A new memorandum of understanding sets a joint effort to build a system for research, industry, artificial intelligence, and other key national priorities.

Queen’s and Simon Fraser University (SFU) have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly pursue federal support through the AI Sovereign Compute Infrastructure Program, expected to launch in 2026. 

Through the partnership, the two institutions are combining their expertise to design and deliver a sovereign, secure, and sustainable high-performance computing system to support academia, government, and industry nationwide.

Bell, Canada’s largest communications company, and Queen’s University, a leading research-intensive institution, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to build and operate a next-generation, world-class Artificial Intelligence (AI) supercomputing facility. This partnership will enhance Canada’s AI capacity, drive domestic adoption of AI tools, and strengthen digital sovereignty at a critical moment in our nation’s history.

Dr. Prameet Sheth, Dr. Henry Wong, and Dr. Calvin Sjaarda, in collaboration with the CAC, developed the Live Operational Laboratory Analytics (LOLA) platform.

LOLA platform is a sophisticated metrics dashboard that can provide real-time analysis and predictive insights into over 200 lab metrics and patient results.

Researchers are producing unprecedented amounts of data and data intensive research is growing rapidly across disciplines. Research data support services offered at universities are often siloed, which can cause inefficient duplication of services and significant gaps in programming and support. As a result, there is a need to develop a strategic, unified approach to providing data support services to ensure researchers have access to the tools and resources they need.

To address these challenges, we are pleased to announce that the Centre for Advanced Computing at Queen’s University is amongst the institutional partners participating in Ithaka S+R’s initiative, “Building Campus Strategies for Coordinated Data Support,” a cohort-based project with 29 universities across Canada and the US. This two-year initiative will support the Queen’s research community through several deliverables that aim to ensure the future viability of research data support services in the following ways:

• Catalogue and analyze the research data services currently offered locally 
• Investigate the experiences of faculty and students in navigating and accessing existing research data services at Queen’s and identify current barriers and gaps 
• Build tools to assist researchers in navigating existing research data services 
• Develop strategic plans for better coordination of current and future services 

In addition, the project will contribute to developing an international benchmarking dataset on current data support services, which will in turn inform our own strategic planning processes. This project aligns with the University’s Strategic Goals to inspire research excellence and advance social impact and sustainability; enhance research and teaching integration; and strengthen the University’s impact on a global scale.

Watch for project updates on progress and for an invitation to members of the Queen’s community participate in interviews to help the implementation committee better understand researcher experiences with current research data services and identify additional support requirements.

We are delighted to have assembled a project team and steering committee with stakeholders from across the University. We would like to thank the Queen’s University Library for funding this initiative.

For questions about the project, please reach out to rdm.library@queensu.ca.

The NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program provides funding in the amount of up to $60,000 per award to PhD students who are researching topics that will lead to major advances in accelerated computing and its applications. Recipients not only receive crucial funding for their research but are able to conduct groundbreaking work with access to NVIDIA products and technology. 

Applications for 2024 are now open.

The Digital Research Alliance of Canada is pleased to announce that Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada has approved funding of up to $228.3 million over the next two years for Digital Research Infrastructure initiatives related to high performance computing, data management, quantum and more that will directly benefit Canada’s researchers.