IRIDIA

IRIDIA is the Artificial Intelligence research laboratory of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. It is deeply involved in theoretical and applied research in computational intelligence.

The major domains of competence are: (i) swarm intelligence, (ii) metaheuristics for the solution of combinatorial and continuous space optimization problems, (iii) the foundational study of biological networks, and (iv) business intelligence applications.

Our research program in swarm intelligence is centered around the design of algorithms or distributed problem-solving mechanisms using the collective behavior of social insect colonies as main source of inspiration. In particular, we have proposed innovative algorithms for the solution of different types of optimization problems and for the control of swarms of robots.

A metaheuristic can be seen as a general algorithmic framework which can be applied to different optimization problems with relatively few modifications to make them adapted to a specific problem. In this research area, we have proposed the ant colony optimization metaheuristic and we are world leaders in various stochastic local search methodologies such as iterated local search and evolutionary computation.

Concerning biological networks, our main interest is in the study of neural networks, immune networks, and chemical reaction systems and in the identification of what are their common features and mechanisms. We are also interested in exploiting the results of these studies for the conception of adaptive distributed engineering artefacts.

Finally on the very practical side, IRIDIA develops business intelligence applications such as data mining and object oriented solutions for companies and administrations.