The Scientific Academy for Service Technology

The Scientific Academy for Service Technology e.V. (ServTech) is a non-profit research association based in Potsdam, Germany. ServTech serves public-benefit purposes according to §52 of the Fiscal Code of Germany. ServTech was founded in 2007 with the mission to advance application-oriented scientific research, technology innovation and diffusion in the fields of Big Data, Software Engineering, Service-Oriented Computing, Cloud Computing, Knowledge-Based Systems, Artificial Intelligence, and Digital Twins. ServTech especially focusses 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 that typically involve 10 to 12 collaborating organisations spread all over Europe (with efforts ranging from 600 to 900 person-months). These projects have a duration of 3 to 4 years and a budget that extends from 7 to 10 M€.

ServTech acts as a Research Partner, Science and Technology (S&T) adviser and consultant to several governments, e.g., to the German Federal Government in the context of the Annual National Digital Summit in the field of Intelligent Education Networks and the Australian Federal Government in the context of key bodies for Australian scientific research. In addition, ServTech provides Training and Education services and organizes and sponsors scientific events. For instance, 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 training of young and upcoming researchers.

The ServTech team comprises internationally acclaimed senior academics with long-standing industry ties who have a long-term impact on international research demonstrated by seminal publications and funded by international scientific agencies including the EC (FP & H2020 programs), the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and other national research bodies. The ServTech team’s key competences span areas – including but not limited to: 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 ServTech’s project activities whenever special competences 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 ties with industry and public authorities. They also partner with clients to build foundational enablers and develop skills through capability building to create rapid and sustained impact.

The outcomes of ServTech's activity are made accessible to the general public through detailed research and design documents, research prototypes, and publications in specialist magazines, scholarly journals, conference volumes, and public lectures.