Research Center in Information Systems Engineering

PReCISE is a research center of the University of Namur (FUNDP) devoted to the engineering and management of advanced information systems.

The center was established jointly by the Faculty of Computer Science and the Department of Business Administration.

Vision

 Nowadays, developing information systems and integrating them into global business services is a very complex and challenging endeavour involving a large number of stakeholder and requiring a wide range of skills, techniques, tools and methods. Mastering such a process requires a high-level expertise and a fine weave of interactions between complementary disciplines, most importantly Software Engineering and Information Management. PReCISE promotes scientific research in and across these two disciplines, and ambitions to narrow the gap between them.

Mission

PReCISE's core purpose is the development and dissemination of high-quality scientific knowledge in the area of information system engineering and management. To this end, PReCISE: 

• provides a conductive environment and facilities for research, including training of PhD students and the hosting of post-doctoral and visiting researchers,
• pursues scientific cooperation with local, national and international entities in academia and in the public and private sectors,
• difusses research results by publishing in leading peer-reviewed journals and by contributing to, and organising, international conferences,
• spreads knowledge to practitioners through its spin-off companies and partner research transfer agencies.

Doctoral schools

PReCISE is involved in the FNRS Interuniversity Graduate School in Computing Science (GRASCOMP) and the FNRS LSM Doctoral School of Management.

Scientific cooperation

PReCISE develops strong international collaborations that result in joint publications and frequent exchanges of researchers with over forty research organizations in Europe and around the world. PReCISE participates actively in several European projects and Networks of Excellence (including the ITEA2 Project UsiXML, the FP7 Project iTEC and InterOP), in the IAP interuniversity project MoVES, in the FNRS Centre Fédéré de Vérification and in RW applied research projects.

Funding

The research of PReCISE is performed thanks to funding received from bodies at various levels, including the international level (European Commission and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO), the national level (Belgian Federal Science Policy Office - BELSPO, National Fund for Scientific Research - FNRS, the National Bank of Belgium - BNB, and the Intercollegiate Center for Management Sciences - CIM/ICM), the regional level (Technology, Research and Energy DG of the Walloon Region - DGTRE and Belgian French Community - CFWB) and the local level (self funding by University of Namur - FUNDP).

Diffusion of knowledge in both private and public sectors

PReCISE is an active member of the most important Belgian networks of ICT enterprises like Infopole-Cluster TIC (Wallonia) and SIRRIS. PReCISE is associated with 2 applied research centers with strong connections with the industry: CETIC and Henri Tudor (Lux). Research results of PReCISE are now being exploited by 2 Belgian start-up companies : ReVeR and Polymedis.

The guide to current research (December 2007) is available