Interactive information management
The National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCRs) create stimuli. Locating the NCCR “IM2 – Interactive Multimodal Information Management” in Valais is a success story – both from a scientific and an economic point of view. The region benefits at various levels from the NCCR.
Of the 14 National Centres of Competence in Research awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) in 2001, only the Idiap Research Institute in Martigny is not hosted by an university. The Wallis Research Institute dates back to 1991. For the institute, the NCCR was a suitable present because at the time it was celebrating its ten-year anniversary and a decade of research into the interaction of humans and machine.
The establishment of the NCCR“IM2” gave the Idiap Research Institute in Martigny the chance to implement its research potential in human-machine interaction. Originally, the projects were founded on the two pillars of word and image processing. Today they focus on multimedia. In order to ensure the coherence of the projects under the NCCR “IM2”, most focus on the development of a unique framework: the smart meeting room. While the room looks quite normal, it is fully equipped with cutting-edge technology. Various audio-video software systems assure the recording, indexing and archiving of all that is said and done. Thereafter a participant or someone who was absent from the meeting can review in detail and retrieve specific information.
This kind of service is offered by Klewel, one of around ten spin-off companies generated by the Idiap Research Institute as part of the NCCR “IM2”. These companies deal with information exchange and management, biometry and the security of documents in paper and electronic format. With their help, the reputation of Valais as a centre of technological research and innovation will be developed. To this end, the Institute has benefited since 2005 from an organization called IdeArk that was founded in partnership with the municipality of Martigny.
Its mission is to promote start-up companies during their foundation phase, support their development and promote technology transfer to partners in industry like Swisscom, Logitech, Fastnet or Nokia. A technology park to accommodate new companies will soon be constructed close to the Idiap Research Institute. The Institute is also part of The Ark, an economic development instrument created in 2004 by the canton of Valais for the information, life and engineering sciences.
The NCCR “IM2” has had an enormous impact in both scientific and economic terms. Jean-Albert Ferrez, Deputy Director of the Idiap Research Institute, sees "a clear difference between the time before and after the establishment of the NCCR “IM2". The Institute has quadrupled in size thanks to the support of the NCCR. The budget has grown from 2 to around 10 million Swiss francs, of which approximately 1.4 million is generated by the NCCR. The Idiap researchers were therefore able to win numerous projects and mandates. The number of employees has risen from around 20 to approximately 100, a critical mass which has secured the reputation of the Institute. In addition to the nearly15 projects conducted at the European and the international level, Idiap was able to extend its cooperation with several Swiss universities, including the EPF Lausanne, thanks to the NCCR “IM2”. This fulfils another NCCR goal– improving the structure of the Swiss research landscape.
The NCCR “IM2” is proving to be extremely beneficial to Valais. Besides upgrading technological projects for industrial and commercial applications, the canton’s positive reputation has expanded far beyond its borders. "The fact that the federal government awarded an NCCR to a peripheral region is important for the country’s economic equilibrium," stresses François Seppey, president of The Ark. "This is in keeping with an economic and regional policy in which areas on the periphery also benefit from the impetus created by the centres." The NCCR “IM2” has set a force in motion that not only fulfils the aims of the Swiss National Science Foundation to boost scientific structures, but also promotes the economy of the canton.