The Hartree Centre is transforming UK industry through high performance computing, big data and cognitive technologies. Backed by over £170 million of government funding and significant strategic partnerships with organisations such as IBM and Atos, the Hartree Centre is home to some of the most technically advanced high performance computing, data analytics, machine learning technologies and experts in the UK. From early stage SMEs to international corporations, we work with industry and the research community to address real life challenges and accelerate the adoption of high performance technologies, delivering transformative gains in performance, productivity and time to market. The Hartree Centre works to maintain the UK's position at the forefront of industrial innovation through a range of computational services and collaborative partnerships. This talk gives examples of the work being undertaken at the Hartree Centre, applying emerging technologies and scalable algorithms to industry challenge-led projects.
Alison Kennedy is the Director of the Hartree Centre, based at the UK's Science and Facilities Council's National Laboratory at Daresbury. The Hartree Centre receives funding from BEIS with a remit to improve the global competitiveness of UK industry by facilitating the adoption of High Performance Computing, High Performance Data Analytics and Cognitive Computing techniques by companies of all sizes. Prior to joining the Hartree Centre, she was the Executive Director of EPCC, the national HPC centre based at the University of Edinburgh and has recently completed a term of office as the Managing Director and Chair of the Board of Directors of PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe). She began her working life as a real time systems programmer in industry and has now worked in HPC for almost 25 years, managing large collaborative projects in HPC, Data and AI.