Supercomputing and the emergence of digital federalism

Supercomputing has been an integral feature of science policy and programs since the late 20th century. As such, it has extended the capacity for calculation and enhanced the power of simulation. The enormous amount of money spent on high-performance computers implies that these machines are important because they are expensive– the priority given to them stimulates both conspicuous computing and demonstrative government spending. Providing aspecialized scientific community with cutting-edge computational power benefits from centralized resources. Consequently, it seems natural that allocation of these budgets be left to the highest levels of government decision-making. Yet, perhaps surprisingly, this does not mean that federal political systems with many decision levels are automatically handicapped vis-à-vis the development of supercomputing. Our study focusing on the southern part of Germany shows that, historically, supercomputing also developed as an essential cornerstone of digital federalism, an emergent field of technoscientific practice.ISSN:2296-175