Announcing approval of funding for New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI)

Cabinet announced earlier today that the Government will invest $27.4 million over the next four years in the National eScience Infrastructure (NeSI). Research organisations are co-investing more than $21 million over the same period.

This investment includes both high performance computers and the development and operation of ‘eScience services’, which will help New Zealand’s research community leverage the infrastructure effectively.

The computational platforms and support personnel will be distributed around New Zealand, at four institutions: the Universities of Auckland, Canterbury, and Crown research institutes NIWA and AgResearch. The University of Otago and Landcare Research are also joining in the co-investment, partnering with AgResearch and the University of Auckland respectively. These institutions will work together to build NeSI, which will include both new and existing high performance computing hardware and services distributed across these organisations, and made available nation-wide.

Access to NeSI computing platforms and services will be prioritised to areas supporting the research priorities and Government’s Economic Growth Agenda. These range from agriculture to health, materials, biological industries, energy, environment, climate and hazards mitigation research.

Background to the NeSI Investment

High Performance Computing (HPC) and related eScience infrastructure are by now indispensable components of modern science. New Zealand relies on research into some of the world’s most complex problems to support its fundamental industries. The need for a step-change in our ability to address these problems computationally is widespread, encompassing every University and CRI. Because of the prohibitive upfront and ongoing costs, no single institution can meet the demands alone; rather it requires collaboration across the research sector to provide the breadth of facilities and capabilities that are urgently needed.

This National eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) project is the most significant infrastructure investment for New Zealand’s Science System in the last twenty years. There is a major efficiency gain if institutions collaborate, rather than invest separately in the increasingly complex and expensive equipment required. Not only will NeSI enable our scientists across a wide range of communities and disciplines to access and utilise vastly superior computing power, but it also brings the added benefit of achieving this from better and more efficient coordination and cooperation across the research sector.

The plans for NeSI have taken shape over the last two years, with strong coordination across the research sector, consultation with the wider community, and support from the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MSI). Today’s announcement provides the initial injection of funds allowing NeSI to put those plans into action.

Further details of the NeSI initiative can be found at: /

Institutional Responses

Institutional responses to the NeSI funding announcement follow.

The University of Auckland

The University of Auckland is delighted to host the National e-Science Infrastructure (NeSI) says Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon. “The University has an excellent track-record in e-Research leadership and is committed to investing in this important new infrastructure. We have been involved in e-Research since 2006, starting with leadership of the national distributed computing service BeSTGRID and culminating last year in the establishment of the Centre for e-Research, which successfully led the NeSI bid. Our researchers across a wide range of disciplines have benefitted significantly from this work. We look forward to contributing our expertise and sharing in the advantages offered by the expanded NeSI infrastructure.” Landcare Research will join with the University of Auckland as a co-investing partner.

Landcare Research

"Landcare Research is enthusiastic about the NeSI proposal as it strongly aligns with our Statement of Core Purpose and will help us develop tools and services that will strengthen our ability to model New Zealand’s natural and productive environments and builds on the national databases and collections we host on behalf of the Crown”

The University of Canterbury

“The University of Canterbury is committed to investing in infrastructure that provides a world-class learning environment for students and researchers. Our $8m contribution to NeSI builds on our significant investment in High Performance Computing (HPC). As the major university investor and a lead HPC provider for New Zealand we look forward to collaborating with our CRI and university partners locally and internationally to deliver top quality science and technology outcomes,” said UC Vice-Chancellor Rod Carr. “The upgrade will likely provide at least 10 times the current computational power and increased storage, up to 200 times present levels. This is an exciting development in e-Science for UC and for New Zealand.”

The National Institute of Atmospheric & Water Research (NIWA)

NIWA CEO John Morgan welcomes the new investment in High Performance Computing for the partnership. "This will enhance our ability to jointly provide access to a wide range of computing services and increase the benefit to NZ from NIWA's recent $13 million investment in its IBM Supercomputer" said Morgan.

AgResearch

AgResearch welcomes the Government’s decision to invest in High Performance Computational (HPC) resources says its CEO Dr Tom Richardson. “We propose to invest in HPC technology that will underpin key science areas related to our biological economy including genomics (in conjunction with New Zealand Genomics Ltd.), support for emissions research as part of its leadership of the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Centre and support for soils and climate modelling”. AgResearch has a long history of activity in HPC and this substantial step-up in investment will accelerate the progress of some of our research and that of others so we will deliver benefit to our pastoral industry partners sooner. AgResearch will partner with the University of Otago in investment and management of these facilities.

The University of Otago

University of Otago Vice-Chancellor Professor David Skegg warmly welcomes the Government’s major commitment to the research initiative. He is also delighted AgResearch and Otago are building on their strong research links through a joint partnership in the project. HPC will provide significant extra research capability for scientists nationally, making New Zealand able to compete with other nations which already provide these types of research facilities. “Overall, it is an exciting development for the country. For Otago in particular, it will reinforce our capacity as a leading research University with a wide range of disciplines likely to benefit,” he says. He adds: “It is especially important this is a coordinated and consistent approach between Government and science institutions, leading to greater cost efficiencies, less duplication and one entry point for computational-based research which can be accessed from anywhere in the country.”

Contacts for Further Information

The following is a list of contacts for further information on NeSI:

Prof. Mark Gahegan, U. Auckland (lead author) m.gahegan@auckland.ac.nzMr. Nick Jones, U. Auckland (budget & finances) n.jones@auckland.ac.nzMr. Rick Christie, independent chair of the working group rick.christie@xtra.co.nzProf. Tim David, U. Canterbury tim.david@canterbury.ac.nzMr. Robert Gibb, Landcare Research gibbr@landcareresearch.co.nzMr. Mike Harte, University of Otago mike.harte@otago.ac.nz Dr. Phillip Lindsay, AgResearch phillip.lindsay@agresearch.co.nzDr. Murray Poulter, NIWA m.poulter@niwa.co.nz

Advisors from MSI:

Dr. Kathleen Logan Kathleen.Logan@morst.govt.nzDr. Wynn Ingram wynn.ingram@morst.govt.nz