The 'Tech v Virus 2.0' Project of the National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC) Call for Proposals

Description
With the sudden surge in cases in 2021, Taiwan is facing great challenge and change. To grant more access to NCHC's large computing and networking platform facilities for industries to tackle the difficulties, the NCHC has launched the "Tech v Virus 2.0" Project.
"Tech v Virus 2.0", co-hosted with Taiwan Web Service Corporation, features the upgraded series of Taiwania supercomputers, Taiwan Computing Cloud (TWCC), DAS data analysis service, and AIoT (artificial intelligence internet of things) cloud services. We cordially invite academia, research organizations, start-up companies, and industries to submit proposals, doing our parts for the society.


The "Tech v Virus 2.0" Project: eligibility criteria 
We invite academia, research organizations, start-up companies, and industries to submit proposals to effectively resolve the inconvenience that the pandemic has caused. The themes of proposals are not limited to medicine or epidemic prevention. Ideas in fields such as medical care, public health, people's livelihood, economy, finance, retail e-commerce, or even culture, education can all be put forth.

The theme is not limited but may include:

• Medical-related applications:  such as virus gene evolution, protein analysis, data mining, image recognition (chest X-ray), etc.
• Pandemic control:  such as tracking the spread of viruses
• Policy communication:  such as the government official line account(疾管家)
• Stabilize people's livelihood:  such as supplies logistics management 
• Other applications:  such as online teaching

Application deadline
Applications will be accepted from now to July 31. The NCHC may extend the deadline depending on the situation.

Computing resources availability period
According to the time limit set by each proposal, an account can be used for up to half a year from the date of activation.

Resources provided

• HPC high-speed computing host:  Taiwania 3  (made available ahead of schedule to fight the pandemic)
• Taiwan Computing Cloud (TWCC):  a supercomputer with the most advanced V100-GPU computing resources and high-speed CPU core, providing container computing, HPC high-speed computing, virtual computing, and huge storage space
• DAS data analysis service:  a full-featured artificial intelligence integration platform that combines a series of functions for data collection, management, analysis, and deployment
• AIoT Cloud Service (AI2CS Platform):  Provides an open platform environment and services for data and database management, services, analysis, AI training, AI model deployment, and graphical presentation of data.
• High-speed cloud storage
• Open Data Platform:  Provide data of COVID-19 project characteristics and collections of scientific research, voice, life, government governance, etc.

Remarks:

• This project will be conducted based on the standards set by each proposal, and the resource usage quota will be approved and determined by the committee.
• This project is a free service, and the clauses in the Service Level Agreement (SLA) about credit offset amounts are not applicable.
• This project must not involve virtual currencies (such as Bitcoin), weapons, cyber attacks, and applications which are irrelevant to this project.
• After a proposal is approved, it must comply with the relevant usage specifications of each computing resource (Taiwania 3, TWCC, DAS Data Analysis Service, AIoT Cloud Service, Data Collection Platform), and operate in accordance with applicable standard procedures. If necessary, the parties should sign relevant written statements.
• Under the purpose of promoting public policy and welfare, if the applicant agrees to authorize the Ministry of Science and Technology, the NARLabs, the NCHC, and Taiwan Web Service Corporation to promote the topic or result of their proposal, the proposal will be given preference in the review and approval process.
• The resources provided in this project for free refer only to Taiwania 3, Taiwan Computing Cloud (TWCC), DAS Data Analysis Service, AIoT (artificial intelligence Internet of things) cloud service, and data collection platform. The project does not provide funding.
• If you have any questions, please email: nchc-marketing@narlabs.org.tw