Work and Aims

The Bavarian Consortium for High Performance Scientific Computing (FORTWIHR) was founded for a period of no longer than ten years in April, 1992. During its first two three-year-terms (FORTWIHR I, from April, 1992, to July, 1995, and FORTWIHR II, from May, 1995 to August, 1998), the FORTWIHR was financed by the State of Bavaria, by the Bavarian Research Foundation, and by the industrial partners in the Consortium. Totally, jobs for 34 full-time scientists were funded at the participating universities ( Technische Universität München, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Universität Augsburg, and Fachhochschule München).

In September, 1998, FORTWIHR's third term has begun. Due to the concept of a decreasing support, the Bavarian Research Foundation doesn't finance the FORTWIHR any longer as a whole, but still supports 13 projects dealing with the transfer of achieved results to industrial practice. In addition to that, the State of Bavaria still supports FORTWIHR's work.

Concerning FORTWIHR's aims:

Scientists from the fields of engineering sciences, applied mathematics, and computer science of the Technische Universität München, the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, the Universität Augsburg, and the Fachhochschule München are involved in the work of the Consortium. This inter-disciplinary concept is based on the recognition that the increasing significance of the yet young discipline High Performance Scientific Computing (HPSC) can be only given due consideration if the technical knowledge of the engineer, the numerical methods of the mathematician, and the up to date methods and computers of computer science are all applied equally.

Cooperation with industry is maintained in all areas of research. The aim of this is to make a utilization of the results of this research possible in the major Bavarian industrial companies working in the areas of computer and semi-conductor technology, aerospace and automobile technology as well as in the high-tech oriented branches of middle-sized industries. Direct cooperation and a transfer of knowledge through training courses and conferences take place in order to ensure the utilization of the results of this research. Bavarian industry is counting on important impulses from the Consortium, which will be a major factor in determining competitiveness. Conversely, problems that arise in industry are to stimulate and enrich scientific research in the Consortium. Another aim of FORTWIHR is to introduce HPSC into the degree program at the universities.

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