The ICSC – National Research Centre for High Performance Computing, Big Data and Quantum Computing – today, 11 June 2026, inaugurated new systems for high-performance and quantum computing at the CINECA headquarters within the DAMA Tecnopole in Bologna.
LISA, MARCO POLO, GAIA, NOX and SOL are the names of the new machines that expand and complete Italy’s infrastructure for high-performance computing and data analysis. The new systems will contribute to strengthening a platform designed to integrate HPC, Cloud and Quantum Computing, supporting the country’s autonomy in the management and control of big data in the coming years.
The infrastructure was developed thanks to funding for research and innovation provided by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR – NextGenerationEU), with investments exceeding €49 million, and through the European initiative EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. The inauguration ceremony was attended by the Minister of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, the Director-General of DG CONNECT of the European Commission, Roberto Viola, and the President of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Michele de Pascale.
“Thanks to the strategic vision of the MUR and PNRR investments, Italy can rely on the first permanent integrated platform combining HPC, Cloud and quantum computing, capable of strengthening digital sovereignty and supporting the competitiveness of the entire national system,” said Antonio Zoccoli, President of the ICSC National Centre and of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN). “This resource, particularly in light of the current geopolitical and energy instability, is of fundamental importance for Europe’s autonomy in the management and control of big data.”
The five new systems inaugurated today perform complementary roles within the national infrastructure coordinated by ICSC, strengthening the capacity to manage the entire data lifecycle: from data collection and storage to advanced analysis through artificial intelligence and quantum technologies.
Among the main systems inaugurated is LISA, a new “engine” for artificial intelligence developed as an upgrade of the Leonardo supercomputer. Co-funded by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking and the MUR through ICSC, LISA is developed by Bull and is designed to support next-generation models, from large language models to multimodal AI, providing research and industry with one of the most advanced computing capabilities in Europe.
GAIA is a system designed for national-scale HPC cloud management. Developed by E4 Computer Engineering, it represents a key tool to support the digital transformation of research, industry and public administration, enabling the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence technologies.
Within the ICSC ecosystem, LISA and GAIA also play a strategic role in the IT4LIA programme, contributing to the infrastructure that enabled Italy to be selected as host of one of the first European AI Factories.
The most advanced technologies in quantum computing are represented by NOX and SOL, designed to foster integration between classical computing and quantum computing. NOX is a superconducting quantum computer designed to operate in synergy with existing HPC infrastructures, enabling advanced applications in optimisation, simulation and machine learning. SOL, developed by Pasqal within the EuroHPC European programme in collaboration with an international consortium led by CINECA, is a quantum system based on neutral atoms.
Finally, MARCO POLO is a Tier-1 HPC system developed by RICCA IT and E4 Computer Engineering in collaboration with research institutions, universities and public bodies, and will be used in fields ranging from weather forecasting to large-scale scientific data processing.
