The ceremony took place on 11 June 2025 at the RIKEN RCCS booth during the ISC 2025 conference, which is taking place in Hamburg.
This pioneering LoI, signed by Anders Jensen, Executive Director of the EuroHPC JU, and Satoshi Matsuoka, Director of the RIKEN R-CCS, enables access for HANAMI European researchers to the Fugaku supercomputer—one of the world’s most powerful exascale systems.
The agreement represents a first-of-its-kind collaboration between EuroHPC and RIKEN R-CCS, under the umbrella of the HANAMI project, which aims to foster EU-Japan scientific collaboration by enabling shared access to supercomputers for cutting-edge research. It opens the door for joint Japanese-European research on climate science, materials science, and biomedical sciences, using the full capabilities of the Fugaku supercomputer, housed at RIKEN’s Kobe facility.
In parallel with RIKEN R-CCS managing the Letter of Intent regarding access to the Fugaku supercomputer, it is essential to highlight the important role played by Japanese universities in the HANAMI project. While R-CCS provides world-class infrastructure and leadership, HANAMI is a truly collaborative initiative. The contribution of Japan’s academic institutions is instrumental in driving scientific innovation and ensuring the project’s multidisciplinary success across climate, materials, and biomedical sciences.
This Letter of Intent is a strategic step towards fostering international cooperation in exascale computing and brings together excellence from Europe and Japan though the HANAMI project. The collaboration with RIKEN is an example of how the EuroHPC JU seeks to maintain strong relationships with partners across the world. This initiative will empower scientific communities in both regions, and lays the groundwork for long-term collaborative research in critical domains.
— Anders Dam Jensen, Executive Director, EuroHPC Joint Undertaking
Fugaku is a reference system in the global HPC and AI landscape. Thanks to this LoI, HANAMI can execute and optimise scientific applications at the exascale level, hand in hand with our Japanese partners. This agreement is a cornerstone in HANAMI’s mission, and we are very grateful to both EuroHPC and RIKEN R-CCS for their vision and commitment.
— Boillod-Cerneux France, HANAMI Coordinator
We are truly honored to have signed this Letter of Intent with the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. Fugaku represents the culmination of years of advancement in supercomputing technologies, and we are delighted to share its capabilities with European researchers in the HANAMI project. Through the HANAMI project, we look forward to fostering close collaboration between Japanese and European scientists as they tackle global challenges in climate science, materials development, and life sciences. RIKEN R-CCS believe that these cooperation between Japan and EU in the HANAMI projects and future cooperation makes advancement of science and technology.
— Satoshi Matsuoka, Director, RIKEN Center for Computational Science
The HANAMI project brings together a network of research and computing centres across Europe and Japan, with the goal of co-designing next-generation HPC applications capable of fully exploring exascale systems. The LoI will facilitate joint scientific and technical activities, knowledge exchange, and long-term strategic cooperation.
About HANAMI
HANAMI (Highly Adaptive Novel Applications for Multidisciplinary Integration) is a EuroHPC-funded project focused on preparing flagship applications in climate, materials, and biomedical sciences for the exascale era.
HANAMI is a EuroHPC-JU funded project, started in March 2024, that aims to support the implementation of the Japan-EU Digital Partnership by strengthening cooperation with Japan in HPC’s priority areas identified in the EU-Japan partnership.
Learn more about HANAMI on the dedicated page.
About RIKEN R-CCS
RIKEN Centre for Computational Science (R-CCS), based in Kobe, Japan, is a global leader in high-performance computing and the home of the Fugaku supercomputer.
Discover more about RIKEN.
About EuroHPC JU
The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) is a legal and funding entity created in 2018 to enable the European Union and EuroHPC participating countries to coordinate their efforts and pool their resources with the objective of making Europe a world leader in supercomputing.
In order to equip Europe with a world-leading supercomputing infrastructure, the EuroHPC JU has already procured ten supercomputers, located across Europe. In parallel, the EuroHPC JU is investing in research and innovation projects to develop a full European supercomputing supply chain: from processors and software to applications to be run on these supercomputers and know-how to develop strong European HPC expertise.