This new data repository will be located next to Isambard-AI, the UK’s most powerful supercomputer based at NCC on the Bristol and Bath Science Park.
Like a digital library, it will house the UK's most valuable large-scale datasets and make them readily available to researchers across the country.
Its proximity to Isambard-AI will unlock the supercomputer's full potential, processing the data at record speeds to enable science that has simply not been possible before.
The new storage facility is a key part of the Government’s objective to build large-scale data infrastructure and will allow Isambard-AI to interact seamlessly with data from across multiple sites, often with different formats, governance, and access restrictions.
The AI for Science Strategy has two objectives:
- To develop frontier capability in AI-driven science. The companies and researchers developing general-purpose AI science tools and building autonomous lab infrastructure are transforming the process of discovery. It is a crucial strategic area to build UK capacity.
- To ensure the UK retains its position of global scientific leadership. The integration of AI into science will reshape the national and global research landscape.
The £225m Isambard-AI facility, built and run by Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS) in close partnership with HPE and NVIDIA, is able to process in one second what it would take the entire global population 80 years to achieve. It was officially launched in July this year and is the most powerful university-based supercomputer anywhere in the world.
Such impressive processing speeds offer capacity never seen before in the UK, allowing researchers and industry to harness the huge potential of AI in fields such as robotics, big data, climate research and drug discovery.
The supercomputer is a key part of the UK Government's AI Research Resource (AIRR), alongside DAWN at Cambridge, and is boosting the country’s capabilities in responsible and cutting-edge AI development.
This new data capability will also explore how to provide secure access to high-impact health datasets through the AIRR, enabling UK scientists to undertake more ambitious AI research using this data.
Professor Evelyn Welch, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bristol, said: "As a research-intensive university at the heart of the UK's AI revolution we support the announcement of the AI for Science Strategy and are pleased to be a key part of this.
"Earlier this year we launched Isambard-AI, the world’s fastest supercomputer based at a university which will spearhead AI innovation and scientific discovery in important areas such as drug discovery and climate research.
"The National AI Data Facility will be a critical part of its infrastructure, further establishing Bristol and the UK as an international hub for AI research. This investment will be central to creating a ‘British Library’ for the AI age."
The development of Isambard-AI has seen the West of England become a regional hub for deep tech and is the result of close collaboration with regional government.
Helen Godwin, Mayor of the West of England, said: “This investment helps turbo-charge the West’s ambition to establish the UK’s first AI Supercluster. Since May, our region has signed tech trade deals with the US, been recognised as Lloyds Banking Group’s AI Capital, and switched on Isambard-AI – the country’s largest supercomputer and the fastest one based at a university anywhere in the world.
“In this new chapter for the West of England, we are working together to deliver more jobs for local people. In the last decade, the West saw the highest job growth in digital and tech of any region. The best is yet to come, and today’s investment is another real vote of confidence in that bright future.”
Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith, Director of the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, said: "The new AI Data Facility in Bristol will enable the UK's most valuable data assets and largest data sets to be processed at record speed by Isambard-AI, the country's most powerful supercomputer, and one of the fastest AI systems in the world.
"This will enable new science and research which simply would not have been possible before, unlocking the full potential of the government's £225m investment into the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing and Isambard-AI."
Rich Oldfield, Chief Executive of NCC, said: “We welcome the new National AI Data Facility, which will build on the Isambard-AI infrastructure and strengthen UK capability, hosted at NCC.
"This kind of investment matters – it gives researchers and businesses the tools they need to do hard things faster, from materials discovery to new medical treatments. It’s another step in making the West of England a place where serious discovery and innovation gets done."