The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
The field of data and compute infrastructure covers the systems that collect, store, move, process and preserve data, and the computing capacity that turns data into knowledge. It joins computer engineering, data engineering, networking, physics, energy engineering and governance. It matters because science, public services and risk decisions now depend on it, and because it is concentrated and resource-intensive. This page defines the field and its connections; Data and Compute home links to the topics.
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For field overview, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on night lights, true-colour imagery and population density with true colour from NASA GIBS, framed on the contiguous United States; every other NASA layer, live feed and forecast waits in the layer list.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place; claim ceiling INTEGRATED.
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GeographyFor field overview, in GCRI's spatial-intelligence reading, the map opens on night lights, true-colour imagery and population density with true colour from NASA GIBS, framed on the contiguous United States; every other NASA layer, live feed and forecast waits in the layer list.
The Data and Compute field covers data infrastructure, national computational capacity and advanced computing in service of public knowledge. Experts in it study questions such as public interest data infrastructure and high performance computing, with methods such as high-performance, cloud and edge computing as well as data engineering, interoperability and stewardship. Its counterparts at GRF and GRA look at the same systems through governance and finance.
Fig.How GCRI, GRF and GRA share one field while the authorities decide. Design, not a record.
The working screen behind this subject: its structure, terms and states. Names are placeholders and values illustrative.
Data infrastructure includes the standards, formats, catalogues, storage systems, access controls and networks that let data be found, accessed, combined and reused. Compute infrastructure ranges from edge devices near where data is generated, through institutional clusters and commercial cloud, to national and regional high-performance computing centres. Between them sit pipelines that transform raw data into analysis and record how it was done.
Experts distinguish capacity (how much computing and storage exists), capability (what workloads it can run, such as large simulations or AI training), access (who can use it, on what terms) and dependency (what it needs to keep running, from power to hardware supply chains to skilled staff).
How to match workloads to architectures: CPUs, GPUs and accelerators, cloud, edge and on-premises.
Common formats, metadata and semantics that let data from different sources be used together.
The power and cooling that computing needs, and its effects on grids and water resources.
A country without access to adequate compute may be unable to run its own weather, climate or epidemic models, relying instead on others' analysis. A research team that cannot reproduce a pipeline cannot defend its result. A public authority whose data cannot be shared securely across departments may act on partial evidence. These gaps are uneven across countries and institutions, and they shape who can produce knowledge and who can only consume it.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| High-performance computing | Aggregated computing power, typically clusters with fast interconnects, used for large simulations. |
| Data sovereignty | The principle that data are subject to the governance of the nation or community they relate to. |
| Research infrastructure | Facilities, resources and services used by researchers, often shared across institutions. |
| Systemic risk | Risk arising from the interactions and dependencies within and between systems, where a shock can propagate and threaten the functioning of the whole. |
Within GCRI, the field depends on Energy Nexus for electricity and grid analysis and connects with Cybersecurity and Digital Resilience, which stewards cybersecurity methods, and with Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems. The Energy field gateway shows the energy side.
Data governance and digital rights are convened by The Global Risks Forum (GRF) at AI and Digital Governance. Dependencies and consequences sets out the links in detail.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.