High-performance computing in universities has a brain drain

An exodus of talent to the private sector threatens to undermine research, says Owen Thomas

In many ways, the flow of expertise in high-performance computing (HPC) from UK universities to the private sector is something to celebrate. 

Working in public-sector research and education gives people cutting-edge knowledge and transferable skills in areas such as parallel computing and the optimisation of complex algorithms. These skills are valuable in corporate environments where big data analysis and computational modelling are becoming crucial.