This study benchmarks the U.S. aerospace, automotive, bio-life sciences and energy industries’ use of high performance computing (HPC) to drive innovation for global competitiveness. It is the first study to attempt to do this and to understand how deeply within each industry’s supply chain HPC has been embraced.

The most noteworthy finding was that U.S. tier 1 energy firms are outpacing other U.S. industries in integrating HPC into critical business functions. The most unexpected finding was that few suppliers to U.S. tier 1 companies in the surveyed industries use HPC (or even desktop workstations) today.

This first-ever broad industry survey examines why companies have not made the switch from desktop PCs and workstations to more powerful high performance computers, given their proven competitive benefits.

Medrad, a provider of drug delivery systems, MRI imaging accessories and catheters, had purchased patents for a promising interventional catheter device to mechanically remove blood clots associated with a stroke. Breaking with a long tradition of building numerous physical prototypes to research the potential of a new technology, Medrad turned to the NSF-funded Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, experts at Carnegie Mellon University and the use of complex numerical simulations running on high performance computers to determine if the catheter technology was worth pursuing. It was.

To improve the freshness of its Folgers® coffee and reduce the costs of packaging, researchers at Procter & Gamble decided to switch from a metal can to a plastic container. However, they ran into a number of problems related to gas build up inside the containers, fluctuations caused by changes in atmospheric pressure during shipment and a problem associated with the coffee cans imploding while being trucked to their destination. This latter problem almost caused the entire research project to fail. The group used high performance computing both to solve their problems in a timely fashion, and provide the company with a competitive advantage as well.

To advance the state of the art of its proprietary photochromic technology used in Transitions® eyewear and speed its time-to-market, PPG Industries enlisted the help of high performance computing. Advancing photochromic technology, which allows lenses to change from clear to dark and block harmful ultraviolet rays, involves complex modeling and simulation of molecules at the atomic and quantum levels. By enlisting the help of the NSF-funded Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center and its powerful high performance computing capabilities, PPG’s R&D organization was able to rapidly create the next generation of photochromic dyes, and move out in front of its competition.

Researchers at the Salk Institute are using supercomputers at the nearby NSF-funded San Diego Supercomputer Center to investigate how the synapses of the brain work. Their research has the potential to help people suffering from mental disorders such as Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia and manic depressive disorders. In addition, the use of supercomputers is helping to change the very nature of biology—from a science that has relied primarily on observation to a science that relies on high performance computing to achieve previously impossible in-depth quantitative results.

To conduct leading edge astrophysical research, educate the public, and create its spectacular and highly popular shows based on real science, the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium augments its own computing with the extensive supercomputer capabilities available through the National Science Foundation high performance computing Centers, such as the San Diego Supercomputer Center.