Application form for host sites for the Phase One of UKRI National Compute Resources (NCRs)

Overview

Application for hosting entitites for the Phase One of UKRI National Compute Resources (NCRs)

Background to NCRs

The UK Compute Roadmap sets out the requirement for a compute ecosystem that is diverse, user-centred, coherent and serves the needs of the UK’s research and innovation communities across a wide range of disciplines and use cases. As part of this national effort to develop an integrated public compute ecosystem, UKRI will invest in National Compute Resources (NCRs). NCRs complement flagship investments in the Next National Supercomputing Service and AI Research Resource (AIRR). They will provide smaller scale services that ensure the UK has the necessary diversity of skills and technologies – and the expertise in specialised and novel solutions – to enable cutting-edge research and innovation, increase resilience, and enable users to exploit new approaches.

The NCR model is an evolution of UKRI’s existing approaches to supporting ‘tier 2’-scale compute that seeks to develop a critical mass portfolio of highly integrated and nationally significant compute capabilities that provide a consistent user experience based on access policies determined by UKRI. UKRI will develop a new model for community-specific user services to act as collective points of entry that facilitate access to NCRs. Further details will follow in due course.

Accordingly, NCRs will not focus on vertically integrated models of compute provision for specific research communities. Nonetheless, UKRI recognises the value of such approaches in specific circumstances and will facilitate any synergies from community-focussed compute services funded through other routes.   

The expectation is that the NCRs will be a long-term partnership with institutions that is decoupled from specific hardware investments. NCRs will be expected to collaborate with other compute investments, user communities, DSIT and UKRI to advance our objective for an integrated ecosystem. Further investment beyond this service cycle will be subject to future Spending Review outcomes and satisfactory service delivery.

Phased Implementation of NCRs

We anticipate a rolling programme of phased investment in NCRs. At the current time, we can confirm:

• This Activity: A competition for Phase 1 investment in Financial Year 2025/26. The phase 1 NCR call will rely on hosting entities leading on procurement of systems based on the scope outlined below. Given the proposed timeframe, we are anticipating hosting entities may take steps to simplify the procurement process – for example expanding systems with viable expansion options or taking advantage of arrangements to host hardware in established data centres owned by third parties (‘colocation’). As the ecosystem develops, UKRI will identify unmet technological requirements and commission additional NCRs in following Phases. UKRI may directly procure and own hardware hosted and operated by selected sites under this model.
• An Expression of Interest (EoI) for future (Phase 2) phased investment in Financial Year 2026/2027. Hosting entities are also invited to submit expressions of interest to subsequent phases of NCR opportunities via the UKRI Engagement Hub. Applicants for the phase 1 NCR call are welcome to submit EoIs for phase 2. A second NCR hosting opportunity is expected to launch in early 2026.

Scope of the Phase 1 Competition

This opportunity is seeking potential hosting entities for the first phase of UKRI investment in NCRs. Currently it is anticipated that up to £9.5 million will be available per NCR and at least two NCRs will be supported in this round. Further funds (up to £2 million p.a.) will be provided for each NCR from 2026-2031 to cover NCR service provision, power and other directly relevant costs necessary for user support. These services will support research across the whole UKRI remit.

This opportunity is open to potential host site providers and their support teams (‘hosting entities’ – hosting entities may be a single site or a partnership co-localised across sites) who have the experience and access to the necessary infrastructure (either through direct ownership or through suitable commercial arrangements) to host an NCR, can deliver the hardware components by March 2026 and can operate a full service for users commencing in the 2026/2027 financial year. The requirements for hosting entities are provided below.

It is expected that the 2025/2026 UKRI investment in NCRs will fund:

• At least one CPU-based system and;
• At least one heterogeneous or accelerated system.

The hosting entity will be responsible for operating the service in line with the overall goals of the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure strategy. Please note that UKRI will retain responsibility for the access policy defining usage of the NCR services. Accordingly, the majority of computational time will be allocated according to UKRI’s policy. A small participation will be available for use at the discretion of the host site provider. We anticipate that this will be in the region of 5%.

The hosting entity will be responsible for ensuring the security and resilience of the service, meeting agreed service standards, and ensuring a high-quality experience for a wide range of users across the UK. Hosting entities will be expected to form part of a national network of NCRs and work collaboratively with other sites, including national supercomputing centres.

Eligibility

Hosting entities can be a single organisation or a partnership of organisations. Where the hosting entity is a partnership, the application must be completed by a lead organisation who will be responsible for delivering the award if selected. In order to be eligible for funding, the applicant must:

• Be an organisation that is currently eligible for UKRI funding.
• Meet the requirements for the proposed system, e.g. provide assurance of suitable accommodation, power and direct liquid cooling infrastructure that is ready to accept hardware by the end of March 2026, The service must be kept operational for a minimum of five years, with the option to extend based on evolving research requirements.
• Procure and deliver a suitable CPU-based or heterogenous/accelerated system by the end of March 2026.
• Meet ISO 27001 information security management for a supercomputing environment, or demonstrate where the site already complies and a plan to gain accreditation within the timeframe of the service.
• Provide accommodation within a secure UK facility. This facility should meet an enhanced Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) profile tailored for supercomputing environments—covering areas such as access control, security monitoring, staff training, and incident response planning.
• Be able to provide a team of skilled staff to support this initiative, including user and software support, training, and community outreach.
• Have suitable experience in hosting and operating high quality large-scale compute services for research and/or innovation users.
• Have a statement from PVC (or equivalent) demonstrating support for hosting an NCR and stating how this fits with institutional plans (please submit statements by email to dri@ukri.org in parallel to submission citing the lead applicant details).

Out of scope

This phase of funding will not support:

• sites outside the UK;
• proposals to fund technologies that are not based on CPU or heterogenous architectures;
• teams with no experience of hosting and managing large computer infrastructures;
• teams with no knowledge of and experience of working with the wider UK research ecosystem; and
• sites which cannot credibly demonstrate they can deliver to the above project timelines.