The mission of Athena RC is to conduct outstanding research in Informatics and Computational Sciences and to ensure this research has an impact on society, especially regarding local needs.
Athena RC studies a broad spectrum of research issues within these fields, including some raised by other sciences, industrial applications, or societal challenges. Together with research, innovation is also a fundamental pillar of the mission of Athena RC. Research institutes, spin-off companies, and three highly-specialised clusters in knowledge-intensive thematic sectors (nano/microelectronics-based systems and applications, space technologies and applications and gaming and creative technologies and applications) create a fertile technological innovation ecosystem within the Center, with mutually beneficial collaborations between its members and systematic efforts to bring to market any research results with such potential.
The vision of Athena RC is to serve the full spectrum of the research lifecycle, starting from basic and applied research, continuing on to system & product building and infrastructure service provision, and ending with technology transfer and entrepreneurship. The fundamental role of Athena RC is to build knowledge and devise solutions and technologies for the digital society. Its value lies in the unique collection of skills and know-how of its researchers and professional staff and its national and international reputation.
A European and international actor, Athena RC operates in three cities (Athens, Patras and Xanthi) and implements its research and innovation strategy through its research institutes and units, positioning itself as an actor in and partner of the regional plans conducted by political, academic, economic and societal entities.
The scope of activities of ATHENA R.C. includes all Information and Communication Technologies, from the perspective of both Computer Science and Computational Science, and covering all software and hardware aspects. These include all areas of informatics / computer science, automation, robotics, signal processing, artificial intelligence, networking and digital communication, modelling, and simulation. Furthermore, research and development are carried out both at the level of information technology itself and at the level of specific applications. In particular, computational sciences form a strong component of the activities of ATHENA R.C., including but not limited to computational linguistics, archaeology, engineering, medicine, biology, biodiversity, earth observation, space science, mechanics, and the arts.
The key personnel of Athena RC (55 permanent senior and junior research staff and 330 research associates and assistants) have a long and pertinent experience in participating in and leading EU projects (more than 180 national and European projects in the last 5 years).
Administrative business is done through the specialized personnel of the Central Administration.
Athena RC has a longstanding and continuously evolving ISO 9001:2008 certification in the fields of Project Management, Software Development and 3D Digitisation Services Provision.