Fast-track access

What are fast-track activities?

Fast-track activities are granted a reduced and shared amount of RES resources, including HPC/AI (CPU/GPU) and QUANTUM technologies. This means that jobs submitted by users through this mechanism will enter the machine whenever its workload allows it. 

The RES devotes 5% of its annual capacity to this access mechanism, and activities may request the resources they need up to a fixed limit that depends on each machine. This limit can be checked in the request form itself, at the point of entering the estimate of the resources required. The resource allocation is strict: once the resources have been used, no further resources can be used under any circumstances within this fast-track access. 

Requirements for the fast-track mechanism

As in the various RES calls, the research team must include researchers from European Union institutions, with particular emphasis on the participation of researchers from Spanish institutions.

To be eligible for fast-track access, the applicant must hold a public grant at National (Spain) or European level. Each grant gives access to ONE fast-track activity, and it cannot be used for more than one activity of this type within the same period. 

At the end of the execution period of fast-track activities, a brief results report will be requested to justify the proper use of the resources provided through this mechanism, as well as any problems encountered that may justify low usage. Unjustified poor usage will lead to a penalty consisting of not being able to use this mechanism during the following period. 

What evaluation do these requests undergo, and when can they be submitted?

Activities submitted through this mechanism do not undergo scientific evaluation, since they are backed by a public grant and have limited resources; they only need to pass a formal and technical feasibility evaluation. For this reason, the estimated waiting time is 2 weeks, which may be shorter or longer depending on the workload of the support and application management teams. There is no fixed deadline for fast-track activities, and the call is always open. 

However, these activities are tied to the period under way, so for efficiency reasons we kindly ask you not to submit requests of this type during the last month of a period. For example, if a period ends on 30 November, we kindly ask you not to request this type of access during November and to wait instead for the start of the new period on 1 December.

More information

For precise information on the documentation and information required to apply for RES resources, you can consult the following documents: 

• RES Access Protocol: With all the information you need about access to RES resources
• RES Application Guide: Detailing all the information the user must provide in the application form

If you have any questions about this access mechanism, you can write to applications@bsc.es and our team will resolve them as soon as possible.