In a major step towards making Europe a top supercomputing region globally, an enterprise with a budget of 840 million euro, the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking - EuroHPC has announced eight sites that have been selected across the EU to host the first European supercomputers - Sofia (Bulgaria), Ostrava (Czech Republic), Kajaani (Finland), Bologna (Italy), Bissen (Luxembourg), Minho (Portugal), Maribor (Slovenia), and Barcelona (Spain), the European Commission has announced. 

The centres will support Europe’s researchers, industry and businesses in developing new applications in a wide range of areas, from designing medicines and new materials to fighting climate change. The supercomputers are expected to become operational during the second half of 2020 for European users from academia, industry and the public sector. All the new supercomputers will be connected to the GEANT high-speed pan-European network.