Artificial intelligence research in Belgium and The Netherlands

Abstract

Most universities in Belgium do research in AI and offer AI courses to students. The largest part of the research is into the more classical AI subjects, such as logic programming and theorem proving. However, sub-symbolic AI is also investigated. It seems that all Belgian Universities have their own distinct flavour of research. Below, we present the different Belgian universities in alphabetical order. The Facultes Universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix Namur (University of Namur) has a group called ‘semantics and computational logic’ led by B. Le Charlier and P. Schobbens. This group is theoretically oriented and although their interests are broader than just AI, some of their research is into computational logic, automated theorem proving and formalisation of agentbased systems. The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Flemish catholic university of Leuven) has different groups working on artificial-intelligence subjects. First of all, there is the group on declarative languages and artificial intelligence led by M. Bruynooghe. The artificialintelligence interest of this group is into knowledge representation and machine learning, with research themes such as data mining, constraint logic programming, reasoning with time, natural-language processing and learning in agents. They are also involved in the Robocup simulation league. Second, there is a group doing research into intelligent mobile robots led by H. Van Brussel and J. De Schutter. This group is part of the mechanical engineering department. Finally, there is a group at the economy department, led by J. Vanthienen and M. Verhelst, that investigates knowledge systems and modelling. At the Limburgs Universitair Centrum (Limburg University Centre) M. Gyssens of the theoretical computer science group works on the structure and complexity of constraint satisfaction problems. J. Van den Bussche of the same group works on implementation of query languages for data mining. The Universite Catholique de Louvain (French catholic university of Louvain) has several small groups investigating different AI subjects. Computational linguistics is investigated by E. Milgrom and S. Granger. Logic programming is investigated by Y. Deville. A. Thayse investigates natural-language processing, P.J. Courtois investigates self-organising systems, P. Van Hentenryck works on optimisation and constraint satisfaction and Y. Kamp investigates collective intelligence. The Universite de Liege (Montefiore) (University of Liege) has D. Gribomont working on verification methods, automatic theorem proving and formal logic. The Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen (University of Antwerp) has the centre for Dutch language and speech, led by W. Daelemans. Part of the research of this institute is purely linguistic, but a great deal of research is also performed into (memory-based) machine learning of natural language, using large corpora of text, as well as into intelligent processing of text. The Universit Libre de Bruxelles (French Free University of Brussels) has the IRIDIA (Institut de Recherches Interdisciplinaires et de Developpements en Intelligence Artificielle) group led by M. Dorigo and H. Bersini. The main research interests are: ‘belief representation and AI-techniques for process control and classification’ and ‘nature-inspired heuristics for the solution of combinatorial and continuous space optimisation problems’. Sub-symbolic techniques are