The IT giant Atos said that is has fully delivered to Bulgaria’s Sofia Tech Park a super computer that is expected to be Eastern Europe’s most powerful such device.

The petascale computing system will help greatly with Bulgaria’s tech ambitions in the years to come.

The supercomputers will serve in the development of scientific, public and industrial applications in various fields, including bioinformatics, pharmacy, molecular and mechanical dynamics, quantum chemistry and biochemistry, artificial intelligence, personalized medicine, bioengineering, meteorology and the fight against climate change.

Atos, the company delivering the supercomputer, said in a press release that the computer is expected to be fully operational in July 2021.

“This will be the most powerful supercomputer in Eastern Europe and will help to leverage Bulgaria’s high-tech ambitions. Atos’ Czech Republic project teams have already started the configuration tests and the supercomputer is expected to start working operationally in July 2021,” the company said in a press release.

But this is not just a Bulgarian accomplishment but also a European one, benefiting European scientific research, bolstering innovation, and providing the wider scientific community with state of the art research and development tools.

The supercomputer is co-financed by the Republic of Bulgaria and European Union EuroHPC JU program. The total investment amounts to 11.5 million euros.

The petascale computing system in Bulgaria will be similar to other supercomputing systems in university and research centers across Europe, such as CINECA in Italia, IZUM in Slovenia, LuxProvide in Luxemburg și Minho Advanced Computing Center from Portugal.

The computing system present in Bulgaria will thus consolidate EU’s network of research capabilities and strengthened its endeavors to develop new tech and research hubs in its member states.