Barcelona Supercomputing Center hosted the AXLE project’s first General Assembly on 17th and 18th April 2013, and provided an opportunity for all 5 partners to celebrate the achievements made in the first six months of the project. These included procuring most of the hardware needed for the project and the launch of the project website.

With a busy agenda, the conference was a time of partner updates, problem solving sessions and strategising. The partners agreed a strategy of dissemination to provide ongoing information about the project across several media, the first of which was a press release at the end of April which announced the AXLE project to the online database community.

An evening tour of the Casa Batllo (http://www.casabatllo.es – a Gaudi architectural masterpiece) was an excellent backdrop against which the partners could relax and learn more about one another.

And a visit to The Barcelona Supercomputing Center was a great way to start the final day. Very interesting juxtapositioning of massive hardware and religious architecture.

This two day meeting further enhanced partner understanding of the project, and one another, clearly illustrating the power and importance of collaborative projects.