The Computer Science Department of the University of Salerno (DI) is the only Computer Science department in the Centre-South that has obtained recognition from the Ministry of University and Research as a department of excellence for the five-year period 2023-2027. This recognition was shared with only one other IT department in Italy.

The result adds to the gratifying acknowledgments obtained by the DI in recent years: in the national rankings for the quality of research achievements, the Departments was ranked first in the VQR 2004-2010 and second in the VQR 2011-2014, reaching a Standardized Indicator in the VQR 2015-2019 of Departmental Performance of 100/100 and the selection as Department of Excellence for the five-year period 2018-2022 and for the five-year period 2023-2028.

The new project of the DI as Department of Excellence starts from the consolidation of the results achieved in the previous five years and aims to study methods and tools for advanced and adaptive IoT solutions, in the context of intelligent ecosystems centered on the person, capable of making the best use of resources, in order to ensure sustainability and inclusion and improve well-being and quality of life. To this end, the DI will develop in particular the research fields related to Cloud and Compute Continuum, Data Science and AI, Cybersecurity and Software Engineering, as well as that of Theoretical Computer Science, as pillars for the study of methods and tools for advanced IoT solutions, in the context of Smart & Connected Communities and Industry 5.0 (evolution of Industry 4.0).

The project aims to strengthen and consolidate the position of the DI in the national and international academic scene as a point of reference for research, teaching and the third mission in the field of enabling technologies for Smart & Connected Communities and Industry 5.0. This will also favor the impact on the quality of teaching in the three-year, master's and research doctorate courses, allowing students to come into contact with the results of the most advanced research in the ICT sector, with better qualification of professionalism and effects in the working context.

The department will use the funding gained as a Department of Excellence,

• to strengthen the research staff,
• to create a Technological Innovation Center,
• to improve the level of internationalization by encouraging mobility to and from qualified research centres· for the provision of scholarships and
• for the provision of scholarships to motivated and deserving students enrolled in a master's degree to follow a path of excellence that includes various in-depth activities, internships with companies, workshops, summer schools, interdisciplinary laboratories, entrepreneurial training periods abroad.

The Technological Innovation Center for Smart & Connected Communities will play a key role in enhancing the role of the DI in the third mission and as a point of reference for the territory (SMEs, large companies, schools, Public Administrations, innovative startups, etc.). The Center will host the Extended Reality Control Room, a collaborative and immersive environment, based on the Extended Reality paradigm, capable of allowing the experimentation of innovative forms of management and training associated with all the identified research guidelines. The ER Control Room will make it possible to highlight the management complexity of articulated scenarios and can be used for smart city management, urban planning, disaster management, transportation management, health services, data visualization, virtual polygon (cyber-range).

Pubblication date: 12-30-2022