Since January 2023, the Bernoulli Institute of the University of Groningen (UG) has become a full partner of 4TU.NIRICT. As a result, the 4TU.NIRICT Community has been expanded with an institute from a 5th university, so when talking about the 4TU.NIRICT Community or a 4TU.NIRICT affiliated university, the Bernoulli Institute of University of Groningen is part of it.
4TU.NIRICT
4TU.NIRICT is the Netherlands Institute for Research on ICT and comprises all ICT research of the universities of technology in the Netherlands. ICT is a very broad field in which 4TU.NIRICT focuses on the interface between Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
To fully realize the potential of ICT to the benefit of society and industry, it is important to bring EE and CS researchers together. That’s why NIRICT actively stimulates the interaction between, and cooperation of, researchers, educators, and practitioners in the areas of EE and CS, as well as contact with other disciplines. This will be done by means of community building activities such as our annual community day and call for community funding.
NIRICT also strives to create a unified ICT community that can contribute to the social challenges we face as a Dutch society. With the DEI (Diversity-Equity-Inclusion) fund, NIRICT wants to support projects to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in the 4TU ICT community.
Besides this, NIRICT also recognizes and values the role of young scientists in our institutions. NIRICT is closely cooperating with the ICT Next Generation (ICTng) to create awareness of the importance of an active and well-equipped next generation of young scientists.
The Bernoulli Institute
The Bernoulli Institute (BI) is the only research and education institute in the Netherlands that combines mathematics, computer science and artificial intelligence. BI's mission is to conduct excellent academic research and education in the areas traditionally covered by the three disciplines; making a contribution to society in the broadest sense of the word; transferring its results to other fields of science and technology and initiating and expanding inter- and multidisciplinary research collaborations. The BI is embedded in the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) of the University of Groningen (UG). Being inside BI there are groups that focus on purely fundamental scientific questions. Different groups within the BI, however, also deal with purely technical subjects (e.g. software engineering, computer architecture), while other groups deal with interfaces between basic science and engineering
What will the collaboration look like?
As of January, the Management Team of NIRICT has been expanded with a member from Groningen; Vasilios Andrikopoulos. He is associate professor at the Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence of the University of Groningen and a member of the Software Engineering and Research (SEARCH) Group. The Management Team of NIRICT welcomes Vasilios and wishes him success with his new role as MT member.
In addition to being part of the management team, UG will also contribute to strengthening the NIRICT Community by means of community building activities such as participating in the various calls and co-organizing the annual community day. Thanks to the collaboration, the calls are also distributed internally in Groningen. As a result, researchers at the UG can also submit project proposals and enter into partnerships with the 4TUs, thereby expanding and strengthening the community.
The annual community day is a good opportunity to network and get to know 4TU colleagues. In 2022 some colleagues from UG also participated but starting from this year they will also co-organize this event.
UG will also participate in sponsoring ICT.OPEN, the largest gathering for the ICT research community in the Netherlands, and Master and PhD students from UG will also have the opportunity to participate in the European Innovation Academy at the expense of NIRICT.
Like the 4TU, UG also recognizes and values the role of young scientists in our institutions. That is why UG would like to cooperate with NIRICT to create awareness of the importance of an active and well-equipped next generation of young scientists and facilitate them were possible.
Expected benefits of this collaboration:
NIRICT has a strong focus on ICT research and covers a broad ICT spectrum. Therefor there is a lot of synergy with UG. The BI focuses on various aspects of Systems Engineering on the complexity of systems. The BI is one of the leading players in the Center for Cognitive Systems and Materials, which combines hardware, software, and AI for the next generation of neuromorphic computing – this is a good addition to the 4TU's expertise in computer science and electrical engineering.
The UG, through its Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence and the Engineering and Technology institute Groningen (ENTEG), is able to significantly contribute to NIRICT's mission of addressing ICT challenges in the context of a connected world. In a wide array of projects and educational activities across multiple disciplines, researchers and educators in these institutes work daily together with practitioners towards developing solutions for these challenges. Bringing this expertise into NIRICT further fortifies its already significant position in the Netherlands. Furthermore, with the UG joining NIRICT, the opportunities for collaborations, knowledge sharing, and community building multiply for both sides. 4TU.NIRICT and the UG can reinforce each other in organizing joint activities, because they can appeal to a larger group of researchers and jointly cover an even broader research field, thereby increasing the impact of ICT research in the Netherlands.