The newly founded European networkSESAME Net -Supercomputing Expertise for Small And Medium Enterprises-and the corresponding projectof the same name have been kicked off. SESAME Net, whose partner is Institute Ruđer Bošković and Professor Karolj Skala, Ph.D. as a national coordinator, boosts the usage of high performance computing-technology by small and medium-sized enterprises.

For Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) it is important to keep up to date with new technological developments in order to be able to compete within the global market. Technologies such as High Performance Computing and the availability of HPC resources are consequently becoming indispensableforbetter adaptation to market demands particularly in terms of innovation and fast renewal of product and service offerings. Unfortunately it is difficult for SMEs to get access to essential HPC know-how and resources.

SESAME Netis funded through the European Commission's program for research and innovation Horizon 2020 and has been awarded financial support for a total sum of two million euro.

The founder members, consisting of various European HPC centers and institutions will initially exchange experience and best-practices on supporting and collaborating with SMEs. Building upon this experience, the network will work on strategies for improving the services offered to SMEs and raise awareness of the benefit and opportunities of HPC technologies. 

This will lead to the establishment and dissemination of a pan-European network built up by HPC centers and SMEs including SMEs from countries without HPC centers.

The resulting network will consequently facilitate the exchange of knowledge as well as the provision of technical support and HPC infrastructure. For this purpose the funding partners intend to organize regional workshops with SMEs and offer a wide range of best practice and support material.

Altogether the initial SESAME network consists of 14 companies, public research institutes and universities from 13 European countries. Involved are Ireland, Poland, Greece,Spain, Czech Republic, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Lithuania, Portugal, United Kingdom and Germany.Leadership and coordination is taken by HPC Wales with support from Bangor University.

The SESAME Net kick-off meeting was held on 9th and 10th July 2015 andtook place in Brussels. It offered an excellent opportunity for the partners to get to know each other and to discuss planned activities as well as first steps in the six different work packages.

In October firstachievements will be presented at a second meeting in Lisbon.

Further facts and figures about the SESAME Net network are available at the website of the European Commission and http://www.sesamenetwork.eu/.