ISTA and Google launch research collaboration

The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) in Klosterneuburg and Google have signed a “Master Sponsored Research Agreement” to explore joint scientific research areas. Under this agreement, Google will collaborate with and fund research projects at ISTA, ranging from AI and algorithms to neuro-imaging techniques useful for medical research. In addition, Google has opened a presence at the xista science park directly opposite the ISTA campus to form a liaison between the American corporation, the fundamental researchers at the Institute and the start-ups of the xista ecosystem.

Martin Hetzer, President of ISTA, states: “The connections of our institute to society and the economy have been of central importance since our foundation over 15 years ago. We are delighted that the ecosystem of our campus has now been complemented by a cooperation with and a presence by Google.” Markus Wanko, Managing Director of xista, the Institute's tech transfer arm, adds: “In this collaboration, we are combining Google's industry-leading expertise, resources and innovative drive with ISTA's academic strength, research capabilities and agility. xista's innovation ecosystem serves as a perfect docking station for this purpose.”

Lizzie Dorfman, Product Lead for Science in Google Research, explains the reasons for partnering with the Institute: “ISTA with its strong focus on out-of-the-box and interdisciplinary thinking, covering many fields in the natural sciences, mathematics and computer sciences, is a good fit for such a research agreement with Google. We've seen great success in our previous collaborations and are happy to solidify and expand our work together through this agreement.”

Collaborations around lean AI, privacy and microscopy

The long-term agreement is intentionally broad in scope so that it can respond flexibly to opportunities and ideas as they arise. Current collaborations between ISTA and Google include projects in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), digital fabrication, algorithms and imaging with applications in medical research.

Prof. Dan Alistarh's research group is working with Google on two projects relating to the efficiency of AI. One is about model compression (scaling laws for highly-accurate sparse models) and the other is about data compression (reducing the number of samples required to get a high-quality model).

Prof. Monika Henzinger's research group, on the other hand, contributes with its know-how in the field of algorithms and Differential Privacy to how Large Language Models can be trained while protecting people's personal data.

Also in the field of AI, Prof. Francesco Locatello works with Google on a project on how advances in vision language models can support science in the automated interpretation of climate data and probabilistic forecasts.

Prof. Johann Danzl and his research group are also working on new light microscopy methods that deliver more information-rich results than electron microscopy and that are capable of reconstructing brain tissue with all neuronal connections. These images produce countless data points. The group is working with Google Research on the computational analysis of these data. This new type of imaging method has great potential for applications in biomedical research. With the new agreement, Google and ISTA laid the groundwork for more collaborations of this kind.

Growth in the ISTA ecosystem

The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) is a basic research institute with 90 research groups in the natural sciences, mathematics and computer sciences. The Institute is set to grow to 150 research groups by 2036. It connects to society through its science education brand VISTA Science Experiences and to economy through the xista innovation ecosystem. The xista science park directly opposite the ISTA campus offers space for science-related start-ups with a need for modern laboratory space and will be expanded with additional buildings over the next few years. The park also includes a presence of Google now, which is one more link to the Institute. The venture fund complementing the ecosystem, xista science ventures, has supported and funded 22 spin-offs from a range of scientific institutions, including ISTA.

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