On Wednesday 6 July the chair of the Dutch Research Council (NWO), professor Marcel Levi, received the first copy of the new Strategic Plan 2022-2027 of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands. The Strategic Plan 2022-2027 outlines how CWI wants to realize its vision of advancing the scientific foundations of our digital society and supporting the national mathematics and computer science communities in the coming years.
The Netherlands is one of the most digitalized countries in Europe and even in the world. It is CWI’s mission to continually push back the scientific boundaries required for this digitalization. To align with the present needs of science and society, CWI will focus in the coming years on four areas of fundamental research:
- Algorithms: The digitalization of society and the omnipresence of computers bring new challenges and opportunities for algorithms.
- Data and Intelligent Systems: The growth of data and increasingly complex processes require advances in data management and intelligent autonomous systems.
- Cryptography and Security: The more society digitalizes, the more important it becomes to guarantee the security and privacy of all digital information and its processing.
- Quantum Computing: The development of quantum computer hardware simultaneously requires the development of quantum computing algorithms and software.
In the coming years, CWI will also strengthen its national role for the mathematics and computer science communities in three ways:
Being a meeting place for research and cooperation: hosting joint research activities and providing opportunities for researchers to attend national seminars, participate in semester programmes, the possibility to spend sabbaticals at CWI, and meet with national and international colleagues and with partners in industry.
Contributing to academic teaching: CWI researchers will spend on average ten percent of their working time on educational activities, such as transferring their expertise in university courses and supervising MSc students.
Attracting, developing and retaining talent: CWI already has a tenure track system and a phased career path for talented young researchers. On top of this, we intend to develop concrete plans to attract, develop and promote scientific talent in cooperation with Dutch universities.
CWI director Ton de Kok looks forward to realizing the new ambitions: “I am convinced that CWI, with its track record of international scientific excellence, societal impact and providing a breeding ground for talent in the Dutch mathematics and computer science communities, will enter an inspiring new phase in the next five years. We will do so in close cooperation with researchers from these communities, and we will inspire each other during workshops, meetings and sabbaticals at CWI.”
