European consortium gets €2.8 million for GPU research

A European games consortium dedicated to low power, high performance GPUs has received a €2.8 million grant from the EU commission.

Codeplay, Geomerics, AiGameDev and Think Silicon are working together to develop a new generation of GPUs, along with TU-Berlin and Uppsala University.

"We are delighted the EU has recognised the need to invest in the future of consumer technology," said Codeplay CEO Andrew Richards.

"This project will have real tangible, practical benefits and our ambition is that it will allow Europe to take the lead in the development of the next generation of low power high performance mobile and videogame graphics technology."

The group's plans include development to create more power efficient GPUs, to create apps for lighting and AI, and to aid software developers by providing an analysis framework.

"European companies lead in the design of mobile phone CPUs and GPUs, and are world leaders in videogame technology. These companies need to make large investments in R&D for graphics, for which it is vital that they have reliable information"

"To date there has been little academic research in this area. R&D has previously been dominated by high performance programming in sectors such as aerospace, medicine and energy. This project will help to redress that balance by delivering advances in graphics applications, tools and hardware for consumer devices."

The research will take place over the next three years.