Public Funding for Constelcom Ltd

To move the home care products industry to more resource efficient and sustainable products, a major programme of new ingredient discovery and replacement is required. In SimPol we will specifically target the replacement of petrochemical-derived acrylate rheology control polymers with renewable polymers for use in laundry detergents. Polymer and formulation design are major bottlenecks in innovation for manufactured goods such as laundry detergents. Polymers have multiple variables which can be tailored to change the polymer properties and there can be 20 or more ingredients in a given laundry formulation, any of which may interact in ways which are currently difficult to predict. New polymers also need to biodegrade when released into the environment to avoid undesirable chemical accumulation. SimPol will deploy leading-edge digital methods to help scientists design new functional and biodegradable polymers, and to predict their interactions in laundry detergent formulations. Outcomes from the project will include: 1.Synthesis of candidate renewable polymers which will be tested in formulations to confirm the validity of the digital predictions 2.Packaged digital protocols made available via an App that scientists can use in future polymer development projects 3.A case study of the application of digital tools to new material and formulation design Simpol will impact on the Liverpool City Region manufacturing cluster by developing novel 100% renewable and biodegradable polymers which would be manufactured in the region by Croda at their plant in Ditton, Widnes. These would displace imported acrylate polymers currently used in laundry detergent manufacturing by Unilever at their Port Sunlight factory. SimPol will also leave a powerful legacy, the SimPol App, an easy to use and interface connected to powerful simulation technologies, for further polymer discovery for other applications and products.

ConstelCom is a pioneering UK based SME founded in 2013, with a strong track record in facilitating access to High Performance Computing (HPC), including successful collaborations with large industrial clients and research partners on projects that create insights and value using high performance computing, big data analytics, simulation and modelling. HPC is the practice of getting more out of computing power in a way that delivers much higher performance that one could get out of a typical desktop computer or workstation in order to solve large problems in science, engineering or business. Traditionally, using supercomputers is not as straightforward as using a 'normal' computer. Unless on site, supercomputers need to be accessed remotely and may have complicated file systems, require utilisation of queueing systems in order to submit jobs and often lack a native User Interface (UI), making systems complex to use for the uninitiated. ConstelCom has created Constellation, a web-accessible, collaborative platform which connects HPC centres and users in a private environment, designed to be application agnostic; it is not focused on a particular application or field and can be used for anything that can take advantage of HPC and large storage facilities. The name Constellation has been chosen to reflect the fact that the ultimate goal is to offer an environment or ecosystem encompassing all aspects: people, software, hardware and management tools. HPC is a vital tool in the fight against COVID-19: it is being used to run a myriad of calculations in epidemiology, bioinformatics and molecular modelling, in an effort to drastically cut the time of discovery of new molecules that could lead to treatments and a vaccine. The UK has added more than 20 petaflops of HPC computing capabilities to the global efforts by joining the COVID-19 HPC Computing Consortium \[UKRI, 2020\]. This Innovate UK-supported project will directly contribute to the UK's efforts to "build back greener" by making it easier for 'non-experts' in all fields to access HPC, accelerating innovation across multiple fields, making it more attractive and affordable for businesses to harness formerly elusive HPC services. This speeds up project flow by simplifying connectivity, collaboration and unlocking true supercomputing for all, regardless of applications, organisation size and computing expertise. Specifically, this Innovate UK-supported project will: * Revolutionise the remote access process and software utilisation experience for HPC users * Enable remote 3D visualisation and rendering Project outputs will facilitate pan-industry transition towards remote working (enabling homeworkers to access the full benefits of on-premises HPC from their browser), and support Constellation to become a disruptive platform, that changes the way HPC is used (easier, more flexible and improved collaboration methods from any location).

An investigation of current 3D graphics technologies, data handling algorithms and rendering infrastructure is proposed, to enable remote visualisation of very large datasets from supercomputers.