On December 11 und 12, 2018, the partners of the original POP CoE -- Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC), High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS), Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC), Numerical Algorithms Group Ltd (NAG), Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH), and Ter@tec, as well as the two new members for the second phase of the project -- IT4Innovations (IT4I) and University of Versailes Saint-Quentin (UVSQ) -- met in sunny Barcelona for the kick-off meeting for the second round of funding for the POP CoE. The second phase will run from Decemeber 2018 to November 2021.

After the introduction by the coordinator, Prof. Jesús Labarta, the eight work packages of the project were discussed by the work package leaders:

• WP1: Management (BSC)
• WP2: Business Development and Sustainability (NAG)
• WP3: Customer Advocacy (Ter@tec)
• WP4: Dissemination, Cooperation, and Training (JSC)
• WP5: Performance Assessments (BSC)
• WP6: Proof-of-Concept (HLRS)
• WP7: Co-design Activities (BSC) [NEW]
• WP8: Tools and Methodology (RWTH) [NEW]