The Institute of Cybernetics (IoC), founded in 1960 as a research institute of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, is today a semi-autonomous research institution of the Tallinn University of Technology.
The Software Department was formed in 1978 under the leadership of Enn Tyugu. From 1992 to 1997 it was led by Jaan Penjam. Since 1997 it is led by Ahto Kalja.
The original direction started by Enn Tyugu was automated software engineering with applications to engineering computations. Today, the research areas pursued here range from topics in computer science (logic and semantics) to software engineering and information systems, all fitting under the name of software technology.
Within the tiny country of Estonia, our small department makes IoC the leading computer science research institution, with the widest network of collaborations both domestically and internationally.
We have also initiated and led various nationwide joint efforts towards advancing Estonia's computer science research and education. In particular, we coordinated CDC, the national centre of excellence in research in computer science and engineering 2002-2007.
We also lead the new EXCS national centre of excellence in research in computer science 2008-2015.