Establishment of lab to accelerate HPC and AI developments

חטיבות

technological infrastructure

תיאור הקול הקורא

Participating Agencies

Israel Innovation Authority

Summary

Israel Innovation Authority announces an open call for the submission for grant applications to establish an R&D laboratory aimed at accelerating technology development in the domains of high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI). The R&D Lab should include the required facility, equipment, and manned services, for accelerating diverse research and development processes of both software and hardware elements. The Lab and its services shall be available for Israeli corporations as well as Israeli research institutions. 
An approved applicant will operate in accordance with the Israel Innovation Authority’s  R&D Infrastructure Program.

RFP Relevant Definitions:

  1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) – including software or hardware development for training large models, accelerators, decentralized or federated computation technologies, management tools for performance monitoring and model training management, or infrastructures for dataset manipulation and handling.
  2. High-Performance Computing (HPC) – including software or hardware development, for the purpose of accelerating scientific computation and simulation tasks. Relevant technologies include dedicated accelerators, communication infrastructure, storage, compression, encryption, or cooling
     

Relevant Technologies

Artificial Intelligence (AI), High-Performance Computing (HPC)

Program Description

This RFP offers applicants the opportunity to apply for establishing an R&D Lab (comprising R&D equipment and services) focusing on research and development infrastructure including equipment accessibility, infrastructure software, and technical staff for the provision of R&D services. The lab should be accessible to Israeli Corporations and Israeli Research Institutions to accelerate the development of high-performance computing (HPC) and/or artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.  
To clarify, the R&D lab may operate in specific fields such as AI development regarding Fintech (Financial Technology), Agritech (Agricultural Technology) or Medtech (Medical Technology), and/or specialized technologies (such as encryption or end-to-end processes).

The RFP’s Objectives: 

  1. Infrastructure that enables integration and feasibility analysis for products relevant to supercomputing infrastructures (such as accelerators, communication applications, storage infrastructures, cooling infrastructures, scheduling software, and management and monitoring tools). 
  2. Ability to implement R&D for all hardware and software infrastructure levels (R&D that is not feasible in public cloud infrastructures). 
  3. A “neutral”, vendor-independent “meeting place” enabling R&D collaboration of Israeli corporations or Israeli corporations and Israeli research institutions and integration of various components and data. 
  4. Professional services – offering knowledge and expertise in content, providing unique services and capabilities established in the R&D Lab that benefit the users. 
  5. Workforce training for research, development, support, operation, and more, regarding R&D lab activities. 
  • To clarify, the R&D lab’s purpose is not to substitute existing infrastructure and cloud services but add innovative capabilities and acceptable performance that currently cannot be implemented due to financial requirements unfeasible for users.

The following are examples of potential focus areas applicable in the context of the R&D Lab, while applicants can propose additional or alternative focus areas as well:

  1. Affordable AI –  solutions that will reduce AI development and processing costs.
  2. Applications to accelerate computation, storage, or communication.
  3. AI for edge computing – applications that run AI with limited memory/power/processing capacity.
  4. Digital twin – establishing a “digital twin,” utilizing existing lab hardware for various usages to reduce development costs and streamline processes.  
  5. Targeting specific technology industries such as Foodtech, Agritech, MedTech, and government digital services. 

arrowJoin our webinar on April 3rd, 2023, at 11:00 (IST) for general questions and assistance in how to submit your application.

Criteria

The application, with its appendices, will include a reference and response, among other things, to the elements listed below. This is not an exclusive list; it portrays only part of what is required in the application. You may address additional features that are not encompassed in this list:

Scientific-technological aspects
 
specifications for this section will be provided in Sections 3, 4, and 8 of the application form

  1. The R&D Lab function (Section 3): the R&D Lab’s role should be detailed, including services provided and the potential users. Please pay special attention to substantiating the R&D Lab’s value and contribution to the Israeli Industry.
  2. Chosen focus area (Sections 3-4):
    • If they exist, details must be clear regarding the applicant’s chosen field (for example, focus on technology, target users, etc.). 
    • Please chart and specify existing challenges and technological and business opportunities in the chosen field. 
  3. Services Offered (Section 8):
    • The R&D Lab-provided services must specify (types of service, and areas of service), emphasizing services that are not currently available or feasible (financially and operationally) from public and private cloud providers.
    • Specification of the services must include the commencement date of the offered services, forecasted costs, and a comparison with other existing services worldwide.
  4. Infrastructure specification (Section 8) – description of the architecture required for the offered services, including a reference to the following aspects:
    • Hardware and software necessary for the provided services.
    • The option of the services benefiting multiple users with different requirements simultaneously.
    • Interfaces for additional infrastructures – for example, connection to the quantum infrastructure, aspects of the interface, and relation to public and private cloud infrastructures, including the ability of workloads offloading from the lab to the cloud and integrating the cloud in the lab-run processes, particularly for training models with significant workloads. 
    • It’s recommended to provide details regarding forecasted executions and pre-configured structures. 
    • Details on infrastructures and methods of upgrading the software and hardware of the R&D Lab, in accordance with the latest technology available in the approved plan period, including maintaining laboratory capabilities compared to the global technology forefront. 

Management-operational aspects

Specifications for this section will be provided in Sections 5 and 6 of the application:

  1. Details of the applicant’s strategic partners.
  2. Details of additional relationships and partnerships with the industry and academia. 
  3. Elements of business development/marketing and the R&D Lab’s accessibility for various users.
  4. Details of the overall infrastructure required for the establishment and ongoing operation (including services, physical infrastructure, and equipment), paying particular attention to the applicant’s analysis regarding market failure or other limitations that inhibit the purchase of this equipment without the Innovation Authority’s grant.
  5. Details regarding the administrative and technological staff, specifying the equipment operators’ qualifications (the proposed personnel’s resumes must be attached). 
  6. Details of the services provided to industrial corporations and research institutions, including intellectual property ownership.
  7. Timetable for commencement:
    • Provide a detailed schedule for establishing the infrastructure and the commencement of services. The phases regarding constructing technological assets and R&D Lab services must be specified.
    • A description of the short-term and long-term planning stages of building technical capabilities and providing the R&D Lab services. For the long-term aspects, it is essential to specify additional assets and R&D services that can be provided after the R&D Lab’s longevity and experience have been established.

Budgetary/Economic Aspects

Specifications will be provided in Sections 9, 10, and 12 of the application and in the Excel sheet that constitutes its appendix.

  1. Business plan – specify the short-term operating plan (it should include the Innovation Authority grant) and the long-term plan (a self-sufficient R&D Lab).
  2. Pricing of the services (forecasted price per service) – detailing the process for determining the price that the R&D Lab will charge potential users, paying particular attention to the global competition in providing such services.
  3. Please chart and specify existing challenges and technological and business opportunities in the chosen field.

Funding

The total budget for the approved application is up to NIS 30 million, financed at a grant rate of 55% or 66%, as detailed in the sub-program.

Application Process

  1. Applications must be submitted by noon on June 4th, 2023. 
  2. The incentive program and the sub-program provisions must be read carefully (available in the Hebrew website only), as well as the relevant procedures, and ensure compliance with the conditions specified in their entirety. 
  3. Guidelines of the incentive program, sub-program, relevant procedures, and this notice, must all be adhered to. 
  4. After completing the subprogram application, it must be submitted via your personal account (new or existing one) on the Innovation Authority’s website. 
  5. Please follow up with the RFP notice for any relevant updates. 
  6. This notice does not constitute an obligation in any way to approve an application submitted as part of the proceedings.