The Annual Symposium of Computer Science in Finland (Tietojenkäsittelytieteen päivät) of the year 2017 is held on 31.8.-1.9. in Helsinki and Espoo. The event is organized by the departments of computer science of the University of Helsinki and Aalto University and HIIT (Helsinki Institute for Information Technology), together with the Finnish Society for Computer Science (Tietojenkäsittelytieteen Seura). The symposium gathers people interested in or working in computer science.
This year’s theme is data science and artificial intelligence. Data and intelligence are well recognized as key factors in successful digitalization and robotization; for example, in February 2017 the Prime Minister of Finland, Juha Sipilä, expressed his wish to make Finland a world leader in artificial intelligence (AI). How is the research and teaching in our universities going to address this challenge? Do we need data science and what is its relationship to AI? Where is the AI research going at the moment, and where after the next 10 and 20 years? The symposium seeks answers to these questions, among others.
In addition, the traditional awards of best Master’s thesis, the best doctoral thesis, and the information systems sciences researcher of the year are announced, along with presentations by the awardees.
The symposium begins on 31.8. with the 50 year jubilee celebrations of the CS department of University of Helsinki, consisting of an afternoon-seminar and a dinner, in downtown Helsinki. The symposium continues on 1.9. with its main program in the Otaniemi campus of Aalto University.
Matti Pietikäinen is a professor at the Center for Machine Vision and Signal Analysis, University of Oulu. He has made pioneering contributions, e.g. to local binary pattern (LBP) methodology, face and emotion analysis, and biometrics. He has authored over 340 papers in international journals, books, and conferences. His papers have nearly 42,000 citations in Google Scholar (h-index 71). The results are used in various applications around the world. He has served on editorial boards and committees of major journals and conferences in computer vision and pattern recognition. He was Member of Finnish Artificial Intelligence Society Board (1986-88), President of Pattern Recognition Society of Finland (1989-92), and Member of Governing Board of International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR) (1989-2007). In 2014, his research on LBP-based face description was awarded the prestigious Koenderink Prize for Fundamental Contributions in Computer Vision. Dr. Pietikäinen is a Fellow of IEEE and IAPR.
Henry Tirri is Executive in Residence at Aalto University and Senior Advisor at Samsung. He has a unique background as an academic, corporate technologist, executive and entrepreneur, and extensive experience leading innovation and converting cutting edge technology development into high growth global business opportunities. Tirri is the former EVP and Chief Technology Officer of HARMAN International. Prior to HARMAN (2004 – 2015), he held technology leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Nokia, as EVP and CTO and a member of the Nokia Leadership Team, he was responsible for setting Nokia’s technology agenda and all forward-looking R&D. Before departing from Nokia he was the main architect of Nokia Technologies – Nokia’s technology licensing and health product arm. Tirri has been a tenured Professor of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki, Visiting Professor at Stanford University and an Adjunct Professor of Civil Engineering at University of California at Berkeley. Tirri holds Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Helsinki and an Honorary Doctorate from University of Tampere.