This review will deliver a long term plan for UK compute, enabling government, business and academia to remain at the forefront of innovation and be prepared to fight the biggest challenges of this century.

Professor Zoubin Ghahramani

The Future of Compute Review will report to the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The project will look at the UK’s compute needs, develop cost-effective solutions to ensure researchers and industry have what they need to lead the way, and inform a long-term plan for the UK.

Advanced compute – the large-scale processing power, memory and data storage that is used to tackle tasks beyond the capabilities of everyday computers – is an important component of our digital infrastructure and a building block for future capability. It is becoming essential to biology, chemistry, physics, and nearly every other area of research and can also increase business innovation by enhancing R&D and product design processes, driving economic growth and productivity.

During his opening address at London Tech Week, on 13 June, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, said high-performance computers and cloud capabilities were vital for powering technologies of the future, such as AI, and this would be critical for the UK’s productivity, prosperity and innovation.

“From modelling the effects of climate change, to powering the discovery of new drugs and increasing business innovation, the capabilities of advanced compute are endless,” he said. “The UK is a world leader in innovation and this review will help us maintain that position – as we embrace new technologies and the people that create them to drive forward our growth and productivity.”

Commenting on his appointment, Professor Ghahramani, who is also Vice President of Research at Google and leads Google Brain, said: “The UK’s ability to do the hardest science, and help businesses be even more competitive, depends on more powerful computers. Advanced compute helps us model incredibly complex systems, such as what’s happening to the climate and how to stop the spread of pandemics.

“Advanced compute is fundamental to the UK’s national interest. This review will deliver a long term plan for UK compute, enabling government, business and academia to remain at the forefront of innovation and be prepared to fight the biggest challenges of this century.

“I am delighted to lead this review and look forward to bringing my industry and research experience to this important work.”

Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries added: “We witnessed our most powerful computers speed up the development of vaccines during the pandemic. But all the data generated in the coming years will be meaningless without the capacity to process it.

“This review will ensure we have the advanced computing abilities to keep the UK at the forefront of the most complex science and cutting edge tech to deliver major benefits for people and businesses.”

Adapted from a HM Treasury press release.