New supercomputer in Dresden: booster for AI technologies

Dresden will soon be home to one of the world's most powerful AI computers. The supercomputer, which the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and the Munich-based IT company ParTec are building and developing together, will be called “Elbjuwel”. In a “Memorandum of Understanding”, the partners also formulated their intention to create a platform for industry and research. This opens up new opportunities for initiatives such as ProKI Dresden to further develop AI demonstrators and promote the transfer of research. 

Machine learning, neural networks, image and speech recognition or data analysis - artificial intelligence has a multitude of use cases that need to be researched further or discovered in the first place. This requires enormous computing power. Until now, Germany and Europe have mainly been dependent on the USA and China, which have made their supercomputers accessible via the cloud. But this is now set to change: Together with Munich-based ParTec AG, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) wants to build and develop a supercomputer at the Saxon state institute. The “Elbjuwel” is intended to provide sufficient computing power and thus enable Germany and Europe to achieve digital sovereignty. 

For ParTec CEO Bernhard Frohwitter, “providing the computing power in our own backyard” is of central importance: “This is the only way that users, machine developers and operators can work closely together and benefit from valuable synergies.” This would not be possible without a dedicated supercomputer. “A region that only ever calculates via the cloud will never be able to exploit the full potential for development and industrial connectivity, even with the best in-house AI applications,” says Frohwitter. Prof. Sebastian M. Schmidt, Scientific Director of the HZDR, adds: “The planned platform should not only provide new impetus for the development of AI technologies, but also contribute to the training of specialists and support companies in overcoming the challenges of digitalization.”

Through the partnership, the new platform will specialize in the provision of computing power, particularly in the areas of AI and machine learning, high-performance computing and quantum computing. The aim is to significantly facilitate access to AI for industry, small and medium-sized enterprises and scientific institutions in order to enable technological innovation. 
Initiatives such as ProKI Dresden are also set to benefit from the new platform. The AI Demonstration and Transfer Center at Dresden University of Technology supports SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in using artificial intelligence in production - with a focus on forming technology. Among other things, demonstrators are used to showcase application examples, such as the new ProKI demonstrator LOTTA, which was recently presented at the 11th Ostsächsische Maschinenbautage at the Technologie- und Gründerzentrum Bautzen (TGZ). The intelligent drilling machine has an AI system that detects and reports error states in the drilling process and in the machine. Until now, applications like this have been developed with computing power from overseas. Thanks to the new supercomputer, researchers from Dresden and the surrounding area will be able to carry out calculations and simulations on site in future. The “Elbjuwel” therefore has the potential to become a magnet for researchers and talented people from the STEM sector and to consolidate Saxony's role as a top location for AI.

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