SIGMA2 AS

Their core work

SIGMA2 is Norway's national provider of high-performance computing (HPC) and research data infrastructure, operating the country's supercomputing and storage resources for the scientific community. They supply computational capacity, data management services, and training to researchers across disciplines. Within EU projects, they contribute operational expertise in running large-scale e-infrastructures, integrating national resources into pan-European service ecosystems like EOSC and PRACE, and building competence centres that bridge HPC with industry needs.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015–2018), SIGMA2 focused on foundational e-infrastructure — contributing to pan-European HPC capacity through PRACE and building collaborative data services through EUDAT2020. From 2019 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward the European Open Science Cloud ecosystem (EOSC-Nordic, EOSC-hub, DICE) and toward translating HPC capabilities into industry-relevant competence centres via EUROCC. This reflects a clear move from pure infrastructure provision toward service integration, FAIR data compliance, and bridging the gap between academic computing resources and industrial users.

SIGMA2 is moving from behind-the-scenes infrastructure operation toward user-facing service delivery and industry engagement, making them increasingly relevant as a partner for projects needing production-grade computing and data services with an industry outreach dimension.

How they like to work

SIGMA2 operates exclusively as a participant, never as coordinator, which is typical for national infrastructure providers who contribute resources and operational expertise rather than driving research agendas. With 221 unique partners across 41 countries from just 8 projects, they work in very large consortia (averaging ~28 partners per project). This means they are well-connected and experienced in complex multi-partner coordination, but their role is that of a reliable infrastructure backbone rather than a project initiator.

With 221 unique consortium partners across 41 countries, SIGMA2 has one of the broadest collaboration networks relative to their project count, reflecting the large-scale nature of European e-infrastructure initiatives. Their network spans virtually all EU and associated countries, with particularly strong ties to Nordic and Western European research computing centres.

What sets them apart

SIGMA2 is Norway's single national entry point for HPC and research data infrastructure, giving them a mandate and scale that few private companies can match. Their continuous participation in both PRACE (computing) and EOSC/EUDAT (data) lines means they sit at the intersection of Europe's two major research infrastructure pillars. For consortium builders, partnering with SIGMA2 brings not just technical capacity but also a direct link to Norway's national research computing ecosystem.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EOSC-Nordic
  Their largest funded project (EUR 949,750), focused on coordinating Nordic and Baltic contributions to the European Open Science Cloud — reflecting their regional leadership role.
• EUROCC
  Represents their strategic expansion into industry engagement, building a Norwegian national HPC competence centre to train and support industrial users.
• EUDAT2020
  Their second-largest project (EUR 712,255) and earliest, establishing the collaborative data infrastructure foundations that led to their later EOSC involvement.