estonian computer science: how to make it relevant?

15
Entrepreneurial Research University – 16 Sep 2008 Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant? Marlon Dumas Institute of Computer Science University of Tartu

Upload: ehren

Post on 18-Jan-2016

42 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?. Marlon Dumas Institute of Computer Science University of Tartu. Dream. IMPACTING Inspiration Research Findings. CS/IT Research. IT Practice. UNDERSTANDING Inspiration Empirical Evidence. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

Entrepreneurial Research University – 16 Sep 2008

Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

Marlon Dumas

Institute of Computer ScienceUniversity of Tartu

Page 2: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

2

Dream

CS/IT Research IT Practice

IMPACTINGInspiration

Research Findings

UNDERSTANDINGInspiration

Empirical Evidence

Based on Moody, D.L. (2000): Building Links Between IS Research and Professional Practice

Page 3: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

3

Reality

Disconnect

Theories, models,research methods/artifacts

Computer Science Research

‘Academic’ issues

ITIndustry

Practical solutions

Practical Problems

Moody, D.L. (2000)

Page 4: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

4

Hurdles for University-Industry Interaction

• Lack of interest / incentives

• Lack of timing

• Lack of awareness

• Lack of credibility

• Lack of capacity

• Lack of alignment

Page 5: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

5

Issue 1: Fragmentation

• Estonia is too small to have institutes that compete among them

• IT is global, our “competitors” are outside Estonia!• Duplication of efforts is not viable!

Page 6: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

6

Issue 2: Lack of Research Talent Pipeline

• Full employment in IT few PhD students fewer PhD graduates no postdocs

• High teaching loads for junior academics• Low salaries in EU terms• Lack of “tenure” system or

similar incentives for ECRs

Page 7: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

7

Issue 3: Misalignment with Industry

• Misalignment between “traditional” research themes and industry’s evolution

• Little research capacity in:– Software Engineering– Internet Technology– Information Systems

• Limited use-inspired research

Page 8: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

8

Lack of International Visibility

• Estonian CS research ranks very low in terms of bibliometric indicators– Google scholar citations: One computer scientist in

Finland has more citations than top 30 in Estonia.

source: http://research.cyber.ee/~lipmaa/cites/ – ISI citations: One computer scientist in Finland has

more citations than top 12 in Estonia.

source: ISI Web of Knowledge

Page 9: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

9

Estonian CS Research: SWOT Analysis

StrengthsAwareness of the current situation

Pockets of excellence in some areas

Strong academic culture

Open doors for cross-disciplinary research

WeaknessesFragmentation

Lack of talent pipeline

Lack of capacity in key areas

Lack of use-inspired research culture

Lack of international visibility

OpportunitiesEU membership wealth of funding and collaboration opportunities

Government commitment to develop Estonia’s IT profile

Small size easier to collaborate

ThreatsPotential PhD students attracted abroad

Continued loss of awareness / credibility vis-à-vis of industry

Reduced funding due to economic slowdown

Page 10: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

10

EXCS: Estonian Centre of Excellence in Computer Science (EXCS)

• National centre of excellence 2008-2015 funded mainly by EU Structural Funds (EUR 4.5 mil.)

• Led by TTU’s Institute of Cybernetics, with Cybernetica AS and University of Tartu

• 43 senior staff, around 50 research students

Page 11: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

11

EXCS Objectives

1. To consolidate and advance the Estonian CS research in six focus areas driven by cross-institutional research groups

2. To increase the awareness and impact of CS research results in academia, industry and society.

Page 12: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

12

Areas of competencies

TechnologyTheory

Machine learning

Cryptography

Applications

Natural language processing

Scientific computing

Programming language semantics

InformationSecurity

Embedded real-time systems

Bioinformatics

Knowledge Engineering

Software Engineering

Information Systems

Distributed Systems

Software verification

Intelligent systems

Page 13: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

13

EXCS Planned Actions

• Recruitment of ~ 8 postdocs and 12 junior researchers

• Organization of high-level scientific events• Funding of international cooperation projects.• Funding of technology transfer & contact days for

industry• Contribution to policy-making• Popularization: media coverage, popular books.

Page 14: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

14

First Industry-Academia Event

• Symposium on Innovative Software Technology, Tartu 27-28 October 2008

• Free registration (limited numbers)• http://sep.cs.ut.ee/index.php?n=Main.IST2008

Monday 27 October Tuesday 28 October

Business Mashups(Stefan Tai – University of Karlsruhe)

Agile Methods & Enterprise Architecture(Bartek Kiepuzsewski – Cutter Consortium)

Cloud Computing(Stefan Tai)

Business Process Modeling (Arthur ter Hofstede, QUT, Australia)

Rich Internet Applications Open-Source Workflow Management(Arthur ter Hofstede)

Page 15: Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?

15

Open Issues

• Lack of incentives for university-industry links– No scheme for industry linkage projects– No tax incentive for companies– No incentive for researchers

• Lack of research quality incentives– Government funding available almost to everybody

anyway– University research funding not sufficiently tied to

research quality or impact