Energy efficiency and sustainability of AI data processing in Data Centres (IA)

Worum geht es in dieser Ausschreibung?

The topic funds innovation pilots and an open demonstration site that make AI data processing in data centres more energy-efficient, from chip cooling to waste-heat reuse. It is relevant to data centre operators, technology providers and researchers.

Was fördert diese Ausschreibung?

Scope

The topic funds pilots of new technologies and an open demonstration site for energy-efficient and sustainable AI data processing in data centres. Development areas include:

• direct on-chip cooling and multi-scale thermal management;
• energy-efficient power backup and storage, such as graphene-enhanced batteries and supercapacitors;
• sustainable data centre architectures and AI workload optimisation, including carbon-aware scheduling and heat capture and reuse;
• use of materials research for energy efficiency and thermal management;
• AI solutions to optimise data centre operation and reduce its footprint;
• integration of data centres into energy systems and the wider region.

Structure of the topic

Some projects address the technology outcomes (cooling, backup power, whole-site optimisation), each showcasing results in at least two use cases. A separate project sets up an open pilot demonstration site that combines and benchmarks the results of the other projects and serves as a European reference for the data centre industry.

Expected outcomes

Better heat removal from high-power AI chips, low-cooling backup power, optimised whole-site energy use, and demonstrated improvements in power usage effectiveness and reuse of waste heat.

Technology readiness

Activities start at TRL 6-7 and reach TRL 8.

Wann endet die Einreichungsfrist?

18. März 2027 (132 Tage)

18 March 2027 (single-stage submission).