Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI)

About Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI)

Founded in 1946, CWI is the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands and is located at Science Park Amsterdam. The institute has a strong international position and is renowned for its high quality research. CWI's strength lies in the discovery and development of new ideas, and the transfer of knowledge to other scientific areas, society at large and trade and industry in particular. Research of CWI is applied for instance in payment systems, cryptography, telecommunications, public transport, smart energy networks and meteorology. CWI is part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

An international network

With 55 permanent research staff, 40 postdocs and 70 PhD students, CWI is a compact institute that lies at the heart of European research in mathematics and computer science. Much of its research is conducted as part of national and international programmes. CWI maintains close contacts with the industry and academic world, both in the Netherlands and abroad. More than half of its permanent research staff is also associated with universities as part-time professors. This research network strengthens CWI’s reputation, acting as a magnet in attracting academic talent. The postdocs and PhD students originate from more than 25 different countries.

A source of pride

CWI was the birthplace of the European internet and registered one of the first country domains in the world, the NL top level domain ‘.nl’. CWI helped developing of the wing for the Fokker Friendship aircraft and invented the popular programming language Python, a language used by Google and many others. CWI also applied its research in combinatorial algorithmics to improve the design of the Dutch train timetables. Recent highlights include breaking the MD5 internet security system and research into smart grids to secure our future energy supply.