News — CWI Amsterdam

CWI DIS Group awarded EU Worth Project Funding

CWI's Distributed & Interactive Systems Group (DIS) has been awarded a grant for a project by the EU's WORTH Partnership Project.

Cryptographic security at the speed of light

When people who distrust each other want to securely cooperate, they can use cryptographic 'commitment schemes'. Max Fillinger (CWI) designed and analyzed relativistic commitment schemes. He defends his PhD thesis 'Bit-Commitments: Classical, Quantum and Non-Signaling' on 19 March.

CWI spin-off company Dataspex offers solutions to big data challenges in astronomy

Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) has launched a new spin-off: Dataspex. The new company offers big data management solutions to astronomers.

Steven Pemberton in Nieuwsuur TV on Web@30

To celebrate 30 years since Tim Berners-Lee's proposal for the World Wide Web, an anniversary event is webcast on 12 March. In the Netherlands, CWI Web pioneer Steven Pemberton was interviewed by Nieuwsuur. It was broadcast on national TV on 8 March.

Monique Laurent member of Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities

Researcher and MT member Monique Laurent (CWI and UvT) has been invited to become a member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen – KHMW) in Haarlem, the oldest academic society in the Netherlands.

Evaluation committee says institutes system at Academy and NWO has significant added value

An independent committee has evaluated the portfolio of Dutch national research institutes, including CWI. The committee concludes that these institutes increase the effectiveness of Dutch scientific endeavour.

CWI and Dassault Systèmes start PPS project to improve supply chain technology

CWI and Dassault Systèmes recently started a collaboration in the field of optimization technology for businesses.

Plasma for Plants technology project granted

Recently researchers from CWI and TU/e were awarded an OTP technology grant to understand the effect of plasma on plants.

New insights from reconstructing the first ALGOL 60 system

Gauthier van den Hove (CWI) reconstructed and analyzed the first ALGOL 60 system, a computer system designed and implemented at the Mathematical Centre (MC), now CWI. On 15 February he defends his PhD thesis, which has a foreword written by the famous computer science pioneer Donald Knuth.

Demo prize for Steven Pemberton at XML Prague

Steven Pemberton (CWI) won the Demo Prize at XML Prague for his demonstration ‘A Clock in XForms’. XForms is a web technology and W3C standard, co-designed by Pemberton, originally intended for handling forms on the web. XForms reduces the time needed to design an application by a factor of ten.

Bosch and QuSoft start quantum computing collaboration

Recently, a research collaboration has begun between QuSoft and the Bosch Group. Researchers will investigate potential quantum computing use cases at Bosch, with a focus on applications in engineering and AI/machine learning fields.

CWI research leads to better understanding of AI classification errors

The future of artificial intelligence (AI) looks bright, but AI is not infallible. In her PhD thesis, CWI researcher Emma Beauxis-Aussalet provides methods to make classification errors more transparent and understandable for end-users with limited expertise in AI.

CWI develops models for prevention and reduction of traffic jams

Daphne van Leeuwen of CWI’s Stochastics group focused on the following research question during her PhD: How to design effective control mechanisms to reduce or prevent congestion road networks in the omnipresence of uncertainty?

Tim Baarslag selected for ‘FD Young Talents 2019’

Tim Baarslag of CWI’s Intelligent and Autonomous Systems group has been selected by the Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad (FD) as one of the most promising Young Talents of 2019.

CWI researcher Fredrik Jansson in Science Robotics on robot swarms

Hundreds of small robots can work in a team to create biology-inspired shapes without an underlying master plan, purely based on local communication and movement. This research was published in Science Robotics, with Fredrik Jansson, currently working at CWI, as one of the co-authors.

CWI joins ESCAPE project to build European Open Science Cloud

CWI will participate in the ESCAPE project, which is part of the effort to build a European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), which will allow universal access to scientific data through a single online platform.

Best Early-Researcher Paper Award for Tim Baarslag

Tim Baarslag of CWI's Intelligent and Autonomous Systems group has been awarded with the "Best Early-Researcher Paper Award" at the Agreement Technologies (AT2018) conference in Bergen, Norway.

CWI, EIT Digital, Spirit, and UPM launch Innovation Activity ''G-Moji' - an impressive smartphone application to improve lives of youth at risk

Dutch youth care organization Spirit, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), join forces in the new innovation activity of EIT Digital.

Marie Curie ITN grant awarded to POEMA network

Recently, the EU awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN) grant for POEMA – ‘Polynomial Optimization, Efficiency through Moments and Algebra’. The consortium consists of 14 academic and industrial partners, such as CWI, Tilburg University, Inria and IBM.

CWI develops new techniques for modular programming languages

The development of domain specific languages requires highly specialized skills. CWI PhD student Pablo Inostroza Valdera proposes to develop them by composing language fragments from software libraries, which makes this activity less laborious. He defends his PhD thesis at the UvA on 29 November 2018.

Florian Speelman wins Andreas Bonn medal 2018

Florian Speelman (CWI & QuSoft) was awarded an Andreas Bonn medal 2018 from the GNGH, the Dutch Society for the Advancement of Science, Medicine and Surgery, for his thesis 'Position-based Quantum Cryptography and Catalytic Computation'. The three medals are presented once every five years for original work.

CWI celebrates 30 year of open internet in Europe

On Saturday, November 17 at 2.28 pm it is exactly thirty years ago since the Netherlands was the first country in Europe to be connected to the Internet.

Two awards for CWI SWAT / INRIA collaboration at SLE 2018

Last week Tijs van der Storm and Thomas Degueule of CWI's SWAT group were awarded with two prizes at ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Software Language Engineering (SLE) in Boston, Massachussets.

Renowned scientists and policy advisors speak at CWI Lectures on Privacy and Security

Our privacy, a fundamental right, is threatened by surveillance and smart algorithms. Can our privacy be salvaged from 'intelligent' machines? During the CWI Lectures 2018 four renowned scientists and policy advisors discuss the state of the art in protecting privacy. Keynote speakers: Marc Rotenberg (USA), Jan Camenisch (Switzerland), Adam Smith (USA) and Ed Felten (USA), former advisor of Barack Obama.

Best Paper award for Tim Baarslag and Michael Kaisers

Tim Baarslag and Michael Kaisers of CWI's Intelligent & Autonomous Systems group have been awarded the Best Paper award at the IEEE International Conference on Communications, Control, and Computing Technologies for Smart Grids.

CWI and Stichting 113 use data analytics for suicide prevention

Foundation 113 aims at a society in which nobody dies lonely or desperate because of suicide. To achieve this goal, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) and Foundation 113 suicide prevention have recently started a research collaboration.

Cum laude for PhD thesis on advancing theory of lower bounds for multiplying matrices faster

Jeroen Zuiddam (CWI) developed new mathematical instruments to study the problem of multiplying large matrices fast. He defends his PhD thesis ‘Algebraic complexity, asymptotic spectra and entanglement polytopes’ at the UvA on 23 October. He received a 'cum laude' predicate.

CWI and its role in the digitizing society

Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica has published its Strategic Plan 2019-2024. In it, CWI presents the research themes and topics the institute will focus on in the coming years and its ambition to further expand its impact.

WISE programme: four Tenure Track positions for talented female scientists at NWO institutes

CWI participates in NWO’s WISE programme (Women In Science Excel), which provides - in 2019 - four Tenure Track positions for talented female scientists, with an opportunity to develop or expand their own research group at one of NWO's institutes.

Reinforcing the electricity grid with Evolutionary Algorithms

In our modern daily life, many activities require electricity, for example, the use of domestic appliances, manufacturing, communication, and transportation. It is therefore essential to maintain a reliable supply of electricity to ensure the operation of such activities.