Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom visits the ACF
15 August 2025
On 14 August, EPCC hosted the Hon Stephen Smith, the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, along with Andrew Sainsbury, Economic Counsellor, to the High Commission in the UK, at the Advanced Computing Facility.
Above: The Hon Stephen Smith, the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and Prof Mark Parsons, EPCC Director, discuss ARCHER2 at the Advanced Computing Facility.
The High Commissioner was on a short tour to Edinburgh, also visiting the National Robotarium at Heriot-Watt University, our fellow National Centre developed as part of the Data Driven Innovation (DDI) Initiative.
Alan Mackay, Deputy Vice-Principal International at the University of Edinburgh, Professor Mark Parsons, Director of EPCC, and others from EPCC, showed the High Commissioner the impressive capabilities and projects underway at EPCC.
They also talked through the work that has commenced to develop the UK’s most powerful supercomputer on the site, following the UK Government’s recent commitment of £750 million to develop the Next National Supercomputing Service, and the regional digital, robotics and AI ecosystem that has grown around the DDI initiative, as part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.
The High Commissioner discussed the transformational time in robotics, high performance computing and AI that we find ourselves in, and with Australia and the UK both firmly focused on realising the opportunities of these technologies, the opportunities for new collaborations between these cutting-edge National Centres and Australian partners.
