Science – especially fundamental research – calls for computing abilities that grow alongside the succession of new generations of experiments that push the frontiers of knowledge further and further. In theoretical and experimental physics, experiments on elementary particles, done with or without accelerating machines, and detectors studying gravitational waves, either on Earth or in outer space, generate an enormous amount of data. Albeit in different time frames, all these areas of fundamental research are met with issues concerning the scalability and efficiency (including energy efficiency) of computing infrastructure.

Spoke 2 aims to fulfil this need by planning and testing solutions that are suitable for existing and next-generation experiments, namely by enabling access to these computing resources, whether they are run by the National Centre or by other sources.

Moreover, Spoke 2 activities seek to foster sharing knowledge and technologies developed in basic research with manufacturing sectors, in order to promote the development of applications of national interest in the economic and industrial sectors.

In this perspective, there will be intersections and synergies with the rapidly growing Space Economy, with direct connections to data from Mirror Copernicus, the national programme in support of operational services created within the Space Economy strategic plan, in the context of the European Copernicus Earth observation programme, designed to monitor our planet and its environment.

The development of algorithms and designed computing solutions will be shared with other scientific and production domains of the National Centre to bolster broader and more transversal scientific progress. The results will be made readily available to the Italian system, through dissemination and technological relocation.