Europe links with China for twice the research power

An EU-funded programme that allows European and Chinese research grids to work together is already having successful results.

The project, BRIDGE (Bilateral Research and Industrial development enhancing and integrating Grid Enabled technologies) was initiated in 2007 as a way of allowing European and Chinese researchers to carry out joint research. The project was conceived due to the realisation that China is rapidly becoming a world leader in research and development. BRIDGE co-ordinator, Gilbert Kalb, explains that these sorts of synchronisations are essential if Europe wants to cement both scientific and industrial cooperation in the future.

The BRIDGE team were tasked with formulating a new software structure to make the EU grid, GRIA, and the Chinese system, CNGrid GOS, compatible with each other; the two are similar, but organised differently. Security was an important consideration during development, as the grids both contain highly sensitive information.

The collaborative system has worked well so far, especially in simulations that require huge computational resources. The grid allows for different parts of the simulation to be undertaken in different research centres, whilst results remain centralised.

“Problems like energy and climate change can only be attacked or really solved with efforts from different players around the world, and we’ve built a platform to do that,” says Kalb. “We proved that this is feasible and useful. Now it’s time for other people to jump on this, develop it further, and use it.”

For more information on the project, contact Christian Nielsen at Christian.Nielsen@esn.eu

Published: Monday, 18th January 2010 by Tom Freeman

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