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Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential for vast societal and economic gain; yet applications are developed in a largely ad hoc manner, lacking coherent, standardized, modular, and reusable infrastructures. The NSF‐funded Intelligent CyberInfrastructure with Computational Learning in the Environment AI Institute (“ICICLE”) aims to fundamentally advanceedge‐to‐center, AI‐as‐a‐Service, achieved through intelligent cyberinfrastructure (CI) that spans the edge‐cloud‐HPCcomputing continuum,plug‐and‐playnext‐generation AI and intelligent CI services, and a commitment to design for broad accessibility and widespread benefit. This design is foundational to the institute's commitment to democratizing AI. The institute's CI activities are informed by three high‐impact domains:animal ecology,digital agriculture, andsmart foodsheds. The institute's workforce development and broadening participation in computing efforts reinforce the institute's commitment todemocratizing AI. ICICLE seeks to serve asthe national nexus for AI and intelligent CI, and welcomes engagement across its wide set of programs. 

Supercomputers are used to power discoveries and to reduce the time-to-results in a wide variety of disciplines such as engineering, physical sciences, and healthcare. They are globally considered as vital for staying competitive in defense, the financial sector, several mainstream businesses, and even agriculture. An integral requirement for enabling the usage of the supercomputers, like any other computer, is the availability of the software. Scalable and efficient software is typically required for optimally using the large-scale supercomputing platforms, and thereby, effectively leveraging the investments in the advanced CyberInfrastructure (CI). However, developing and maintaining such software is challenging due to several factors, such as, (1) no well-defined processes or guidelines for writing software that can ensure high-performance on supercomputers, and (2) shortfall of trained workforce having skills in both software engineering and supercomputing. With the rapid advancement in the computer architecture discipline, the complexity of the processors that are used in the supercomputers is also increasing, and, in turn, the task of developing efficient software for supercomputers is further becoming challenging and complex. To mitigate the aforementioned challenges, there is a need for a common platform that brings together different stakeholders from the areas of supercomputing and software engineering. To provide such a platform, the second workshop on Software Challenges to Exascale Computing (SCEC) was organized in Delhi, India, during December 13–14, 2018. The SCEC 2018 workshop informed participants about the challenges in large-scale HPC software development and steered them in the direction of building international collaborations for finding solutions to those challenges. The workshop provided a forum through which hardware vendors and software developers can communicate with each other and influence the architecture of the next-generation supercomputing systems and the supporting software stack. By fostering cross-disciplinary associations, the workshop served as a stepping-stone towards innovations in the future. We are very grateful to the Organizing and Program Committees (listed below), the sponsors (US National Science Foundation, Indian National Supercomputing Mission, Atos, Mellanox, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, San Diego Supercomputing Center, Texas Advanced Computing Center), and the participants for their contributions to making the SCEC 2018 workshop a success.