The UK: we must compute
Yesterday, I was delighted to attend techUK’s launch of their new Future of Compute campaign - How can we make the UK a leader in compute?
The event, kick-starting techUK’s new supercomputing campaign, deep-dived into the UK’s current compute ecosystem, where the UK is positioning itself as a leader, and where we are falling behind.
There was an excellent speaker line up:
- Dave Snelling, Director Artificial Intelligence, Fujitsu
- Alison Kennedy, Strategic Advisor, STFC
- Vasilis Kapsalis, EMEA Business Leader, SambaNova Systems
- Hannah Cooke, Co-Chair, Future of Compute Review Secretariat, DCMS
- Sue Daley, Director of Tech & Innovation at techUK excellently Chaired proceedings.
What rightly came across loud and clear from all participants was the critical importance of compute not only to the UK economy but to society across the piece, not least in how convergence of all emerging technologies in this space around high end compute would be essential if we are to realize all of that potential.
Dave and other speakers highlighted the importance of the availability and accessibility of the compute resource, the potential not only being for central government and large corporations but for SMEs and individuals just as much.
Vasilis drew out the opportunity for different styles of compute to be brought through, one example, was how Natural Language Processing (NLP) could play a key role in education. Building on this Alison highlighted the need to apply particular compute to particular problems and the need to draw in teams of technologies and teams of skills and expertise if we are to optimize the opportunity. She set out some specific UK opportunities around green chemistry and materials, food security and life sciences. Dave developed this into the need for hybridity of infrastructure as a consequence of the heterogenous nature of compute, setting a line through AI into HPC into our everyday computers. He also correctly pointed out that we are now well beyond the point where we can just throw hardware at any particular problem. This point was echoed by Hannah who also, rightly, maintained that just having one exascale computer (a quintillion operations per second!) in the UK would not be the answer. We need to be able to deliver to multiple demands and not just invest but attract inward investment also.
Every speaker touched on the critical need for collaboration, cross-sector and internationally, with partners we can move at pace with, Japan, the U.S., Canada and India receiving particular mention.
I thought on some fundamental truths flowing through and from the session:
- How old much of the UK code base is and what implications result from this;
- We can’t get better performance necessarily just by buying something new;
- We can’t really shrink the transistor further or we’ll simply run out of atoms;
- Let’s learn from those nations who are ahead of us, not least in relation to exascale;
- How unquestionably important high end compute is if we are to really get the benefits from AI;
As always, it’s the ethical consideration, development and deployment of HPC and the converging emerging technologies where I believe the UK can find its economic, social, environmental and geopolitical benefits. This will not only require real cross-Whitehall working, it will require a connective, collaborative effort the like of which we have seldom seen, perhaps most important of all, a truly engaging public debate right across the country.
As Hannah, co-Chair of the Future of Compute Review put it, the results of this review will determine how government takes this forward. It could hardly be a more important time then for all of us to engage with the process, the questionnaire, the department to ensure as full a picture as possible is enabled for the benefit of us all.
You can read the original post by Lord Holmes on LinkedIn here
Laura Foster
Laura is techUK’s Head of Programme for Technology and Innovation.
Rory Daniels
Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.
Elis Thomas
Elis joined techUK in December 2023 as a Programme Manager for Tech and Innovation, focusing on AI, Semiconductors and Digital ID.