qualified personnel and sophisticated coding are needed. This is especially true for expensive high-performance and supercomputers, which are a scarce resource for a wide variety of sciences, especially the natural sciences, life sciences and engineering. They are used in science and industry as research-supporting instruments, especially where real experiments are not possible, too time-consuming or too expensive.
In recent years, numerous scientific breakthroughs have been achieved that would not have been possible on computers with lower performance. This applies, for example, to simulations in the engineering sciences, in physics and chemistry as well as in climate and environmental research. Even the planning of efficient traffic systems in large cities would not be possible without powerful computers.
This has prompted the Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat, WR) to repeatedly address, in various contexts, how an adequate supply of High Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructures can be provided at the national and European level. It has made overarching recommendations on the structure and conditions of such a supply, as well as commented on concrete procurement projects for computing systems by the states (Länder). The conspicuous density of recommendations in this area indicates the central importance that the WR and the political decision-makers at the federal and state level attach to an adequate HPC infrastructure as a location factor in international scientific and industrial competition (German versions only):
Strategic further development of High Performance Computing in Germany | Position paper, 2012
Strategische Weiterentwicklung des Hoch-und-Höchstleistungsrechnens in Deutschland | Positionspapier (Drs. 1838-12), Januar 2012
Report on the activities of the National Coordinating Committee for the Procurement and Use of Supercomputers, 2007
Bericht über die Tätigkeiten des Nationalen Koordinierungsausschusses zur Beschaffung und Nutzung von Höchstleistungsrechnern (Drs. 8162-07), November 2007
Recommendations on the future utilisation of supercomputers, 2000
Empfehlung zur künftigen Nutzung von Höchstleistungsrechnern (Drs. 4558-00), Mai 2000
Recommendation on the Provision of Science and Research with High Performance Computing Capacity, 1995
Empfehlungen zur Ausstattung der Wissenschaft mit moderner Rechner- und Kommunikationstechnologie, in: Wissenschaftsrat: Empfehlungen zur Ausstattung der Wissenschaft mit moderner Rechner- und Kommunikationstechnologie, Cologne 1995, pp. 51-70
and in English
Recommendation on the Installation of European Supercomputers (Drs. 6341-04), November 2004
The last time the WR addressed this issue, it was prompted by the question, not yet resolved in the 2012 policy paper, as to which financing strategies can ensure the supply of science with sufficient HPC capacity efficiently and for the long term. This applies particularly against the background of strongly growing scientific demand and increasing cost pressure, which is primarily due to energy costs.