At “easyHPC” we aim at the digital and ecological transformation of the plastics and packaging industry in Greece. We want to create an open and viral ecosystem, where people can meet, communicate, acquire skills, and respond to industrial challenges or market impulses through open innovation, agility, experimentation, and co-development. We aspire to pave the way to industrial advancement, resilience, and green footprint reduction.
“easyHPC” means for us ‘easy’, ‘digestible’, ‘flexible’, ‘awareness creation’. ‘HPC’ comes from “High Performance Computing”. The fundamental principle underpinned easyHPC@eco.plastics.industry, as it is the integral name of the Hub, is the application of supercomputing (HPC) based strategies for Industry 4.0, combined with infrastructure adjustment, high scientific and technological training, advanced knowledge, and pioneering simulation algorithms developed by leading Greek Research Laboratories.
In the plastics industry, the material itself is the major problem to face, as it does not follow standard and conventional processing rules (industry 4.0 cannot effectively work as a ready to buy black box). Thus, from a rheological perspective, one needs high research and technological competence to handle plastics materials in product design and process development. In this sense, the global experience has shown that HPC simulations and modelling at the Molecular, Mesoscopic, and Macroscopic level, are the most advanced solutions to manage production parameters and conditions to achieve quality and avoid waste. This phenomenon scales up when one comes to the use of bio-based and recycled materials with unknown properties or non-uniform behaviour, which differ significantly from those of original, unprocessed polymers. Furthermore, as EU and society press for sustainability and green growth (consider the microplastics problem at sea and air), modelling and simulated design are of paramount importance.
“easyHPC” has its headquarters in Patras, Greece with a national geographical scope. It is a triangular collaborative initiative between several Labs from the Departments of Chemical & Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics and Educational Sciences at the University of Patras and the University of Piraeus, Patras Science Park (PSP) a leading regional incubator and ecosystem supporter for innovative start-ups, and the Association of Greek Manufacturers of Packaging and Materials (AGMPM) that represents a large number of manufacturers alongside the whole plastics materials value chain, products and applications used in our day‑life.
“easyHPC” has the support of leading European Plastics Innovation Competence Centers, as well as other related industry organizations such as the ‘Plastics Recyclers Europe’, the ‘Association οf Greek Soft Drinks Industries’, or the ‘Federation of Hellenic Food Industries’. “easyHPC” already collaborates with other four leading EDIHs in similar and complementary fields of expertise.