As of today, Brabant has a supercomputing facility that should provide a significant boost to the AI ecosystem in the province. The four founders, including TU/e, launched 'Supercomputing Brabant' today at JADS in Den Bosch.
This will not only make NVIDIA's most advanced AI technology available, but also a supporting expert team and the knowledge of the two founding universities. The goal is to work with tech startups and SMEs to develop AI for future earning power, while keeping all data securely in their own hands.
Supercomputing Brabant is an initiative of TU/e, Tilburg University, BOM and the province of North Brabant. The province is financing the initiative with 4 million euros , which now guarantees staffing and computing capacity for two years. In addition to these facilities, Supercomputing Brabant will also seek to connect with other European AI supercomputers, such as the AI factory to be built in Groningen, so that there are multiple options for participants.
A major advantage of the initiative over using existing AI providers, which are often based in the US or China, is digital sovereignty. Participating companies and institutions will find a safe environment at Supercomputing Brabant, partly because access to their data and knowledge is tightly arranged.
Supercomputing Brabant builds on TU/e's extensive expertise and experience in the field of supercomputing and AI. Earlier last year, for example, TU/e was the second party in Europe to gain access to NVIDIA's most advanced new technology to conduct AI research. This has already yielded several special results, including in the field of cancer research . This existing facility is now being expanded for Supercomputing Brabant, with the latest infrastructure from NVIDIA (DGX B300).
Patrick Groothuis, Vice-President of the Executive Board: "This initiative brings together top computing power and competencies to enable the broad Brabant ecosystem to make an impact with AI. In this way, we want to contribute to a stronger position for the Netherlands and Europe, and less dependence on China and the US in terms of AI. We are proud that we can make an important contribution to this with our knowledge and experience."
Companies are invited to work with the expert team to see how they can develop new AI models and applications. The coming period will be dedicated to learning together and the participating companies do not yet have to make a financial contribution. Over the next two years, a financing model will be developed with a view to financial sustainability.
