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SADC HPC Framework Adoption Workshop Capetown University of Botswana HPC Roadmap &

SADC HPC Framework Adoption Workshop Capetown University of Botswana HPC Roadmap & National opportunities 2 nd -3 rd Dec 2013 Dr T. Motshegwa, Department of Computer Science. Outline. University of Botswana (CS Department) HPC Roadmap UB's Research Strategy & Strategic Plan

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SADC HPC Framework Adoption Workshop Capetown University of Botswana HPC Roadmap &

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  1. SADC HPC Framework Adoption Workshop Capetown University of Botswana HPC Roadmap & National opportunities 2nd -3rd Dec 2013 Dr T. Motshegwa, Department of Computer Science

  2. Outline • University of Botswana (CS Department) HPC Roadmap • UB's Research Strategy & Strategic Plan • Outline of HPC Roadmap • HPC/Big Data Landscape & Potential Applications/Opportunities • Road Map Way Forward • How are Innovations around HPC & Big Data like? • National Opportunities & e-Government. • Preparedness: Computer Science Department Infrastructure

  3. About UB • Largest established university in Botswana • 7 Established Faculties • Science, Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Business, Humanities, Social Sciences. • School of graduate Studies • Office of Research & Development • Commercialization unit • Research centres • A detailed updated University Research Strategy (URS) approved by Senate in 2008 • Strategic goals and vision for research intensive institution

  4. Research Strategy & UB Strategic Plan • To increase staff participation • To increase and enhance student research training • To increase internal and external research funding • To increase international collaborative research • To increase the volume and quality of research outputs • To enhance the impact of research • To improve the integration of research and teaching • Therefore HPC Regional initiative fits in with our strategic outlook

  5. University of Botswana HPC Roadmap

  6. RoadMap: Outline • Formed a Steering Committee to:- • Complete and endorse country Needs Assessment Survey (Ongoing). • Identify research problems & projects, e.g. • SKA Related ** • HPC-As-A-Service*** • Bioinformatics* • Health & Medical Informatics • Epidemiological modeling** (Human, Animal diseases outbreaks) • E-Government & Big Data ,Analytics Visualization*** • Meteorology**, Geological Surveys*, Remote Sensing*, Environmental observation* • Economic modeling* • Computational Finance*

  7. HPC/Big Data Landscape & Potential Applications(1) • University wide HPC-AS-A-Service • Currently: None • Beneficiaries: Faculties, researchers, Government, outside stakeholders • SKA Project. • Currently: Conceived: Botswana to host some array elements and local HPC data center? • Beneficiaries: Physics, Computer Science & Mathematics Dept, Science education

  8. Potential Applications(2) • Epidemiological Modeling • Currently: Standard research, hampered by lack of HPC for improved turnaround times • Human health - Some disease models defined • Animal health - None* • Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak and management • Animal movement traceability • Vaccine/Vaccination assessments • Economic implications/Policy (EU Beef Exports) • Beneficiaries, Medical Schools, Ministry of Health, Dept of Animal Health, Botswana Vaccine Institute (FMD Regional reference Lab) • Etc...

  9. Potential Applications(3) • Bioinformatics • Currently: None • Beneficiaries: Biological Sciences, CS – Multidisciplinary research • Potential international collaboration – Biotec Center Dresden, Prof Michael Schroeder? • Capacity building, Local problems focus: Wildlife species genomics, proteomics? • Health & Medical Informatics • Currently: Standard Research, patient records • Exploitation: Analytics,visualisation, policy • Beneficiaries: Ministry of Health, Health sector

  10. Potential Applications(4) • Meteorological/Climate modeling • Currently: Some outsourced - third party weather forecast, wild fire monitoring? • Beneficiaries: Meteorological Services, Faculty of science • Stimulation of multidisciplinary research • Hydrology/Geological/Remote Sensing/Environmental observation • Currently: Standard Research • Exploitation: Analytics, visualisation – mineral prospecting, ground water resources: Policy • Beneficiaries: Ministry of minerals resources &, Faculty of science

  11. Potential Applications(5) • Economic modeling • Currently: Standard research • Beneficiaries: Government, Faculty of Social Sciences, Economic Thinktanks e.g. Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA) • Stimulation of Multidisciplinary research • Policy formulation • Computational Finance / Modeling • Currently: Standard Research • Exploitation: Financial Instruments, Stochastic models, Model validation/caliberation, Analytics, visualisation • Beneficiaries: Finance sector,IFSC, BoB, Faculty of Business

  12. More Potential Applications(6) • Telecommunications • Network usage, analytics, visualisation • Defence & Security • Penetration games, • cryptology, strategy and • policy making • R&D and Innovation Acceleration • Financial Markets and Financial Transactions

  13. UB Roadmap: Way Forward(1) • Complete an extensive research proposal for HPC-AS-A-Service project • Actively seek sources of funding • ORD, EU-Africa FP7,Wellcome Trust, British council... • Build alliance and collaborations • Liaise with regional partners • Formal programme and annual schedule calendar/events • Curriculum review, Parallel & Concurrent Programming course, Comp Finance+ HPC courses • Evaluate further opportunities.

  14. UB Roadmap: Way Forward (2): • Infrastructure & Resources • Dedicated labs for HPC • Through networks with CHPC we can receive hardware from Texas Advanced Computing Center • Appointments • Dr D. Mpoeleng – Representation at the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology • Draft of a country plan for implementation • Dr T. Motshegwa - Operational level interface with country stakeholders and external partners and collaborators

  15. Opportunities: Innovations around HPC & Big Data

  16. Example of how Academic projects can evolve (UCL) • Satalia NPComplete Ltd, UCL spin off • Prof Antony Finkelstein, Dr Daniel Hulme • Provides Optimisation-As-A-Service • Satalia SolveEngine • “One stop shop” for state of the art optimisation algorithms • Gives industry access to cutting edge technology/Algorithms • Intelligent use of compute resources • Produces smarter faster solutions to complex problems

  17. Example benefits • Provides economic models to academics to commercialise their algorithmic inventions. • Allows academics to get access to critical data to improve their research. • Provides developers of software tools a new revenue mechanism to support development and exposure of their software. • Optimisation problems exist across computer science and engineering. • Satalia SolveEngine solve problems in graph theory, logistics,system verification, BigData and cryptography.

  18. How this is done • Provides a software platform • A portal and an API to allow submission of optimisation and retrieve solutions. • New optimisation translators and enconders to provide interoperability between algorithmic formats (SAT,CSP,FZN, LP,GPL,SMT,OPT). • Machine learning to match the right algorithm to the problems received. • Distributed computing running on HPC and on private and public clouds. • Management console for academics to include algorithms in the platform, commercialise IP, access valuable data to enable better research.

  19. National Opportunities and Government's View

  20. Stakeholders & Gov Institutions • Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology • Department of Research Science and Technology • Mandate is to provide leadership in science and technology through the • Provision of an enabling policy and legislation environment and • Coordination of science and technology activities in the country. • Botswana Institute of Technology, Research and Innovation (BTRI) • Mandate is to undertake research, identify and or develop appropriate technologies in line with national priorities and needs of Botswana • Botswana Innovation Hub •  Mandated to support new ventures and existing companies as well as attract companies, universities, research and advanced training institutes to establish in the Science and Technology Park

  21. Botswana's National e-Government Strategy • “1Gov” Seamless Government with intergrated Services • High Performance infrastructure and Data Warehousing • Integrated data sources • Improved Service Delivery • Fast and informative business intelligence to guide policy formulation

  22. Gap Analysis • Large budget for hardware, software, power, networking and storage • Strong partnerships with private entities • Low levels of expertise – HR capacity building over the near and long term • Policies or frameworks that can nurture HPC advancement

  23. Preparedness: Computer Science Department Infrastructure

  24. About UB

  25. Thank you tshiamo.motshegwa@mopipi.ub.bw

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