estonian computer science: how to make it relevant?
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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 PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Entrepreneurial Research University – 16 Sep 2008
Estonian Computer Science: How to Make it Relevant?
Marlon Dumas
Institute of Computer ScienceUniversity of Tartu
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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
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Reality
Disconnect
Theories, models,research methods/artifacts
Computer Science Research
‘Academic’ issues
ITIndustry
Practical solutions
Practical Problems
Moody, D.L. (2000)
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Hurdles for University-Industry Interaction
• Lack of interest / incentives
• Lack of timing
• Lack of awareness
• Lack of credibility
• Lack of capacity
• Lack of alignment
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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!
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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)
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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