Bringing supercomputing into the business mainstream

Rarely are modern innovations the product of an isolated, solitary genius. It's often at the intersection of different industries that breakthroughs happen. Hence the importance of engagement and collaboration. This week I attended the 2nd Annual Perth Conference of the HPC-AI Advisory Council presented in partnership with the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre and presented my first address as Pawsey's Executive Director.

‘HPC’ is a catch-all for the work and community associated with high powered supercomputing and the 2018 conference agenda featured a range of topics from the latest trends and newest technologies, breakthrough research and best practice applications, tools and techniques.

Presentations included from Ohio State University, Western Digital, Woodside Energy, Hewlett Packard, University of Melbourne, University of Western Australia, Cray, DownUnder GeoSolutions, CSIRO and the Singapore National Supercomputing Centre to name a few.

During my welcome address I reflected that Australia has some famous innovations created by ingenious Australians including the medical application of penicillin, Black box flight recorder, electronic pacemaker, polymer note technology and the now ubiquitous WiFi which came out of CSIRO’s pioneering work in radioastronomy. That work involved complex mathematics, as well as detailed knowledge about radio waves and their behaviour in different environments. The science of radioastronomy is supported by HPC to help it process the vast amounts of data it generates.

However, while we might have great bench strength when it comes to technology and innovation in Australia we need to improve the rate at which we commercialise our technologies and the engagement of industry with our research community. I’m also learning that a lot of influential people outside of the HPC industry don’t understand the role of supercomputing in our research and innovation ecosystem. The Pawsey Supercomputing Centre is a bit of a hidden asset, but I’m determined to make more people aware of this fantastic national facility and the great research it enables. 

Pawsey operates multiple supercomputers, data-intensive machines and storage systems using the most advanced technologies available to explore some of the great environmental, agricultural, medical and many other challenges facing society. Based in Perth, Pawsey is operated by a consortium of five organisations - CSIRO, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and The University of Western Australia.

Pawsey is playing a key role in the Square Kilometre Array. The SKA is an international joint effort between institutions from more than 20 countries to build a next-generation radio telescope. Co-hosted by South Africa and Western Australia, the SKA telescopes will be 50 times more sensitive and 10,000 times faster than today’s most advanced telescopes.

The SKA will help scientists answer fundamental questions about the origins of the universe, such as how the first stars and galaxies were formed. The SKA will be one of the world's great scientific endeavours. It will generate enormous amounts of data and will require immense computing power to produce data products that scientists will use to make ground breaking discoveries.

In the build-up to this incredible project, Australia has invested in two precursor telescopes – the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and the Murchison Widefield Array. From the remote Mid West region, data flows 800 kilometres to Perth, where it is processed by one of Pawsey’s most powerful supercomputers called Galaxy. Galaxy takes this data and converts it into science products, images and image cubes across a range of wave lengths and frequencies that scientists across the globe can use, analyse, and study to make their discoveries. I was fortunate visit the Murchison Radio Astronomy Observatory this week and experience first-hand this impressive scientific endeavour.

Pawsey also supports the most excellent research being carried out at our universities and research agencies. We support government and industry, particularly through collaborations with universities and research agencies. Please take a few minutes when you can to look at examples of Pawsey’s wider practical uses for industry and researchers, and the substantial benefits flowing to the wider community here https://www.pawsey.org.au/case-studies/

It’s critical to bring industry, researchers and experts in HPC together. The 2nd Annual Perth Conference of the HPC-AI Advisory Council was a great success. Forums such as this that share expertise and insight across sectors and domains are both well-received and vital to the continuing success of the Australia’s technology innovations and discoveries.  

Footnote: My welcome address also reflected on the importance of diversity and the changing nature of science (in response to the 'data deluge') - I'll post updates on these important topics next week.