HEPiX Spring 2026 brings global scientific computing experts to Lisbon
"Lisbon hosted HEPiX Spring 2026, bringing together global experts in scientific computing and research infrastructures."
From 20 to 24 April, Lisbon hosted the HEPiX Spring 2026 Workshop, one of the most important international meetings dedicated to scientific computing and research infrastructure management. The event was organized by LIP and CNCA – National Advanced Computing Centre, and took place at ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon.
Created in 1991, HEPiX (High Energy Physics Information Exchange) regularly brings together information technology specialists, system administrators, engineers, and infrastructure managers from some of the world’s leading scientific laboratories, including CERN, DESY, SLAC, KEK, INFN, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and many others.
Over five days, the workshop brought together dozens of technical presentations and discussion sessions addressing current and future challenges in computing for science, ranging from data storage and high-speed networking to artificial intelligence applied to computing centre operations.
The 2026 edition placed particular emphasis on emerging topics such as:
- infrastructures for the High-Luminosity LHC;
- energy sustainability and data centre efficiency;
- heterogeneous computing using GPUs;
- cloud technologies, virtualization, and Kubernetes;
- security and distributed authentication;
- artificial intelligence applied to the management of scientific computing infrastructures.
The programme also included dedicated sessions on the technological evolution of the WLCG (Worldwide LHC Computing Grid) ecosystem, the use of AI in scientific computing centres, and the impact of new hardware architectures on large-scale scientific data centres.
LIP played an active role throughout the meeting, including presenting the LIP/CNCA infrastructure report to the international HEPiX community during the workshop’s opening session.
Researchers and engineers from LIP also presented several technical contributions developed in Portugal, including:
- Polen, a national platform for scientific data synchronization and sharing developed for the Portuguese research community;
- the EGI software distribution infrastructure, maintained and operated by LIP to support the European scientific computing ecosystem;
- the migration of the CNCA helpdesk system to new modern service management platforms;
- and experiences related to the adoption of Kubernetes technologies and automation of computing infrastructures.
The workshop was also supported by international technology partners including Fujifilm, IBM, and Lenovo/AMD, reflecting the strong connection between scientific research and technological innovation.
Hosting HEPiX in Portugal represents international recognition of the technical and scientific capabilities of LIP and CNCA in advanced computing for science. The meeting also reinforced the growing role of national infrastructures in supporting global scientific projects with highly demanding data processing and management requirements.
In addition to the scientific and technical programme, the event fostered networking and collaboration among participants from institutions across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, strengthening international connections that are essential for the future of scientific computing.