HITeC is the research and technology transfer center of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Hamburg. Due to its independent status, HITeC offers flexible and professional cooperation opportunities. HITeC solutions are based on the latest research results and provide advantages through innovative technologies.
HITeC is a registered, non-profit association supported by members of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Hamburg. The association is linked to the University of Hamburg by an agreement.
HITeC sees its main tasks in the field of technology transfer for the Department of Computer Science at the University of Hamburg:
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Implementation of application-oriented research projects
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Dissemination of application-oriented research results
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Realization of seminars and workshops
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Mediation of contacts between companies and students
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Improvement of the practice-oriented education in the university
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Support for business start-ups from the university
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Education of students especially through including them in cooperation projects.
In 2023, HITeC had four sponsoring members, these are companies and institutions that support HITeC as well as the University of Hamburg and the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce. The number of active personal members of HITeC is more than 50 people.
HITeC conducts application-oriented research in the general field of Computer Science and research in the field of technology transfer. In contrast to basic research, application-oriented research is focused on scientific Computer Science research, with the objective of developing solutions that can be directly implemented in practice. On the one hand, the results of basic research are incorporated into collaborative projects; on the other hand, however, applied research also gives rise to new questions for basic research, which provide further inspiration for the latter. This is a method also referred to as action research, in which scientists engage directly with concrete, real-life situations with the objective of gaining insights that can inform further basic research. This return to fundamental research (which is conducted primarily at the university level) represents a crucial aspect of HITeC’s application-oriented research. It serves to enhance this fundamental research in a novel manner, thereby facilitating the generation of more practical and relevant outcomes. Another methodology employed at HITeC is design science, which examines problem-solving in authentic, application-oriented contexts through the creation of artifacts such as prototypes or conceptual models.
Application-oriented research at HITeC takes up the results of basic research at the Department of Computer Science and explores their possible applications in special application projects, usually with partners.
In addition to application-oriented research projects, HITeC performs activities for the University of Hamburg (UHH) and the Department of Computer Science in particular:
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Supporting the development of technology transfer at UHH (e.g. the transfer agency) and in other departments by participating in internal workshops and discussions.
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Participation, networking and representation of technology transfer in the field of information and communication sciences at events of actors from public administration (e.g. Urban Data Hub) and business, e.g. Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Trade, Digital Logistic Hub, as well as close cooperation with other associations (e.g. Artificial Intelligence Center e.V. (ARIC)) and universities (e.g. Helmut-Schmidt-Universität, Hafencity Universität (HCU), Nordakademie, Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften (HAW)).
Some selected projects and activities in 2023:
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The projects in the field of Chemistry Computer Science investigate the development of active ingredients and drugs in pharmaceutical
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The projects in the field of optimization and monitoring are as follows:
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- Performance monitoring for data-intensive software
- Code optimization for memory hierarchies
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Several projects in the field of application of artificial intelligence meth ods:
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- Analysis of images, videos and streams for the creation of situation and action descriptions (including in sports, here also actions in training, traffic and landscape flyovers) and the retrieval of media content
- New methods for explainable AI
- Planning systems for stacking goods using reinforcement learning
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Projects in the area of platform development:
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- Co-development of a platform for the resilience of economic ecosystems
- Co-development of a platform for the generation of synthetic data
- Design of a platform for urban production and local value networks
- Coordination of a European Digital Innovation Hub for the targeted support of small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups and public administration
- Co-development of a platform to support emergency services in the event of severe weather using AI methods
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Several projects in the field of eHumanities aimed at the dissemination, collection, presentation and long-term archiving of cultural objects, in cluding Portal for Philosophical and Hebrew Terminology, Matriculation Portal.
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Several projects in the field of digital transformation and digital liter acy:
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- Scientific support for the digital transformation of the re-registration service/electronic residence registration,
- Teaching digital literacy skills through student seminars,
- Design and implementation of a series of workshops for the use of Large Language Models, such as ChatGPT.
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Further smaller projects:
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- with companies and research institutions from the Hamburg region and internationally,
- with schools to teach software development methods at an early stage
- Participation in a working group of the start-up initiatives of all Hamburg universities and cooperation with ahoi.digital, ARIC and Hamburg Innovation.