R&D Strategy Document Preparation of ITU in the Field of IT/Computer Engineering (TÜBİTAK 1000)

Significant progress in informatics and information technologies (IT) has been achieved in recent years with the increase of technology and human communication. With this project, we aim to develop a five-year research and development (R&D) strategy document considering the capacity and needs on the human resources and infrastructure of the computer engineering/IT field at Istanbul Technical University, as well as considering both worldwide scientific and technological trends, and local competence and needs.

In our university, research and development in the field of IT are carried out in the Informatics Institute and Computer and the Faculty of Computer and Informatics. In the next five-year period, the target subjects to be focused on are listed as follows. Computer networks and next-generation wireless communication networks, software quality and modeling, artificial intelligence and robotics, natural language processing, computer-human interaction, computer vision, machine learning and data mining, agricultural monitoring and information systems, bioinformatics, high performance computing, embedded systems, cyber security and cryptology. In the framework of these subjects, various projects and publications have been put forward by the faculty up to the present. While determining strategies for the next five years, selected R&D strategy documents of national and international public or commercial institutions and organizations will be investigated at first. With the sight gained through these studies, the subjects of the projects to be developed will be elaborated and the process of sharing them with the faculty will be determined. In addition, in the context of preparing this R&D strategy document, the required human resources and infrastructure will be predicted to achieve the goals of developing technological products or processes, making theoretical developments and analyses, forming partnerships with national and international IT sector, producing patents and publications, performing academic activities, and a variety of control mechanisms will be established to achieve the targeted performance.

The project consists of a total of seven work packages. The first is the project management work package. In the second work package, the existing potential in the IT field will be investigated, and a detailed SWOT analysis will be carried out together with internal and external stakeholders. The third work package is on the investigation of the future vision reports of national/international institutions and organizations in IT field published in the world and in our country, and evaluating their R&D targets. The fourth work package is the examination of international graduate programs in the IT field, and evaluation of new courses and other educational activities that are important in terms of R&D. The R&D subjects and projects to be focused on will be identified with the fifth work package. In the sixth work package, new research and education units will be determined and human resources will be planned. Finally, the project will be concluded with the seventh work package that involves the preparation process of the final report.

In the end of the prescribed six-month time, the output of this project will be the R&D strategy document and the principles of its implementation in the field of IT of Istanbul Technical University.