100 likes | 183 Views
Trends in IT Research: Experiences from Katrinebjerg and BRICS. Ivan Damgård, Århus University. Katrinebjerg. A Part of Århus, housing a wide range of IT related activities Started in 1999, backed by local government, University of Århus, several companies. Now includes
E N D
Trends in IT Research: Experiences from Katrinebjerg and BRICS Ivan Damgård, Århus University
Katrinebjerg • A Part of Århus, housing a wide range of IT related activities • Started in 1999, backed by local government, University of Århus, several companies. • Now includes • A science park with 60+ companies including Google, VM data, Bang and Olusen • The CS department • Dept. Of Media sciences • IT dept. of the Engineering school • The Alexandra Institute • Parts of the Architect School
Business, research and education 90+ companies World-class IT research: 250+ scientists Denmark's largest concentration of it students: 1800+ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.000 employees within the IT area in a radius of 10 km
Alexandra InstituteBridge-builder between research and business Innovation • Idea generating, research and development projects Knowledge spreading • Professional networks, consultancy, further education, presentation of research A Private Company, but integrated with the CS Department, physically and ”mentally”
A trend, seen in other places as well: bring lots of IT related activities physically together. • - Does it work? • My opinion: definitely yes. • Gives a boost and inspiration to research • Easier access to knowledge and new employees for companies • Even in the digital age: physical closeness matters!
BRICS Basic Research in Computer Science • Started in 1998 as a Research Center and international PhD school at Aarhus and Aalborg Universities, supported by the Danish National Research Foundation • Originally in the areas of Algorithmics, Complexity, Semantics and Logic. • Today, BRICS is a PhD school covering the entire CS department in Århus (and more). • Activities: PhD education, postdoc positions, guests, seminar series, summer schools, courses,...
History of BRICS – the institution • At first: massive external funding, BRICS almost an institute in its own right. • Over the years: less external funding, more integration with rest of CS dept. Former temporary employees get permanent positions. • Now: BRICS fully integrated in the Aarhus CS dept., Former PhD students get full professorships. Not much external funding specifically for BRICS - but the brand remains!
History of BRICS – the research • At first: large emphasis on basic research. • Over the years: broader coverage of areas overlapping with other parts of CS (prog.lang., web tech), or other sciences (Bio-informatics, Quantum-informatics). • Now: new collaboration across all of CS. Examples: Cryptography – Human/Computer Interaction. Algorithmics – Databases.
Conclusion on Research Trends • More collaboration between different areas in CS, and with other science • More focus on entire solutions, rather than tools for solutions • More integration and fuzzier borders between applied and basic research. • Has basic or applied research suffered? – on the contrary! In my opinion, symbiosis between basic and applied research is the way to stay alive for both.