the Flyer of the I3S Laboratory

The I3S laboratory is the largest information and communication science laboratory in the French Riviera. It was one of first ones to settle down on Sophia Antipolis Science and Technology Park.

 The I3S laboratory consists of a little less than 300 people.  Almost 100 professors or associate professors belong to the laboratory. They predominantly come from 3 department of University Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS): Polytech Nice Sophia (engineering school), Faculty of Sciences and IUT (University Institute of Technology). The laboratory also includes 20 CNRS researcher and 13 INRIA researchers, without forgetting about twenty staffs of the technical and administrative teams. About 90 PhD students, 10 post-doctoral students and 60 trainees from Master's degree or engineering school complete staff.

Affiliated to the INS2I CNRS Institute, the I3S research fields cover many themes of CNU sections 27 “Computer Science” and 61 “Computer Engineering, Automation and Signal Processing” (CNU sections are disciplinary partitioning at national level for (associate) professors). 

Four Dynamic Teams

For nine years, the laboratory has been progressively restructured in four size-balanced teams, defining dynamic scientific perimeters. Nowadays, the four teams are:

•  the team “Communications, Réseaux, systèmes Embarqués et Distribués” (COMRED) (French acronym for Communications, Networks, Embedded Systems, Distributed Systems)

• The COMRED team studies advanced design, based on formal models, in the domains of embedded systems, distributed systems and communication networks. It addresses the entire design chain: modelling via graphs, specification and programming formalisms, implementation techniques, optimization, simulation and verification. These activities involve the development of many software and algorithmic tools. They are conducted in the context of many industrial collaborations.
• The main keywords for the COMRED team are graph theory for telecommunications (graph coloration, diagraphs, graph decompositions, Pursuit-evasion games, (Gromov) hyperbolicity, backbone and broadband network, software-defined networking, energy efficiency), models and methods for the analysis and optimization of systems with real-time and embedding constraints (logical time in system design, safety analysis and composition, theoretical expressiveness, trace and observers, solvers) and  safe composition of autonomous applications with large-scale execution environment (programming models for distributed systems, multi-active objects, software components, scalable and robust middleware for distributed event based computing, verifying the correct behaviour of distributed applications, mapping and deploying virtual machines).
• The COMRED team is hosted in the « Algorithmes » building and in the INRIA center.

• the team “Modèles Discrets pour les Systèmes Complexes” (MDSC) (French acronym for Discrete Models for Complex System)

• The objectives of the MDSC teams are the definition and the study of models for complex systems such as those encountered in Biology, Physics, and of course in Computer Science. These activities also rely on related areas such as constraint programming, algorithmic or program verification.
• The main keywords for the MDSC team are Formal methods for biological systems (methodological approach, verification of behavioral properties, relationships between dynamics and structure of interactions, chronometric information and development of hybrid models for systems biology),  neurocognition (methodological approach, timed mechanisms, structural and behavioral simplifications, learning neuronal compositions), problem solving and combinatorial optimization (multi-valued decision diagrams, parallelism of constraint programming, traveling salesman problem, bin packing problem), complex software verification (constraint-based BMC (bounded model checking), constraint-based error localization, consistency and verification over floating-point numbers)  and  models for complex systems (temporal and structural properties, ω-languages, ζ-languages, Causal graph dynamics (CGD)).
• The MDSC team is hosted in the « Algorithmes » building.

• the team “Signal, Images, Systèmes” (SIS)

• The research conducted by the SIS team concerns signal and image processing for biology and biomedicine, future-generation networks and wireless communication systems, 3D and multimedia data compression and coding, autonomous navigation and mapping systems, and optimal experimental design.
• The main keywords for the SIS team are biological and biomedical signal and image processing (image processing, signal processing, machine learning, modeling), wireless communication systems and networks (tensor-based signal processing, cognitive radio, MIMO, data center networking, network measurements, future generation networks for video content distribution, mobile social networking), multimedia coding (image and video coding, geometry coding, bio-inspired image processing), autonomous systems (feedback control of aerial robots, sensor-based control, sensor fusion and invariant observers, Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)), observation and modeling (design of optimal experiments (DOE), optimizers as dynamical systems, nonparametric density estimation with region-censored data and risk prediction, gaussian processes and design of computer experiments, model-free designs).
• The SIS team is hosted in the « Algorithmes » building. 

• the team “Scalable and Pervasive softwARe and Knowledge Systems” (SPARKS)

• The SPARKS team investigates the organization, representation, and distributed processing of knowledge, as well as its extraction from data and its semantic formalization, with a particular focus on scalability and on the design of human- and knowledge-centered, and adaptive software systems.
• The main keywords for the SPARKS team are knowledge Extraction and Learning (data mining, machine learning, knowledge discovery methods, automatic construction of ontologies, automatic knowledge-base enrichment), formalizing and reasoning with users and models (knowledge-based interaction, HCI, graph, knowledge representation, cognitive agents, user modeling, social network, philosophical issues related to AI and the (semantic) Web) and Scalable Software Systems (scientific workflows, software composition: from modeling to exploitation, software adaptation and dynamic environments, distributed data and knowledge).
• The SPARKS team is hosted in “Templiers” buildings. 

 Excellence in Research

The I3S laboratory is also central in a network of partnerships and collaborative, national and international programs, which support and structure our activity. I3S also is active in several Competitiveness Clusters, in particular: SCS ( Secure Communicating Solutions), Safecluster  ( aeronautical and spatial cluster), MER and PASS  (Perfumes, Aromas, Scents and Flavors).

I3S and the LABEX UCN@Sophia

In partnership with CNRS and INRIA, thanks to many industrial collaborations, I3S works on innovating research area at the forefront of science and technology: ubiquitous networks and systems, biology and e-health, modeling for environment, interactions and usages. Along with its partners INRIA and EURECOM, I3S is at the origin of LABEX UCN@Sophia a regional initiative of excellence centered on the “networks of tomorrow”.
 

I3S and IDEX UCA^JEDI

UCA (Université Côte d’Azur) coordinates an  initiative of excellence (IDEX in French). Inside that IDEX UCA^JEDI, the I3S laboratory is actor in 4 of the 5 academies of excellence (trans-disciplinary departments):

• Academy 1: Networks, information and digital society
• Academy 2: Complex systems
• Academy 4: Complexity and diversity of living systems
• Academy 5: Human societies, ideas and environments
I3S is co-leader of the academy 1, is member of the steering committees of academies 1 and 5 and is member of scientific committees of academies 1, 2, 4 et 5.

Transversaly in these interdisciplinary scientific actions, three reference centers promote effective connections between academic research and the territory and local authorities. Those reference centers are: Health, well-being and aging; the intelligent territory; prevention and management of risk; the digital challenge. In these actions in connection with the Research and Development of the local companies, the laboratory is playing an important role in each of these three reference centers. I3S has a particularly strong involvement in the reference center " The intelligent city and the management of the risk on the territory " thanks to the cooperation with the “UMR Space” (a laboratory of geography, social sciences and humanities) about the models allowing to plan the development of cities and by the works led around "Smart Campus". The former and active collaborations with the CHU of Nice (teaching hospital) of Nice and the laboratory LAMHESS (Human Motricity - Education - Sport - Healt) allow I3S to participate very actively in the activities of the reference center " Health, well-being and aging " by being for example present in the Living Lab “PAILLON” and in the EHPAD Valrose (a nursing home care).