Supercomputing technology used in medical research and climate modelling will be boosted as part of $54 million worth of Australian Government funding for ANU-led digital infrastructure capabilities.

Recently announced National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) grants include $32 million for the ANU-based National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) and partners to develop a national artificial intelligence/machine learning compute capability. The capability will be developed in partnership with the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre and the Australian Research Data Commons.

“Supercomputing is a foundational infrastructure for modern research, from climate modelling and drug discovery to genomics and materials science,’’ says NCI Director Professor Andrew Rohl.

“This funding not only accelerates our ability to support the next generation of AI and data-intensive research but also allows us to refresh and strengthen the core systems that underpin everything we do.’’

The NCI will also receive $2 million to support operational IT infrastructure continuity.

Other ANU-led projects to receive funding include $17.7 million for two projects by the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS-NRI). The first project will advance the development of the next-generation Earth system model, underpinning Australia's future climate projections. The second project will extend ACCESS-NRI's existing High Performance Computing (HPC) computer and data storage, and augment software transformation expertise.

The Australian Alliance for Indigenous Genomics (ALIGN) will receive $1.8 million towards the National Indigenous Precision Medicine Platform.

The Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility will receive $800,000 for a high voltage functional safety system.