Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT Annual Report 2003
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Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT Annual Report 2003 Mervi Rantanen, Martti Mäntylä, and Heikki Mannila (eds.) Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT Tammasaarenkatu 3, Helsinki, Finland PO BOX 9800 FIN-02015 HUT, Finland Web http://www.hiit.fi e-mail [email protected] Copyright © 2004 by HIIT HIIT Publications 2004-01 ISBN 951-22-7119-2 (printed) ISBN 951-22-7120-6 (electronic) ISSN 1458-9451 (printed) ISSN 1458-946X (electronic) Picaset Oy Helsinki 2004 i Table of Contents 1 HIIT in Brief .......................................................................................................................1 2 Review of Year 2003.........................................................................................................2 2.1 Advanced Research Unit (Professor Martti Mäntylä).................................................2 2.2 Basic Research Unit (Professor Heikki Mannila) .......................................................3 3 Important Dates.................................................................................................................5 4 Research...........................................................................................................................6 4.1 Advanced Research Unit Activities ............................................................................6 4.1.1 Future Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing (Fuego).............................................6 4.1.2 Intelligent Systems............................................................................................10 4.1.3 Media Convergence..........................................................................................15 4.1.4 Digital Economy................................................................................................19 4.2 Basic Research Unit Activities .................................................................................21 4.2.1 Adaptive Computing Systems...........................................................................21 4.2.2 Data Analysis....................................................................................................24 4.2.3 Neuroinformatics...............................................................................................27 4.3 EU-activities .............................................................................................................27 5 Research Training and Research Visits..........................................................................29 5.1 Doctoral Degrees Earned by HIIT Personnel...........................................................29 5.2 Post-graduate Courses Arranged by HIIT................................................................29 5.3 Visits to HIIT.............................................................................................................29 5.4 Visits from HIIT ........................................................................................................30 6 Administration .................................................................................................................31 6.1 Overview ..................................................................................................................31 6.2 Board .......................................................................................................................32 6.3 Scientific Advisory Board .........................................................................................33 6.4 Industrial Advisory Board .........................................................................................33 6.5 Personnel.................................................................................................................34 7 Funding and Costs..........................................................................................................35 7.1 Advanced Research Unit Finances..........................................................................35 7.2 Basic Research Unit Finances.................................................................................36 Appendices.............................................................................................................................37 A Publications.....................................................................................................................37 B List of Personnel .............................................................................................................50 ii 1 HIIT in Brief Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT is a joint research institute of the two leading research universities in Helsinki, the University of Helsinki (UH) and the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT). HIIT was founded in 1999 and has been operational since early 2000. HIIT conducts internationally high-level strategic research in information technology and related multi-disciplinary topics, especially in areas where the Finnish information and communication technology (ICT) industry has or may reach a significant global role. HIIT works in close co-operation with Finnish universities, research institutes, and industry, aiming to improve the contents, visibility, and impact of Finnish IT research to benefit the competitiveness and progress of the Finnish information society. HIIT also aims at creating a strong network of international partnerships with leading foreign research universities and institutions. HIIT is directed by a Board consisting of members from the universities, industry, and HIIT personnel. The Industrial Advisory Board manages the HIIT-industry liaison. The Scientific Advisory Board advises the Board on strategic planning of HIIT’s research directions. HIIT consists of two autonomous units. The Advanced Research Unit (ARU) mainly operates through two- to three-year long industry co-funded research projects. The present projects cover mobile and ubiquitous computing, user experience research, complex system computation, community-based digital content, semantic computing, and digital economy. Professor Martti Mäntylä is the Research Director of the ARU. The Basic Research Unit (BRU) focuses on long-term basic research issues in information technology, including challenges arising in major novel application areas in sciences and engineering. The present research groups work on data analysis, adaptive computing and neuroinformatics. Professor Heikki Mannila is the Research Director of the BRU. The ARU is located in the High Tech Center Helsinki in Ruoholahti, Helsinki. The BRU is located at the premises of the Department of Computer Science of UH in Vallila, Helsinki, and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of HUT in Otaniemi, Espoo. 1 2 Review of Year 2003 2.1 Advanced Research Unit (Professor Martti Mäntylä) The year 2003 was the fourth calendar year of operation of the Advanced Research Unit (ARU). Whereas the previous years were characterised by rapid growth and the launching of various types of activity, the year 2003 was marked by organic development within the already established structure. Yet also a major new form of operation was launched during the year with the first meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board of HIIT, a joint entity of the ARU and the BRU. The meeting provided important guidance and feedback on the work of the entire institute. A more detailed report on the meeting is given in Section 6.3 of this document. Several initiatives launched originally in 2002 and earlier ripened and bore fruit during 2003. A major sample is the Next Generation Information Retrieval (NGIR) line of research launched within the Intelligent Systems research area led by Professor Henry Tirri. The research line is executed in three closely related projects: PROSE funded by the Academy of Finland, Search-in-a-Box (SIB) funded by the National Technology Agency of Finland (Tekes) and companies and ALVIS funded by the Commission of European Communities within its 6th framework programme (prepared during 2003, launched 1.1.2004). This focusing of effort means that the NGIR line of work will shape the entire ARU for years to come. Another new line of research was also established during 2003 with the launching of the Mobile Content Communities (MC2) project under the leadership of Dr. Marko Turpeinen, who had joined HIIT in late 2002. The project is ARU’s first entry in community-oriented computing, and as such an important extension of the themes addressed in the Media Convergence research area. With MC2, also the new Digital Content Communities research group was established in the ARU. NGIR and MC2 demonstrate an important qualitative development in how the ARU conducts its work in that both are executed by consortia covering a wide range of Finnish and international research partners such as University of Tampere (UTA), Helsinki School of Economics, University of California at Berkeley (USA), Media Lab Europe (Ireland), and Tsinghua University (China). In particular, the ALVIS EU project will be executed by a consortium of ten European and one Chinese partner, coordinated by the ARU. Of course, extensive networking with experts elsewhere gives an opportunity for the ARU to focus on its own competences and research groups. EU activities were also otherwise an active thread of ARU’s work throughout the year 2003, in particular participation in the preparation of the MobiLife integrated project coordinated by the Nokia Research Center. The fact that thanks to the experience gained with ALVIS, ARU now possesses the