Press Releases

A Data Science and Engineering Chair is about to be launched at ELTE with the support of Deutsche Telekom

Budapest, September 6, 2016 12:00

The Data Science and Engineering Department is about to be launched in collaboration with the Technical University of Berlin in the 2016/17 school year at the Computer Science Faculty of the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences. The department is sponsored by the research and development unit of Magyar Telekom’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, the Telekom Innovation Laboratories (abbreviated as: T-Labs) situated in Berlin. The aim of the department about to be launched now is to provide, recognising the business and social challenges that arise from the latest technologies, tangible skills to students who envision their future in info-communications, the most dynamically expanding industry.

Wire line and mobile network infrastructures have expanded at an accelerated rate in the recent 15 years, and, in the meantime the devices furnished with sensors, software and network connectivity have become exceedingly widespread. A huge amount of data is generated from one day to the other, which requires technologies and devices that are capable to store and process this enormous amount of data. The combined effect of all this has resulted in business applications that build on data and collect and analyse data of a particular business or agency, thereby facilitating an innovative approach to understanding the day-to-day activity of the business. An increasingly more significant factor in terms of corporate and organisational competitiveness are becoming solutions that aim at interpreting and re-exploiting the data generating in the course of the firm’s or agency’s processes.

The Data Science and Engineering Department about to be launched now would help the creation of data controlled business solutions through research and open innovation. Headed by Dr. Tamás Horváth, the department will focus on the research based on mobile networks data with relevant business and environmental aspects. The first projects will, for example, address data from areas like health, environmental protection or, for that matter, educational support. The aim of the department will be to work out solutions to specific challenges through the means of data mining, artificial intelligence and data visualization. The next step will include the programming and implementation of these models on various platforms and architectures. The activity of the department will uniquely display the coverage of the total value chain, as well as the combination of data science and technical sciences in such a manner that will jointly facilitate the generation of valuable research outcomes and innovative data products. The Computer Science Faculty expects to involve further ELTE faculties in the cooperation to thus exploit the competitive advantage that due to its training and research portfolio comprising five scientific areas, ELTE is a unique interdisciplinary competence centre. The responsible professor in Budapest, Dr. Tamás Horváth has the initial mandate for five years.

The new department will cooperate closely with Telekom’s innovative organisations, particularly with the national phone network operator in Hungary, Magyar Telekom and the Technical University of Berlin. On the occasion of the launch of the department Éva Somorjai, Chief Human Resources Officer of Magyar Telekom said: „Being a responsible company and a leading info-communication network operator Magyar Telekom is happy to support such a cooperation that establishes a bridge between scientific education and real economic and industry challenges, providing employees of the future competitive skills through bridging the gap between the two, at the same time securing skilled professionals for the country.” The company will help the operation of the department by offering trainee positions, acting as an external consultant and transferring knowledge as well as providing support in research.

Barna Mezey, the rector of the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences placed the unique initiative in Hungary into a European context when highlighting: „The spirit of the H2020 program clearly demonstrates that Europe’s competitiveness is not merely a matter of money. Success can only be expected from innovative and long-term investments that are based on cooperation. The Department of Data Science and Engineering as well as the future education and research projects to be nurtured by it are opening a new era in higher education in terms of the international cooperation between the corporate and academic fields.”

The launching of the department in Hungary constitutes the first step in the new EU Labs program, in the course of which Deutsche Telekom and T-Labs will expand their expert network and enter into partnership with European universities as well. „We believe in the future of Europe”, said Christian von Reventlow, Chief Product and Innovation Officer at Deutsche Telekom. „Our goal is to collaborate with academic talents throughout Europe and, in doing so, to further strengthen our international joint ventures in  research and development. Our new EU Labs  program at T-Labs will help us further expand this international ideal.”

About Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies with more than 156 million mobile customers, 29 million fixed-network lines and around 18 million broadband lines (as of December 31, 2015). The Group provides fixed-network/broadband, mobile communications, Internet and Internet-based TV products and services for consumers, and ICT solutions for businesses and corporate customers. Deutsche Telekom has a presence in more than 50 countries and employs about 225,200 people worldwide. The Group generated revenues of 69.2 billion euros in the 2015 financial year – roughly 64 percent of it outside Germany.

About Eötvös Loránd University
Eötvös Loránd University is the oldest Hungarian university with the widest educational portfolio in Hungary, and the largest scientific establishment in the country.The Faculty of Informatics is a top ranked faculty of Computer Science worldwide, with over 100 faculty members and a strong focus on R&D&I activities. ELTE FI leads the EIT Digital Budapest Associate Partner Group being the only EIT Digital partner located in the Central and Eastern European region.