Welcome

Vicomtech-IK4 (Visual Interaction and Communication Technologies Centre) is an applied research centre for Interactive Computer Graphics and Multimedia located in the Technology Park of San Sebastian (Spain).

Vicomtech-IK4 is a member of the IK4 Technological Alliance, which is composed of 8 leading Basque technological centres. This alliance is one of the most importants of its kind. In the same way, Vicomtech-IK4 also belongs to the international investigation GraphicsMedia.net, composed of different international prestigious applied investigation centres. All of these members work on Computer Graphics and Multimedia technologies, which gives the net an internationalization active and strategic profile to its investigation activity.

Since the beginning was a member of Saretek, the Basque Network of Science, Technology and Innovation, which in July 2007 turned into Innobasque, the Basque Agency for Innovation, an instrument for the coordination and impulse of the Innovation within the Basque Country. Furthermore, the acknowledgement Vicomtech-IK4 has obtained in these years has paved the way to incorporate into the IK4 alliance and also to be classified as an Innovation and Technology Centre (ITC) by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.

Vicomtech-IK4’s aim is to fulfil the innovation needs of the companies and institutions. For this, the Centre

• works in applied research and development of multimedia technologies for visual interaction and communication;
  
  
• fosters the mobility and formation of researchers;
  
  
• collaborates tightly with the industry, universities and institutions, and complements other technology centres.

Thus, the knowledge and technologies that Vicomtech-IK4 masters, directly or indirectly via the network, give added value to its clients, because Vicomtech-IK4

• can provide them the best answer to their specific needs;
  
  
• facilitates them to take advantages from the technological opportunities that may appear;
  
  
• proposes improvements or developments for their products, based on the latest advances of scientific and technological knowledge.

This is clearly seen in the about 90 applied investigation projects per year with local, national and European industry partners and administrations, about 85 researchers and an annual turnover of 5,4 million euros. Nowadays Vicomtech-IK4’s General Assembly is made up of 20 members, representative and relevant on their fields.

The ISO 9001:2000 and UNE 166002:2006 standards assure that the work developed in the centre is tested with a quality assurance system that accomplishes the certificate standards proposed and recognized worldwide by the ISO organization. These certificates validate Vicomtech-IK4’s commitment to quality at every level and in every process.

Vicomtech-IK4’s research profile is to serve as a bridge between the local and the international environments. This philosophy of applied research helps the local companies to have new opportunities to access a worldwide environment, and to benefit from the latest technological advances in the international context. At the same time, Vicomtech-IK4’s participation in international projects complements and improves the main local activity of applied research.

Vicomtech-IK4 pursues to contribute to the general knowledge fostering the training of young researchers and through the publication of results in renowned international journals and conferences.