Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (NWO-I)

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Centrum Wiskunde Informatica (CWI) is the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands. Founded in 1946, CWI is part of the Institutes Organisation of NWO, NWO-I. While located at Amsterdam Science Park, our institute has strong international links, and we enjoy a global reputation for our innovative research.

Connecting mathematics and computer science

By creating a synergy between mathematics and computer science, CWI pursues fundamental and long-term innovation. Our strength is discovering and developing new ideas that benefit society and the economy, as well as other scientific areas. Our research is rooted in practical, real-life questions and explores essential aspects of modern life, including transport and communication networks, internet security, medical imaging and smart energy systems. Our innovations form an integral part of numerous software products, programming languages and international standards.

International network

CWI is at the heart of European research in mathematics and computer science. We take part in many international programmes, including EU Horizon2020 and EIT Digital. With close ties to industry and the wider academic world, both at home and abroad, we maintain a sharp focus on the bigger picture and real-world issues.

Research talent

Our reputation ensures that we attract the best research talent. We currently unite 50 tenured and tenure-track researchers, 30 postdocs and 65 PhD students from more than 25 different countries. Many members of our permanent research staff teach at a Dutch university.

A proud heritage

Our institute was the birthplace of the European internet in 1988. We registered one of the first country domains in the world, .nl, in 1986. We built the first Dutch computer in 1952 and kick-started the development of the popular programming language Python in the 1990s. So far, CWI has founded 27 spin-off companies.

Our recent initiatives include:

Launching the QuSoft research centre for quantum software
Demonstrating the vulnerability of the SHA-1 standard for internet security
Developing proactive planning methods for ambulance, firefighters and police services
Investigating smart energy networks
Modeling and simulating phenomena such as lightning, ocean currents, financial products, wind parks and proteins.

Watch our video to learn more about CWI, our research and our people.