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As part of the growing partnership promoted by the HANAMI project, a delegation from the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC-CNS) visited RIKEN-CCS in Kobe, Japan, from May 28th to 30th, 2025. The visit included the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two institutions and a series of scientific and technical events highlighting collaborative advances between Europe and Japan.

The BSC Director, Mateo Valero, and RIKEN-CCS Director, Satoshi Matsuoka, formalised the MoU renewal, extending their collaboration for another three years after a successful initial period involving nearly all BSC departments. The signing ceremony was attended by Japanese and Catalan authorities, including President Illa.

One of the key events was a technical workshop dedicated to the HANAMI project, held on May 29th. The workshop gathered scientists from diverse fields—Life Sciences, Earth Sciences, and Social Sciences—for flash talks, breakout sessions, and in-depth discussions on future collaboration opportunities.

In parallel breakout sessions, new collaboration pathways were identified. These included incorporating Japan’s SCALE framework into HANAMI workflows, exploring novel atmospheric model cores using icosahedral grids, and investigating generative AI for scientific code generation. Tools such as RAPTOR and TADASHI, developed at RIKEN, also sparked interest from BSC researchers for potential performance optimisations in climate modelling software.
 
“This workshop has been the perfect occasion to share challenges and ideas and create stronger bonds between Japanese and European researchers. New collaborations and new tools will stem from this event, based on the discussion we had during the event”, said Marco Ruscone’s report from the Life Science track of the HANAMI project.
 
The visit also included presentations organised by ACCIÓ Tokyo, featuring contributions from Japanese industry (e.g., Fujitsu) and Catalan industry (Openchip). Private meetings between leadership at BSC and RIKEN-CCS discussed future initiatives, such as the co-organisation of the upcoming SCA26 and HPCA26 conferences and further strengthening ties between Japan and EuroHPC. These efforts mark a step toward a formal association between Japan and EuroHPC, a goal shaped by years of collaboration now formally recognised through the HANAMI project.
 
During a dedicated AI Agent hackathon following the HANAMI workshop in Kobe, BSC researchers Marco Ruscone and Miguel Vazquez worked alongside RIKEN colleagues such as Eliot Jacopin to present and further develop tools like “Hatchling!” — a Multimodal Communication Protocol (MCP) framework designed to enable intelligent AI agents to interact with complex scientific software. Originally conceived at the TPC Winter Hackathon in March 2025, Hatchling!” aims to unify Boolean network modelling (MaBoSS) and agent-based modelling (PhysiCell) for advanced biological simulations. The hackathon saw significant improvements in Hatchling! ‘s usability and integration capabilities. “Our work in Kobe took a major step forward thanks to the international cooperation enabled by HANAMI”, said Miguel Vázquez.
 
The following steps include continued remote development and preparation for public demonstrations of ongoing work at upcoming TPC and HANAMI events.