ASSOCIAZIONE BIG DATA

Their core work

Associazione Big Data is an Italian association based in Bologna that promotes the adoption of big data analytics and high-performance computing (HPC) across research and industry. They contributed computational expertise to Europe's rapid COVID-19 drug discovery effort through the EXSCALATE4CoV platform, combining HPC with structural biology and drug screening. They also support the development of national HPC competence centres, providing training, business development, and networking to bridge the gap between supercomputing infrastructure and industrial users.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

All three projects started in 2020, so the evolution is narrow in time but clear in direction. Early involvement centered on an emergency COVID-19 response using HPC for drug discovery and genomics (EXSCALATE4CoV). Their more recent and ongoing work shifted toward building sustainable HPC ecosystems — competence centres, industry training, and European networking through EUROCC and CASTIEL. This suggests a pivot from applied crisis research toward long-term capacity building in the European HPC landscape.

Moving from direct research application toward ecosystem building and industry adoption of HPC — positioning themselves as a training and networking hub rather than a pure research contributor.

How they like to work

Associazione Big Data operates primarily as a third-party contributor rather than a lead or even core partner, having served as third party in two of their three projects and never as coordinator. Their 123 consortium partners across 33 countries reflect the very large consortia they participate in (EXSCALATE4CoV and the EuroHPC network), rather than a self-built network. This is typical of an association that provides specialized support services to large infrastructure-driven initiatives.

Connected to 123 partners across 33 countries, though this breadth comes from participating in very large pan-European consortia (EuroHPC ecosystem and the COVID-19 emergency response). Their direct collaborative footprint is likely much smaller than these numbers suggest.

What sets them apart

Their distinctive value lies at the intersection of big data/HPC infrastructure and real-world application domains, particularly life sciences. Based in Bologna — home to CINECA, one of Europe's major supercomputing centres — they are well-positioned to connect HPC resources with industry and research users. For consortium builders, they offer a non-academic, association-type partner that can handle training, outreach, and business development tasks within HPC-focused projects.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EXSCALATE4CoV
  A high-profile emergency COVID-19 project that used exascale computing to screen billions of molecules for drug repurposing — one of the EU's flagship pandemic response initiatives.
• EUROCC
  The foundational EuroHPC project establishing national competence centres across Europe, connecting supercomputing resources with industrial users.