About ICT
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
The Profile Area Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the eight Profile Areas of RWTH Aachen University, which were founded in 2012 as part of the future concept of the University. The ICT Profile Area has its core in Computer Science (CS) and Electrical Engineering (EE) and pools enormous expertise in various research fields of the involved chairs and several institutes in other departments.
The Profile Area is concerned with information technology, that is, the application of computers, embedded and controlling devices and human- as well as computer-assisted information processing to store, retrieve, manipulate, present and understand information in digital form, while using communication technology in a broader sense. ICT is a domain known for rapid development and change of trends while being an integral omnipresent part of everyday life and a key technology in the 21st century.
As a research vision the ICT Profile Area has identified five important research focus areas that are highly relevant for RWTH Aachen University and that have enormous potential to strengthen its strategic position: (1) Artificial Intelligence, (2) Data Science, (3) Dependable Digitization, (4) Next Generation Computing and Communication Platforms and (5) Quantum Computing. Each of these research areas comes with pressing challenges.
The research within the ICT Profile Area has an internationally renowned reputation (as witnessed by multiple ERC grants, several Alexander-von-Humboldt professors and a strong participation in European projects) and is characterized by astrong interdisciplinary character. This reputation is also reflected in various rankings. Collaborations with almost all faculties and all other profile areas at RWTH Aachen University exist. For instance, shaping the RWTH strategic focus area of Computational Life Sciences is a joint activity with the Profile Areas MedST and MSE. The Profile Area made significant contributions to almost all proposed Excellence Clusters of RWTH Aachen University in the last round of the national excellence initiative. This includes successful examples such as IoP and ML4Q.
Within the Steering Committee (SC) the professors Joost-Pieter Katoen, Hendrik Bluhm, Eva-Maria Jacobs, Bastian Leibe, Peter Letmathe, Rainer Leupers, Nils Nießen, Anke Schmeink and Wil van der Aalst represent the expertise of six faculties of RWTH Aachen.