ASTRI and INRIA form partnership on ICT research

[29 January 2015, Hong Kong] Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) has recently formed an international partnership with the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique, or INRIA) in the area of information and communication technologies (ICT).

Under the INRIA International Partnership, ASTRI’s Embedded Systems group and INRIA’s TEA (Time, Events and Architectures) team will have active international collaboration on “Virtual Prototyping of Embedded Software Architectures.”

“According to the European Commission, the embedded ICT market has an estimated value of more than €850 billion world-wide. The next generation of embedded systems will be more intelligent and deeply connected with the information and physical worlds. These embedded systems, also known as Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), will be deployed in the domains of automotive, aerospace, health and energy as well as smart city. However, in order to enable the vision, it would require the evolution and even disruption in the process of how a system should be architectured and built,” said Dr T. John Koo, Director of Embedded Systems group.   “Our group at ASTRI will work closely with Dr Jean-Pierre Talpin’s team at INRIA to serve the innovation needs of the industry, while saving the time and cost, in the development of the next generation of embedded systems.”

The collaboration will start with mutual exchange of knowledge and expertise in CPS and Embedded Architecture Design through actual case studies and mutual visits. The long-term goal of the collaboration is to set up a joint laboratory between the two parties to disseminate formal methods for embedded system design, steaming from fundamental research at INRIA into the network of applied research projects coordinated by ASTRI and its industrial partners. It also aims to jointly contribute to an open-source system design platform for ASTRI’s industrial partners in Europe and Asia.

ASTRI CEO Dr Frank Tong said, “I feel very much delighted that ASTRI has entered into partnership with such a prestigious institution like INRIA at the highest international level. I have full confidence that the collaboration will be fruitful by merging the best of expertise and people of both parties. I also look very much forward to seeing the ICT disseminated through this joint effort will drive significant and positive changes in the economy as well as society.”

Founded in 1967 in France, INRIA is the country’s only established public science and technology institution fully committed to computational sciences. Combining computer sciences with mathematics, INRIA’s more than 3,400 researchers strive to become inventors for the digital world. They are also the driving force behind over 340 patents and 110 start-ups. More information about INRIA can be accessed at http://www.inria.fr/en.

ASTRI was founded by the HKSAR Government in 2000 with the mission to enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness in technology-based industries through applied research. Since inception, ASTRI has built a rich portfolio of intellectual properties and succeeded in creating economic impact by transferring new technologies to its customers in Hong Kong, the Mainland and the region.

According to the terms of INRIA International Partnerships, collaboration between INRIA and ASTRI has been endorsed for a period of four years on renewable basis.