The University of Edinburgh said its ARCHER2 UK national supercomputer has delivered an eightfold return on investment to the UK economy, citing an independent report by London Economics.

The university said independent analysis of the economic impact of ARCHER2, hosted by EPCC at the University, shows it has enabled more than £4.2 billion in benefits to the UK economy over its five-year operational period.

This is equivalent to a return of £8.30 for every £1 of public funding since launching in 2021 when compared to costs of £100 million to build the supercomputer and £400 millio of research funding.

The majority of the economic benefits – about £3.7 billion – are attributed to academic research and development (R&D) undertaken on ARCHER2.

“These benefits arise through activities such as knowledge transfers and the commercialisation of research conducted using ARCHER2 or by facilitating subsequent private sector R&D, the report authors say,” said the university.

“Further economic benefits of around £517m stem from the formation of spinout companies, the creation of new products and services, and firms benefitting from staff trained in computational R&D moving into industry …

“ARCHER2 enables modelling of the world around us that would otherwise be impossible to study using experiments. These include simulations of climate change impacts, how well new drugs might work and the performance of jet engines.

“The independent report by London Economics, which was commissioned by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), details the significant scientific impacts of ARCHER2.

“The analysis identified more than 2,100 publications, spanning 20 different fields of research, that were enabled through the use of ARCHER2. In total, the publications involved researchers from more than 1,100 different institutions in 88 countries.”

ARCHER2 was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), both part of UKRI.

The analysis of ARCHER2’s economic and scientific impact follows the announcement in June 2025 that the UK’s next national supercomputer will also located at EPCC at the University of Edinburgh.

The investment of up to £750 million in the new supercomputer “represents a huge endorsement of the University and its future as a world-leader in supercomputing and AI, recognising the strength and value of Edinburgh’s expertise built over the past 40 years,” said the university.

EPCC was named the UK’s first National Supercomputing Centre in July 2025.