RESEARCH COORDINATION OBJECTIVES

1. Make available a collaborative knowledge platform, setting the basis for a linked community that will grow beyond the Action. A Web platform will be developed, to store or point to a broad range of information, namely stakeholders contacts, documentation, training material, data from experiments and simulations, software models, and benchmarks, among others. The Web platform will be developed for requiring minimum maintenance/update efforts after the Action. An interactive “Consulting Centre on Superconductivity Applications” (CCSA) will be implemented, web-based simulators will be made available, and frameworks for advanced numerical and data-driven modelling will be developed.
2. Provide a framework for assessing the economic and environmental sustainability of HTS technologies. Although fundamental for decision- and policymakers to increase their knowledge and understanding of these technologies, such tools are still not available. Hi-SCALE will focus on the whole lifecycle assessment of HTS technologies in a broad range of selected applications, which will allow ranking them according to technical, economic and environmental criteria, as well as their TRL. This framework will be also fundamental to assess new HTS-based business opportunities.
3. Develop a roadmap for HTS technologies development. In line with the previous goal, this will allow selecting the most promising HTS materials, devices and applications, identifying R&D needs, technical limitations, and regulatory restrictions, among others, that must be solved to support the massification of HTS technologies. Only the diverse, multidisciplinary perspective provided by Hi-SCALE allows for the development of such a roadmap.
4. Coordinate the strategic and active dissemination of Hi-SCALE activities and results, besides HTS technologies of the Action participants, to promote synergies and bridge gaps. The Action will screen laboratories, equipment, field testing facilities and high-performance computing clusters, among other assets, linking participants, promoting the exchange of members, solving needs and accelerating the development of HTS technologies. One main goal of Hi-SCALE is to build demonstrators with the materials and human resources available within the Action.
5. Coordinate the strategic and active dissemination of Hi-SCALE activities and results, besides HTS technologies. Workshops and an Industry Day will focus on companies, policymakers, professionals and the general public. The Action will be presented in industrial and scientific events, addressing a wider audience. Technical/scientific review and dissemination articles are planned within Hi-SCALE. Training and academic courses syllabuses, live demonstrations and short-courses, will be created upon request. An active social media presence is foreseen, through LinkedIn and Twitter, where events, outcomes, exchange or employment opportunities, news and other relevant information will be posted.

CAPACITY-BUILDING OBJECTIVES

1. Set a common, integrated, inter- and multidisciplinary forum for sharing knowledge, experiences, best practices and benchmarks at all levels of the HTS technological development cycle, while inherently promoting networking, linking participants from several communities, such as materials scientists, manufacturers, mathematicians, data scientists, electrical and mechanical engineers, environmental engineers, and physicists. This forum will allow identifying and addressing strategic research gaps, while the active involvement of other stakeholders, as regulatory bodies or policymakers, will “close the loop” of the R&D and innovation cycle, keeping the focus on the societal challenges.
2. Stimulate and assist inter- and multidisciplinary research among the community, and not only on those directly involved in applied superconductivity. The advent of these technologies is not restricted to applying HTS materials on devices and solving associated technical and scientific challenges. It is mandatory to have an economic perspective (not just financial); to evaluate environmental impacts and externalities of these technologies; or to increase professionals and social awareness. All this requires the involvement of economists, environmental engineers, or even social scientists, that are usually away from this field. Also, the development of powerful software codes to simulate complex multiphysics problems; the orchestration of distributed computer grids and the fully exploitation of computer hardware resources to speed up simulations; or the challenges of the use of high-performance computers to solve complex HTS problems (related e.g. to resilience or mixed precision); require advanced skills from the field of computer science. The use of data-driven modelling approaches, from data science field, have already succeeded in other complex fields, and its methodologies will be pursued in Hi-SCALE.
3. Promote advanced training and involvement of ECI and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. Training a new generation of researchers and professionals on the whole development cycle of HTS engineering is one mission of the Action. But ECI will also be actively involved in management tasks and for those with the ambition of pursuing an R&D career, this will provide them with the tools to further promote and manage international cooperation, which is a distinctive feature in their CVs. This Action is an incubator for entrepreneurship based on HTS enabled technological innovations as new energy services or technological concepts. Courses related e.g. to technology transfer or management of the intellectual property will be organised, and mentoring and internationalisation tools will be provided for those aiming at creating spin-offs arising from the Action.
4. Create an open, inclusive, gender-balanced, societal-driven network of excellence, with the aim to promote synergies between research-intensive countries and ITC, to jointly build the capacity of the latter. Hi-SCALE will actively promote the participation of ECI and PhD students from ITC in Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSM) and conferences (through Conference Grants); the involvement of ITC members in management and coordination tasks; the organisation of events in ITC; the participation of ITC members in events; and the joint preparation of proposals that can attract more resources to ITC. This goal also envisages implementing an international network with shared resources, advanced expertise and aligned societal-driven R&D agenda, building the capacity of Hi-SCALE participants.