Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science

The physical and digital worlds are merging and radically changing our living environment, where individuals and organizations experience an increasing need for shared knowledge and communication: in this context, cross sector professionals and disciplines are more and more in demand. The Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science (DISI) provides a dynamic and qualified response to the ever-increasing demands for cutting-edge skills in the field of ICT, drawing from a productive environment at the local, national and international level. Our Department explores all the main topics of information technology and engineering while ensuring balance between the individual disciplines and broad interdisciplinary areas. A wide educational offer, with ties to industry, research centers and top universities all over the world, makes DISI an international environment where researchers and lecturers share knowledge and transfer advanced skills to students and next generation professionals. The Department focuses on two main areas of information and communication technology: - Computer Science - Information Engineering These disciplines are taught in dedicated courses, but lecturers emphasize the interdisciplinarity of certain topics or approaches. This gives DISI the opportunity to integrate the full spectrum of competencies to develop advanced technologies that are crucial for innovative applications and services. Our faculty members are highly productive researchers and international leaders in their respective fields. They have authored widely used software, patents and textbooks, have received national and international awards, have organized international conferences, and some of them are successful business professionals. In short, professors, researchers and PhD students at DISI are open-minded people who generate new ideas and services, fuelling the future of ICT. Research conducted at DISI frequently receives coverage on national and international media and has a positive impact on the research community in industrial, economic and social terms. It takes advantage of the complementarity of different academic areas to develop innovative methods and advanced technologies, applications and services. Our research work, which counts on a network of connection at international level, has three main objectives: frontier research, knowledge transfer, and technology transfer. To achieve these goals, the research activity of the Department is organized in different research programs, which sum up the three organizational dimensions of strategic research at DISI: methodological research – that generates and disseminates theory within the scientific community; technological areas - where complementary methodologies combine to create application-oriented technologies; and application labs - where researchers collaborate with industrial partners, research centers, and end-users to demonstrate the feasibility of advanced solutions and create new technology transfer solutions. For further information, please contact: comm@disi.unitn.it

The objective of the Master of Science in Computer Science is to form professionals and researchers with both theoretical and practical knowledge. Theory and lab classes rotate during the all course of studies. That is the reason why the Computer Science graduated finds a job quickly (two months, if not before ending the studies - source Almalaurea); this happens not by chance but because Computer Science jobs are on the top 5 list of the most wanted specialists in Italy. The Computer Science course at the University of Trento offers some specific features, which makes it unique compared to similar courses of other Italian Universities; the standards of UniTN Computer Science courses are comparable to the standards of prestigious European and worldwide universities. A strong drive toward Internationalization is one of the key factor that distinguishes Computer Science at UniTN. The Computer Science course offers the opportunity to enter the Double Degree Programme in the frame of the EIT Digital Master School; the student will spend one year in Italy and one year at the Partner University and, at the end the programme, he/she will obtain two Degrees recognized by both institutions and both Countries. The connections with the industry is very close; just to mention IBM, which comes on a yearly basis to proffer their cutting edge products, and Microsoft, which has founded in Trento the only Bioinformatics research center of Italy. The educational offer is organized into two curricula: - Scienze e Tecnologie Informatiche - ICT Innovation On the whole, the two curricula are divided into 7 possible specialization areas (the last four are offered only for the first curriculum): - design and engineering; - security; - embedded systems; - bioinformatics & semantics; - internet technology; - information processing; - data management.

The ICT International Doctoral School was founded in 2001 and the official language is English. The doctorate programme delivers the skills necessary to conduct advanced research at universities, public bodies, or private organizations for the purpose of advancing scientific and technological progress and creating a managerial class with a high-level professional culture and a corresponding international openness. The specific objective of the doctorate programme is to train professionals able to develop high-quality and innovative information and telecommunication systems addressed to solving complex problems. It also pursues the goal of enhancing the doctoral students’ entrepreneurial abilities by furnishing specific training and opportunities to undertake internships. The ICT International Doctoral School offers a broad training programme which exploits the multidisciplinary nature of the teaching staff and the availability of advanced-level laboratories. The training programme enables the ICT International Doctoral School to activate student exchange agreements and teaching modules with similar institutions around the world. The number of applications for admission to the school has grown rapidly with time. Up until now the research work done by the department, thanks to a solid network of connections between the school and the business world, including Research Centres of the area, has given important training opportunities to more than 600 PhD students since 2001. Most of the PhD students are international and come from all over the world. Since the School was founded, it has produced more than 400 Doctor of Research; all of them are currently working in research centres, universities and/or business on a global scale.