compute canada Strategic Plan

Transcription

1 compute canada Strategic Plan

2 Table of Contents About Compute Canada 3 Vision and Mission 5 Vision 5 Mission 5 Looking Towards Principles 7 What Compute Canada Provides to its Stakeholders 8 Goals and Strategies 11 Goal 1: Provide services which enable excellent Canadian research across a broad range of disciplines 11 Goal 2: Build capacity and connections nationally and internationally to tackle future research needs 12 Goal 3: Maximize the positive effects of Canadian research on the lives of Canadians 13 Goal 4: Ensure sustained organizational excellence 14 Delivering the Plan 15 Compute Canada Strategic Plan

3 About Compute Canada Research is propelled by the ability to collect, analyse, manipulate and share data in new and large scale ways that promote and support Canada s economy and society. The country s leadership in digital infrastructure relies on collaboration and partnerships with key players in Canada s research and technology sectors to set priorities for national investments in research. In this national and global context, Compute Canada delivers advanced research computing infrastructure and support to Canadian researchers and innovators. As a national organization with a membership that includes more than 30 research universities spanning every Canadian province, Compute Canada has access to a wealth of expertise, drawn from highly trained people from research universities across the country. This combination of intellectual capital and nationally coordinated infrastructure enables Compute Canada to play a leading role in Canada s research and innovation agenda. Leveraging resources and exchanging knowledge across geographic and disciplinary boundaries delivers the promise of advanced research computing in the most effective and efficient manner for the Canadian taxpayer. Enabling Discovery July 2012 When international headlines heralded the discovery of a Higgs boson-like particle, this was made possible in part by Compute Canada resources supporting the work of nearly 150 Canadian scientists and students across the country. June 2013 Millions of hours of data processing time on Compute Canada s advanced computing facilities helped Canadian researchers contribute to an international team s completion of the world s first highresolution 3D digital model of the human brain. December 2013 Canadian scientists using a particle detector made of ice at the South Pole and Compute Canada s advanced computing resources discovered the first indication of high-energy neutrinos that originate outside of the solar system, which some propose could mark the beginning of a new field of neutrino astronomy. What constitutes advanced research computing differs by field and by individual researcher. In this document, it is defined broadly to include almost any service or infrastructure beyond the desktop scale, such as high performance computational systems, large data storage capabilities (used during computation and for the longer term storage of research data), cloud computing, scientific gateways or portals, and visualization systems, in addition to similar technologies and resources 1. If the need is beyond what individual researchers can support on their own, Compute Canada considers the research computing advanced, and within its mandate to provide assistance if possible. Supported by Compute Canada s facilities and expertise, Canadian researchers and innovators are already contributing at the frontiers of basic and applied research. Emerging and new fields of data-intensive research and applications are flourishing across all disciplines in every sector, driven by the power of 1 Many of these resources incorporate coordinated use of high-speed networking infrastructure provided by CANARIE and its partners. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

4 advanced computing. The applications are almost limitless: from the design of the next generation aircraft and automobiles to the development of personalized cancer therapies; from predicting future sea ice and snow patterns to predicting criminal behavior; from the analysis of medical images to the analysis of great works of literature; from understanding the structure of proteins to understanding the structure of the universe. Compute Canada s computational capacity strengthens Canada s competitive advantage on the global stage and attracts new research, investment, and development opportunities. As a newly incorporated organization, charged with a mandate to deploy integrated and comprehensive advanced research computing expertise, services and infrastructure across the country, Compute Canada has developed this strategic plan with a horizon of The senior management team conducted an extensive consultation process with the research community to inform its plan, engaging over 500 individuals in the process. This plan and Compute Canada s position in Canada s innovation ecosystem have been conceived in the context of Canada s evolving digital landscape as exemplified through the work of the Digital Infrastructure Leadership Council over the last 18 months. Central to this are strategic partnerships with CANARIE (Canada s Advanced Research and Innovation Network) and Research Data Canada. Compute Canada s success depends on its close relationship with Canadian universities as the principal owners of the hardware and the employers of many individuals on the Compute Canada team. Compute Canada is committed to maintaining a strong working relationship with these universities in order to support a vibrant Canadian research community. Canada s geographic size, federal character and distributed user community pose challenges in the delivery and support of a national network of advanced computing services. Compute Canada is able to provide researchers with access to the tools and expertise they need, no matter where they are located, by working in close cooperation with four regional organizations. Compute Canada is strengthened by each region s ability to engage researchers locally, to represent the needs of the institutions in that region, and to advocate and communicate with the leaders of relevant provincial and local governments, ensuring that Compute Canada s national activities reflect and respond to the broadest spectrum of research community needs and challenges. Enabling a Competitive Aerospace Industry Profession Clinton Groth s group at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies has developed new advanced computer algorithms to study the combustion of conventional and alternative fuels in practical devices, such as gas turbine engines. Current techniques and solution algorithms lack the detail of modeling needed to design the next generation of quiet, high-efficiency, low-emission combustors, Professor Groth s group is using Compute Canada infrastructure to remedy this situation by applying new and innovative mathematical models and computational tools to improve the understanding of combustion phenomena. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

5 Vision and Mission Compute Canada s vision and mission capture the scope and impact of advanced research computing for Canada in the 21st century. As a mission-critical platform across disciplines and sectors, Compute Canada will provide a broad spectrum of activities advanced research computing services, research training, application, and development. As an organization dealing with a rapidly changing, disruptive technology, Compute Canada will help the research community deliver maximum benefit for Canadians. Ultimately Compute Canada s impact will be measured by the excellence of the research supported, the benefits of that research to Canadians quality of life and the boost it provides to Canada s productivity and competitiveness. Vision To make Canada a world leader in the use of advanced computing for research, discovery and innovation. Enabling Leadership in Molecular Photonics Controlling the responses of molecules to ultra-short, intense laser pulses is the source of a new science Molecular Photonics. The potential applications are diverse, with opportunities for experimenting with and controlling the outcomes of chemical reactions in fields such as materials science, biology or even quantum information. Ultimately, the key objective and challenge is to control the quantum and wave nature of electrons the building block of molecules on their natural time scale, the attosecond. By combining theoretical models with advanced supercomputing, André Bandrauk has been a pioneer in this field of study, which the Government of Canada recognized in July 2011 when it named him an Officer of the Order of Canada. Mission To enable excellence in research and innovation for the benefit of Canada by effectively, efficiently and sustainably deploying a state-of-the-art advanced research computing network supported by world-class expertise. To use this network to support a growing base of excellent researchers, and to serve them as a national voice for advanced research computing. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

6 Looking Towards 2019 Over the last five years, Compute Canada has built a national computing platform that supports cuttingedge research by thousands of Canadian researchers. The research world is changing in ways that present Compute Canada with an array of challenges and opportunities. Currently, Compute Canada serves several big data users by providing petabytes of storage, support of data processing, mining and visualization. However, growing demand for this type of infrastructure and support is already beyond current capacity. This is driven by growth from traditional big data clients and by the spread of data-intensive research to an ever-broader list of disciplines. Over the next five years Compute Canada will expand existing services and develop new ones to meet a variety of needs and demands, including: enabling more efficient and simpler ways to access computational and storage resources; providing services in a secured environment to support the management and use of confidential data; working on interoperability between systems and services; and developing solutions to make data meaningful to the researcher, the user and the public. This strategic plan addresses today s unmet needs and anticipates future needs based on current trends. For Canadian researchers to remain competitive, Compute Canada will continue to adapt to the changing research landscape between now and It will need to be a nimble organization with expertly trained staff and close connections to the communities it serves. Compute Canada will evolve in the services it provides, balancing its responses to the above issues and more. Similarly, Compute Canada will work with partner organizations, including CANARIE, to enable researchers to conduct research in more efficient, seamless and connected ways. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

7 Principles Recognizing Compute Canada s accountability to its research community, members, funding agencies and partners, this strategic plan has been developed based on the following guiding principles: Excellence: Enabling research and training of the highest international quality. Accessibility: Providing access to integrated advanced research computing expertise, services and resource assets to all Canadian researchers whose research programs can benefit from advanced research computing. Partnership: Actively engaging partners in the delivery of Compute Canada s mission, and encouraging collaborations among disciplines and with the private sector. Leadership: Anticipating and shaping the future of advanced research computing in Canada. Sustainability: Securing the resources required to sustain a state-of-the-art advanced research computing network for Canada. Stewardship and Accountability: Managing resources and planning and delivering Compute Canada s services for optimal benefit in an open, transparent and responsible way. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

8 What Compute Canada Provides to its Stakeholders Canada s Science and Technology (S&T) Strategy articulates four priority areas and a number of sub-priorities (see Box 1) as essential to building Canada s advantage in knowledge, people and entrepreneurship. Each of these national priorities is data- and computingintensive demonstrating the centrality of Compute Canada s digital infrastructure in advancing federal priorities, many of which are mirrored at the provincial level. Compute Canada will continue to provide a strong foundation of computational services and capacity to deliver on these priorities. Advanced research computing services are critical to a number of industries acknowledged as key to Canada s S&T priorities and its economy, including manufacturing, aerospace, mining, petroleum and the bio-economy, including agriculture, fisheries and forestry. Federal S&T Priorities Natural resources and energy Sub-priorities: Energy production in the oil sands; Arctic (resource production, climate change adaptation, monitoring); biofuels, fuel cells and nuclear energy Health and related life sciences and technologies Sub-priorities: Regenerative medicine; neuroscience; health in an aging population; biomedical engineering and medical technologies Information and communications technologies Sub-priorities: New media, animation and games; wireless networks and services; broadband networks; telecom equipment Environmental science and technologies Sub-priorities: Water (health, energy, security); cleaner methods of extracting, processing and using hydrocarbon fuels, including reduced consumption of these fuels Compute Canada provides substantial benefits for its member institutions and various stakeholders researchers, the research ecosystem as a whole, research institutions that are not members, and users from all sectors. The following table is an overview of stakeholder benefits. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

9 Stakeholders The research community: academic and industrial researchers. The research ecosystem including: funders, institutions, and all Canadians. Benefits Access to state-of-the-art advanced research computing services to support a wide range of research needs. Access to an unparalleled source of expertise in advanced research computing techniques and infrastructures. Enable and drive national and international collaborations across disciplines, geography, and sectors. Add unique value to the training of highly qualified personnel. Attract top researchers by providing access to competitive facilities. Enhance capacity to address complex regional and national priorities that require research talent and the analysis of big data. Bring resources across the country to researchers in any region. National coordination and integration of acquisition and delivery of advanced research computing resources, including promoting resource sharing. Catalyst for collaboration among researchers, disciplines and sectors. A vehicle for partnership with other major players in the digital infrastructure ecosystem. Accountability Provide confidence to governments and funders that public monies are invested effectively and prudently. Advocacy Provision of a unified national voice for the evolution of advanced research computing. Providing resources to improve efficiency for researchers. Postsecondary Institutions Provide strategic advice on institutional needs for advanced research computing infrastructure and services, including procurement, financing and operations. Institutional access to a pan-canadian network of specialized expertise on advanced research computing technologies and services. Cost savings for institutions through the efficiencies of a national platform that offers advanced research computing services without overlap and duplication of services. Rational allocation of roles and responsibilities among institutional, regional and national providers of computational resources. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

10 Stakeholders Benefits The innovation system Provide a cohort of highly qualified personnel with marketready skills in advanced research computing and data analytics for employment in all sectors. Support and develop public-private sector partnerships. Facilitate research and training partnerships between the private and academic sectors built around the unique competencies of Compute Canada staff and Canadian researchers. Facilitate demand-driven Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research & Innovation projects by being a single point of contact between cutting-edge advanced research computing needs and the ICT community. Member Institutions The right to elect the Board of Directors and, through this mechanism, the ability to determine the overall role and direction of Compute Canada. The Advisory Council on Research (ACOR) is composed of eminent researchers drawn from members. Its role is to advise the Board on the direction of research and how to respond to the needs of researchers. Compute Canada is a unified national voice in support of research. Regular opportunities to engage and influence Compute Canada s activities and direction as this supports the collective priorities of the members. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

11 Goals and Strategies Compute Canada s goals for the next five years are to: 1. Provide services which enable excellent Canadian research across a broad range of disciplines. 2. Build capacity and connections nationally and internationally to tackle future research needs. 3. Maximize the positive effects of Canadian research on the lives of Canadians. 4. Ensure sustained organizational excellence. Over the next five years Compute Canada will evolve the services it provides to achieve these goals. Goal 1: Provide services which enable excellent Canadian research across a broad range of disciplines Compute Canada will achieve this goal by: Providing access to world-class advanced research computing services. This comprises two distinct elements: i) Compute Canada s staff is a highly qualified and specialized national resource that plays a key role in promoting the use of advanced research computing knowledge among researchers in academia and industry. ii) Compute Canada s national network of hardware and software resources. Together they form the basis of an internationally competitive suite of services. Compute Canada will work closely with individual researchers to ensure seamless access to and use of the most appropriate resources (both technology and personnel) to accelerate their research, discovery and innovation processes. Enabling the Judicial System Canada s judiciary system is benefiting from a Compute Canada user s research at Simon Fraser University. Anoop Sarkar, an Associate Professor in the School of Computing Science, used Compute Canada resources to customize a solution for translating Canadian court judgments between English and French. Sarkar s research group at the Natural Language Lab explores statistical machine translation with a particular interest in morphologically complex languages and multidomain and multi-lingual translation settings. Supporting the entire research community. Compute Canada will continue to expand its expertise to support disciplines with emerging computing needs, such as Humanities, Social Sciences, and Health Sciences, in addition to its ongoing support of traditional computational research communities in the natural sciences and engineering. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

12 Expanding support of big data. Compute Canada will respond to the explosive growth in data-intensive research by significantly expanding and enhancing its support for big data initiatives through investments in hardware, software and personnel. The term big data includes individual projects with special storage needs, as well as the data management priorities of the large number of researchers with more modest needs. Ensuring its allocation of resources and services is guided by excellence and opportunity. Compute Canada will continue to refine its peer-review processes and allocation practices in support of its guiding principles and accountability to funders. Supporting research at all scales. In addition to its existing support for large-scale research projects, Compute Canada will maintain national advanced research computing assets capable of sustaining robust research for mid- and smaller-scale data-intensive projects. Goal 2: Build capacity and connections nationally and internationally to tackle future research needs Compute Canada will achieve this goal by: Fostering connections between Canadian and international researchers. Compute Canada will leverage its contacts and relationships in the public and private sectors to promote the value of collaboration, reduce inhibitions to data and information sharing and build collaborative connections within and across disciplines, sectors and geography. Developing and delivering emerging technologies. Compute Canada will maintain expertise in novel hardware, middleware and software technologies and deploy these tools to support Canadian researchers. In addition, Compute Canada will position itself to shape Enabling Green Technology Ryerson University s Seth Dworkin uses Compute Canada facilities to develop greener and cleaner engine technology. His research is focused on the development and application of a parallel computational fluid dynamics algorithm for combustion and soot particle formation. The results of Dworkin s research will contribute to the design of lower polluting engines and fuels, the development of alternatives to conventional aviation kerosene, and will help to gain a larger portion of the market share for biofuels. future technologies through direct involvement in tool development, targeted procurement and the support of the evolving technology needs of research projects in advanced research computing. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

13 Recruiting, retaining, and developing expert staff committed to supporting the research community. The quality of the services provided by Compute Canada depends on the quality of its technical staff. Compute Canada will enable excellent research with impacts in a wider range of fields by developing and growing its staff capabilities. Developing a broad community of practice in advanced research computing. Enhancing Compute Canada s education and training programs will expand the adoption of advanced research computing within the Canadian research community, leveraging collaborative national and international working relationships to reach new users. Building partnerships with other Canadian organizations within the digital and research infrastructure. Canada s digital and research infrastructure landscape is broad, containing many groups with wide-ranging capabilities. Compute Canada will be an active, responsible and capable partner in this system, working with others to support the advancement of research and innovation in Canada. Goal 3: Maximize the positive effects of Canadian research on the lives of Canadians Compute Canada will achieve this goal by: Supporting private-sector adoption of advanced research computing. Many research-intensive companies do not have the in-house expertise needed to deploy advanced research computing techniques. Compute Canada staff will offer their advanced research computing capability to industry, especially research-intensive small- and mediumsized enterprises. Fostering relationships between Canadian academic researchers and industry partners. As an organization that spans research institutions and disciplines, Compute Canada will spur partnerships between academic researchers and industrial partners. Enabling Private Sector Partnerships Professor John Whitehead s group at Memorial University is focused on the modelling and simulation of magnetic materials of direct interest to the magnetic data storage industry. A significant portion of this work is carried out in collaboration with researchers at Western Digital Corporation (WDC) and is supported by a Collaborative Research Agreement with WDC. Whitehead s access to Compute Canada resources and support was instrumental in establishing the collaboration with WDC and has been key to its continued success. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

14 Developing direct partnerships with the private sector. Compute Canada will explore and enter into direct partnerships with the private sector when there is a material advantage to the quality and cost effectiveness of services that can be delivered to the research community. Encouraging highly qualified personnel (HQP) transfer between sectors. As Compute Canada helps build a wider advanced research computing community of practice, it will facilitate short- and long-term exchanges of trainees and professionals across sectors, as well as promote the transfer of skills and expertise among disciplines. Acting as Canada s voice of digitally-enabled research. Compute Canada will continue to share international best-practices and best-in-class solutions locally as well as showcasing Canadian contributions in these areas to international markets. Within Canada, Compute Canada will advocate the value of advanced research computing in support of research. Incorporating regional, provincial and institutional priorities within national activities. Compute Canada will recognize and accommodate institutional or regional research and economic priorities, reflecting its important role in coordinating across institutional and regional boundaries. Goal 4: Ensure sustained organizational excellence Compute Canada will achieve this goal by: Implementing an ongoing consultation process to ensure robust and comprehensive researcher engagement. Compute Canada will use existing and new mechanisms to build direct continuous communication with researchers and their institutions, to stay informed of needs, gaps, problems, and opportunities. Advocating and requesting the acquisition and implementation of advanced research computing assets. Compute Canada will work with existing and potential funders at all levels to identify and secure the capital, operational and scientific resources required to grow and sustain a national state-of-the-art advanced research computing network. Innovating in the delivery of services to optimize quality, reliability, operational effectiveness and efficiency. Drawing on national and international best practices of comparable organizations, and incorporating feedback from researchers, the senior management team will identify and implement changes to enhance service delivery and increase its ability to serve the research community effectively. Building a robust, respected and transparent national governance and management structure. Compute Canada will strive to continuously improve its accountability and transparency to stakeholder communities. The Board and senior management team will work together to ensure consistency between strategic, management, and optimization plans, and practice effective and efficient management of human and financial resources. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

15 Delivering the Plan With its new governance and management structure, and the high caliber of its staff, Compute Canada is well situated to deliver on the promise of this plan. Board of Directors: Prominent academic and private sector leaders from Canada and abroad contribute their expertise to achieving Compute Canada s mission and optimize its impact. More information on the Board of Directors can be found at: Committees: The Advisory Council on Research (ACOR) provides academic advice to the Board and senior management team. The International Advisory Committee will provide the organization with international insights and perspectives on best practices. The terms of reference for these committees and their membership can be found at: Management Plan: Currently under development, the Management Plan will provide the implementation details to support the Strategic Plan. The Management Plan addresses the vision, mission and strategic goals outlined in this document, providing details on the activities and programs of the organization over the coming years. The Management Plan will include a logic model, management priorities and budgets for the delivery of the Strategic Plan. The Management Priorities matrix will include the required activities (who, what and when) to achieve those priorities, expected outcomes and performance metrics. The management priorities will be appropriately matched with the strategic goals outlined in this plan. Ongoing Reviews: The Board, together with the senior management team and advised by the ACOR, will conduct an annual strategic planning session where performance is assessed, using metrics and key performance indicators as well as qualitative input developed and outlined in the Management Plan. The Strategic Plan is a living document that will be continuously reviewed and updated to meet the changing needs of the community. Compute Canada Strategic Plan

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