ICRI 2016: PRACE strengthened its International connections

The International Conference on Research Infrastructures ICRI 2016 gathered policy makers and researchers from around the world to discuss the progress and developments of Research Infrastructures (RI). PRACE had the pleasure to be part of the well-established international forum with a presentation by Florian Berberich (Member of the Board of Directors of PRACE) and a booth in the exhibition. Over 600 delegates from 60 countries attended ICRI 2016 at Cape Town, South Africa from 3 October to 5 October 2016. The ICRI-Plenary session opened with a Welcome talk by the Minister of Science and Technology (SA), Naledi Pandor and by Robert-Jan Smits, Director-General of DG Research and Innovation, European Commission on 3 October 2016. Different RI topics were discussed in the Parallel Sessions on the first and second day. PRACE was represented by Florian Berberich (Member of the Board of Directors of PRACE) in Session 4 Inclusive Research Infrastructures for development & capacity building. He concluded his talk with following messages:

• PRACE provides top-class education and training opportunities for computational scientists in Europe and preparing the next generation of European scientists and researchers for HPC
• PRACE uses High Level Support Teams in order to boost science and bring it to the top
• PRACE builds bridges between science and industry

The ICRI 2016 exhibition opened with a visit from Minister Naledi Pando (Science and Technology (SA)), and Robert-Jan Smits, Director-General of DG Research and Innovation, EC in the morning of 3 October 2016. On the first day the PRACE booth welcomed many young students from technical high schools. The other days the PRACE booth team had interesting discussions with international visitors about PRACE Project Access, training/education possibilities in PRACE, and the role of PRACE as the E-Infrastructure Landmark in the European Research Area (ESFRI Roadmap 2016). A fruitful discussion was started between the visitors from e.g. Japan, China and South Africa and the PRACE representatives.  Promotional materials about PRACE like the Annual Report, the Factsheets and the Digest were handed out to the delegates. And finally during ICRI 2016 the following important declarations and announcements were published:

• The European Commission and the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) signed a Declaration of Intent on Marine Research and Innovation Cooperation on 3 October 2016 in Cape Town.
• ESFRI set up its Roadmap 2018 update on the second conference day.
• South Africa launched its first Research Infrastructure Roadmap.