The Fortissimo project aims to enhance the competitiveness of manufacturing SMEs by utilizing high-performance computing (HPC) to overcome business challenges and drive economic growth in Europe. With a budget of €22 million, the project will implement experiments that leverage HPC for various industrial sectors, promoting collaboration among diverse partners. The initiative involves multiple funding calls to foster innovation and validate the economic benefits of HPC for SMEs, potentially returning significant revenue per investment.

1. Fortissimo
Enabling manufacturing SMEs to benefit
from HPC
Andrés Gómez
CESGA
05/06/2014
This project has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and
demonstration under grant agreement no 609029.

2. HPC and economic growth
• It is understood worldwide that to compete in the
global marketplace companies need to innovate
• Many industrialised economies (both developed
and developing) have identified HPC as a key
tool for innovation
• In the USA the phrase “to out compute is to out
compete” has been used to make the case to
Government
• Very few funding agencies have properly tried to
study the true economic benefit of HPC to their
company base 2

3. HPC and economic growth
• IDC: “Each dollar invested in HPC returned, on
average, $356 in revenue and $38 in profits or
cost savings.”
• IDC: “The pilot study IDC recently completed for
the Department of Energy provided further proof
that
HPC is one of the best investments many
companies can make.”
Source: Steve Conway, IDC research vice president for HPC,
IDC study “HPC: ROI You Can’t Ignore!”, Nov 2013,
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=244316 3

4. The Fortissimo Project
• Building a Cloud of HPC Resources to solve
SMEs’ business challenges
• One of the I4MS* projects within the
“Factories of the Future” initiative
• Complementing generic SME initiatives in EC
FP7 Programme - specific support to deliver
economic
growth through modelling and simulation
• Focus on problem solving – not technology
development
• Brings together all of the players in a
marketplace
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(*) ICT Innovation for Manufacturing SMEs

5. Our goal
To improve company competitiveness
through the use of HPC to deliver
new or improved products and services
Europe has world class
HPC
assets and expertise
Modelling and Simulation
using HPC is being
increasingly deployed to
provide a competitive edge
Economic
growth for
Europe
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6. HPC adoption best practice
• Many companies don’t make use of HPC
because there is a large hurdle to overcome
• Initial costs are high: modelling, software, skills
• Fortissimo is designed to help companies
overcome that hurdle and become regular users
of HPC
• Demonstrating its value
• Based on existing model best practice for
working with SMEs
• E.g. Supercomputing Scotland
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7. Fortissimo – scale & structure
• €22m costs, €16m EC funding, 45 partners growing
to 90+ over the 3 year duration
• 20 initial “Experiments” with SMEs
• Each experiment has 2-4 partners
• Funding of up to €250,000 per experiment
• 2 Open Calls for proposals
• First Call has been closed January 2014
• Second closing June 2014
• Optimised financial and legal
structure to assist SMEs
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End user
HPC
Service
Provider
Indepen
dent
Software
Vendor
Research
Software
Provider
Applicati
on
Expert
HPC
Expert

8. End User
HPC
Service
Provider
HPC
Expert
End user
HPC
Service
Provider
Independent
Software
Vendor
Research
Software
Provider
Application
Expert
HPC Expert
End user
HPC
Service
Provider
Independent
Software
Vendor
HPC Expert
End user
HPC
Service
Provider
Independent
Software
Vendor
Application
Expert
HPC Expert
Collaborative scenarios
Successful HPC
projects rely on
multiple collaborative
relationships
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9. The current “cloud” of experiments
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….aerodynamics
of light aircraft
…continuous casting
..design of metal flanges
…high pressure
vessels
.. Multiphysics simulation .. CFD … automotive design
… tools for urban
planning
… routing architecture
optimisation..
.. correlation ..
simulation & tests for
mechatronics
… air-quality over cities
… risers, moorings
and flowlines ... low-pressure
die-casting …
… CFD for
turbomachinery
… structural crash tests
… eolian snow transport
for civil engineering …
… commercial
computational chemistry
… molecular simulation
for industrial chemical
engineering
.. CO2 emission prediction
for automotive engines
Information available at:
www.fortissimo-project.eu/experiments

10. Key Call Details – 1st Call
• 65 proposals
• 5 M€ total funding
• 22 proposed experiments have been selected for integration
(7 from Spain, 1 from Galicia!)
• Industrial sectors covered by the new experiments:
Automotive, Aerospace, Construction, Energy & Renewable
Energy, Envirnomental, Maritime, Metal Processing, Oil &
Gas, Pharmaceutical & Biotech, Plastics
• Execution phase will be July 2014 – December 2015
• 34 SME‘s will join with the 22 new experiments
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11. The 2nd “cloud” of experiments
(now being integrated as a result of Call-1)
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….platform for
map conversion
… electrical harnesses
Information available at:
www.fortissimo-project.eu/experiments
….tidal farm
engineering
Manufacturing
processes… laser welding,
sheet-metal forming,
advanced casting
…. drug target
binding
Manufacturing design…
camshafts, gear
transmission, high temp.
chimneys, boat design
seismic processing ..
oil & gas exploration
… simulation of pipeline
components
… radar reflectors &
antennas
….environment
engineering services
… rapid
prototyping
... 3D printing
optimisation … steel
component manufacture
… operational decision
support for manufacturing
Renewable energy …
hydraulic turbines
Time-temp integrators …
Pharma logistics
… high temperature
superconductors
crowd sensing … smart cities
& large facilities

12. Example of Current Experiment
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 End User: Texas Controls
 Application Expert:
AIMEN
 HPC expert: CESGA
 HPC provider: CESGA
 Host centre: CESGA
 Exp. 404 Improved
mechanical design of
metal flanges
 SME: Texas Controls
 World leading tightening
company
 Study tightening using
modelling and simulation
to improve the process.

13. 2nd Open Call - Objectives
• Competitive call for HPC-Cloud-based Application
Experiments for the FORTISSIMO project
• Target: simulation services for the benefit
of manufacturing SMEs
• Priority given to proposals complementing existing
Fortissimo experiments
Business relevant investigations and
demonstrations of simulation services in the
Fortissimo HPC Cloud that have the potential to
create business benefits for manufacturing SMEs.
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14. Open Call Partnering
• Experiments will employ the Fortissimo HPC
infrastructure by using the HPC Centres already
involved in the project.
• Proposed experiments should include all participants
necessary for the experiment, which may include
application/HPC experts or ISVs already included
within the Fortissimo consortium.
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www.fortissimo-project.eu/calls/partnering

15. Key Call Details
Proposals: (max.) 10-page documents, in English,
electronic submission.
Submission Deadline: 18th June, 2014, at 17:00
Brussels local time
Expected duration of participation: 1st January 2015 to
30th June 2016
Foreseen budget for Call-2: up to 2 M€ funding for new
beneficiaries
Maximum funding request per proposal: 250,000 €
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16. Key Call-2 Documents
• Call Text (“introduction”)
• Guideline for proposers (“proposers guide”)
• Proposal Exemplar, Word & PDF (“exemplar”)
• Proposer-Evaluator check-list
(“check-list” tab at /calls)
• Frequently Asked Questions
(“FAQ” tab at /calls)
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Documents & info pages:
www.fortissimo-project.eu/calls

17. Further Information
• Fortissimo web page:
www.fortissimo-project.eu
• I4MS web page:
www.i4ms.eu
• Fortissimo contact:
info@fortissimo-project.eu
• LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=5096901&trk=my_groups-b-grp-v
• Twitter:
@FortissimoPro
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