Universidade Católica creates Institute of Computing and Data Science at the Braga Regional Centre
In a digital age of constant evolution and overwhelming data production, knowing how to extract information and use it requires a specialised approach and appropriate tools. Thus, with the aim of producing and developing knowledge in the areas of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, the Institute of Computing and Data Science (ICCD) of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa was created, and will operate at the Braga Regional Centre of UCP.
To this end, three computer laboratories have been set up with the aim of promoting a close link between research results in this field and the development and improvement of processes in the national industrial sector.
These spaces were equipped with computers with hardware and software capable of responding to the latest challenges inherent in the collection, processing, analysis and visualisation of large volumes of data, in order to provide students with the necessary skills to successfully enter a highly competitive labour market.
According to Vítor J. Sá, Coordinator of the area of Computing and Data Science at the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of UCP, "the new institute will make an important contribution in terms of teaching, research and collaboration with the business sector, which in Braga is particularly active and creative, to boost the era of artificial intelligence and evidence-based decision making, which happens with the discovery of patterns in the data that only computers, when properly programmed, can unveil."
The creation of the ICCD comes after the opening of the Undergraduate Programme in Applied Data Science, in 2022, composed of a highly qualified and specialised teaching staff in Computing and Data Science, as well as in Mathematics and Statistics, the focus on this domain continued to be enhanced. The approved strategic plan includes partnerships with technological and competitive companies in the Minho region, so that complex and real problems are studied in the programmes of the curricular units of the Undergraduate Programme in Applied Data Science.