The Scientific Academy for Service Technology

The Scientific Academy for Service Technology e.V. (ServTech) is a non-profit research  association according to §52 of the German tax code. ServTech is based in Potsdam, Germany. ServTech was founded in 2007 with the mission to promote application-oriented scientific research, technology innovation, and diffusion in the areas of Big Data, Software Engineering, Service-Oriented Computing, Cloud Computing, Knowledge-Based Systems, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Twins. In particular, ServTech focuses on smart software applications and automated software services in areas including, but not limited to, smart manufacturing, smart healthcare, smart cities, and smart agriculture. ServTech participates in and leads large-scale cutting-edge R&D projects typically involving 10 to 12 collaborating organisations across Europe (with efforts ranging from 600 to 900 person-months). These projects have a duration of 3 to 4 years and a budget of 7 to 10 M€.

ServTech acts as a research partner, science and technology (S&T) advisor and consultant to several governments, including the German Federal Government in the area of Intelligent Education Networks as part of the annual National Digital Summit, and the Australian Federal Government in the area of key bodies for Australian scientific research. In addition, ServTech provides training and education services and organises and sponsors scientific events. For example, ServTech is the main sponsor of the prestigious International Conference on Service-Oriented Computing series and sponsors the Symposium and Summer School on Service-Oriented Computing (SummerSOC) with a Young Investigator Award. SummerSOC is an annual international summer school and symposium focusing on the research needs and education of young and emerging researchers.

The ServTech team is made up of internationally recognised senior academics with long-standing industry links who have had a long-term impact on international research, as evidenced by seminal publications and funding from international scientific agencies such as the EC (FP & H2020 programmes), the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the Australian Research Council (ARC), the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and other national research agencies. The key competences of the ServTech team cover areas including distributed systems, federated database systems, data integration and interoperability, AI, software and service engineering, business processing, novel software architectures, smart platforms, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), smart manufacturing, smart healthcare, knowledge-based structures, and domain-specific languages for smart systems and applications. The core team is embedded in an international network of leading computer science researchers who are involved in ServTech’s project activities whenever special skills are required.

ServTech’s experts work at the forefront of R&D, they advise and evaluate national research bodies and academic institutions, can influence the introduction or improvement of standards, and have strong links with industry and public authorities. They also work with clients to build foundational enablers and develop skills through capability building to achieve rapid and sustainable impact.

The results of ServTech's activities are made available to the general public through detailed research and design documents, research prototypes, and publications in professional magazines, academic journals, conference proceedings, and public lectures.