Know-Center is Austria’s leading research center for data-driven business and big data analytics. With our data-driven technologies we make Europe’s economy ready for Big Data and the data-driven business models of tomorrow.

As a connecting link between science and industry, the Know-Center conducts application-oriented research in cooperation with a large network of international academic institutions and companies. Our scientific strategy is to integrate approaches from (big) data analytics with human-centered computing to create cognitive computing systems that will enable humans to utilize massive amounts of data. In these systems the latest findings and technologies from the fields of data analytics, machine learning, semantic systems and interactive and human centered design are incorporated. Depending on the specific needs of our partners and customers, our approach to problem-solving involves different perspectives: sometimes data acts as starting point, other times we start from the point of view of work processes.

The Know-Center is located in Graz and home to more than 85 data scientists and researchers. In its 16 years of experience the Know-Center has carried out about 600 applied industry focused research projects and more than 30 international projects and EU projects. This know-how makes the Know-Center the hub for Europe's data-driven economy.

Data-driven Business is one of the most important economic trends. With our data-driven methods and tools we provide competitive advantages to companies at the data-based world market.

Role

The Know-Center is the leader of the work package “Machine Learning and Automated Decision Making”. As scientific partner, the Know-Center’s task in the project is to bring state-of-the-art technology into application within the use-cases of our partners. The scientific domains of the Know-Center include Machine Learning and Data Science. The state-of-the-art in these domains will be applied, refined and evaluated by the Know-Center. Therefore, the role of the Know-Center will also include the task of supervising student’s work. In addition, the Know-Center contributes to project dissemination by organising scientific workshops.

Key contribution

The Know-Center provides its know-how in the field of Big Data Analytics, which comprises the domains of Machine Learning and Data Science. Over the course of the project, the Know-Center will apply contemporary Data Science methods, starting with established statistical methods, like correlation analysis. The combination of existing expert knowledge and machine learning techniques allows for a deeper analysis of the processes. Deep Learning algorithms, which demonstrated great potential in certain areas, will also be studied for their suitability to tackle the challenges within the project. As the amount of data associated with the production processes surpasses the capacity of single machines, distributed data management and algorithms are required. The Know-Center will bring in its know-how for working with big data sets.