The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has signed a three-year deal with IBM to develop high performance computing (HPC) in the UK. The deal has the potential to add £25bn to the UK’s economy over the next 10 years.

£30m has been invested by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills in the International Centre of Excellence for Computational Science and Engineering (ICE-CSE) which will be used to upgrade STFC’s existing computing infrastructure to host next-generation HPC systems.

The £30m came out of the Department of Business Innovation and Skills' £145m pot to upgrade the UK’s computer and network facilities.

HPC is intended to enable research and innovation and provide solutions to complex problems, such as finding cures for diseases and improving the prediction of natural disasters.

The systems will help develop the necessary software to run on the next generation of supercomputers.