The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) represents a major strategic initiative in Europe's digital transformation journey. This article explores how EuroHPC connects with broader European research funding programs and what opportunities it offers for researchers and organisations.

What is EuroHPC?

EuroHPC JU is a Joint Undertaking with a tripartite governance structure, bringing together the European Commission, 35 participating states, and private partners to develop a world-class supercomputing ecosystem in Europe and develop the entire value chain (hardware, software, applications, user support).

Funding comes from Digital Europe Program, Horizon Europe, and Connecting Europe Facility, with national co-funding (50% matching from member states). 

Key Areas of Activity

Activities are organized across seven pillars including

• Infrastructure Development: EuroHPC focuses on establishing and maintaining supercomputing facilities across Europe
• Research and Innovation: Supporting technology development in HPC, particularly in supercomputing applications
• Access Programs: Providing researchers and organizations with computing time on high-performance systems
• AI Integration: Supporting AI development through dedicated computing resources and 13 AI factories

Funding Opportunities

EuroHPC offers two main types of funding mechanisms:

• Access Grants: Providing computing time and resources on HPC systems (100% funded)
• Horizontal Grants: Supporting research, innovation, and service activities (50% EU funding, requiring national co-funding)

Connection to Horizon Europe

While EuroHPC maintains its focus on supercomputing infrastructure and applications, it complements Horizon Europe Cluster 4's broader digital transformation goals. Projects often find synergies between these funding streams, particularly in areas like: open source technology development, edge-to-exascale computing solutions, digital infrastructure advancement, ...

The 2025 Cluster 4 work program makes approximately a dozen references to EuroHPC. In practice this means that applicants may be required to build on or complement work from EuroHPC grants, direct users to EuroHPC infrastructure, or demonstrate a strategy for securing compute time.

How to Participate

Organizations interested in EuroHPC opportunities should consider several factors, like their eligibility (generally ok for Belgium), exploring national co-funding possibilities for horizontal grants, partnerships with existing EuroHPC projects and facilities, ...

In order to make this less complex, you can contact EuroCC Belgium, which coordinates activities in all HPC-related fields in Belgium and serves as a reference contact point on HPC, HPDA, AI & Quantum Computing at a national level and for customers from industry, science, (future) HPC experts, and the general public alike. 

Additionally you can contact one of the 10 Centres of Excellence in HPC that were founded to support research and innovation actions that will develop and adapt HPC applications for the exascale and post-exacale era.

Key takeaway

Understanding how (services and funding of) EuroHPC can be combined with other EU programs can make the crucial difference for maximizing your funding and collaboration opportunities. EuroHPC JU continues to evolve, with increasing focus on AI applications and integration with broader European digital initiatives.