About us

With more than 125 members (14 professors, 5 business developers, 26 senior research staff, 76 junior research staff, and 7 supporting staff members), IDLab is one of the largest research groups of the University of Antwerp. IDLab has a solid track-record on connectivity and artificial intelligence research. We have as well expertise setting up interdisciplinary collaborations with universities and research centers worldwide to jointly develop advanced technologies with industry (R&D centers from international companies, Flanders’ top innovating large companies and SMEs, as well as numerous high-tech start-ups).

In the field of artificial intelligence, the team is particularly active in the following domains:

Perception and Representation Learning: computer vision, learned representations, time-series forecasting, explainable AI and feature engineering, causality, and reinforcement Learning.

Resource aware AI: optimization of machine learning algorithms for resource constrained devices.

Advanced Control Systems: research on model-based (MBRL) and multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) for system control and optimization.

In the area of wireless networking, the research is divided in the following three tracks:

Flexible & Deterministic Networking: flexible end-to-end architectures, heterogeneous networking, ultra-low latency networking, and programmable functionality

Sustainable IoT: energy-aware and energy-harvested IoT, energy-efficient communication, and in-body communication

Localisation, Tracking & Sensing: multimodal localisation & tracking, device free sensing, and context-aware localisation & sensing

At the national level, we are active in fundamental (like FWO-SBO) and applied (like imec.icon, VLAIO) research trajectories. Moreover, IDLab is currently leading one of the four grand challenges in the Flemish government's AI program. At European level, thanks to our knowledge on 5G, IoT and AI, we have a strong track record on funding acquisition within the Horizon Europe framework program. In several of these European research and innovation projects, IDLab is taking up the role of work package leader.

Contact

Prof. Erik Mannens
Tel.
+32 473 27 44 17
The Beacon, 7th floor
Sint-Pietersvliet 7
2000 Antwerpen

The Beacon

How to reach us?

By public transport

Easily reachable by tram, Velo, bike and bus:

  • TRAM: take tram 7 to stop 'Sint-Paulusplaats'.
  • VELO: Velo station 049, Tolhuis/050, Klapdorp/058, Noorderterras.
  • BIKE: park your bike in the bicycle parking lot below the building.
  • BUS: take bus 17 to stop 'Antwerpen Van Schoonbekeplein' + a 5-minute walk.

By car

It’s recommended to travel to and in Antwerp by public transport. If you are travelling by car, take the following into account:

  • There are P+R zones where you can park on various main roads into Antwerp. They are ideal places to switch to bus, tram or bike a few kilometres from The Beacon.
  • The Antwerp city centre and part of Linkeroever (Antwerp’s left bank) are a low-emission zone: highly polluting vehicles are not allowed into the city. 
  • The city of Antwerp is working towards a pedestrian-friendly centre for both visitors and residents. As of 1 August 2023, visitors are no longer allowed to park on the street.

The public parking spaces "Rijnkaai" and “Grote Markt” are at a 10-minute walk distance.