iCoSys

What iCoSys does

iCoSys — formally the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Complex Systems — is a Swiss applied-research institute affiliated with HEIA-FR (Haute école d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Fribourg) and operating under the HES-SO (Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale) public university umbrella, headquartered at Boulevard de Pérolles 80, Fribourg. Founded in 2013, the institute organizes its work around four research axes: distributed computing for cloud and HPC, applied AI/ML encompassing deep learning and signal processing, sustainable ICT for smart living (Web-of-Things, smart buildings, sensor networks), and ICT for Industry 4.0 (big-data services, predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, and simulation).

The institute produces and maintains an open-source technology portfolio that includes the Deep Learning Library (DLL), a C++ neural-network framework explicitly positioned for Industry 4.0 CPU deployments; the Expressions Template Library (ETL) for C++ numerical computing; the COJAC Java numerical sniffer; POP-C++ and POP-Java for distributed HPC programming; and the SustAIn framework for sustainable-AI assessment. Alongside its software outputs, iCoSys curates distinctive datasets such as SwissCrawl (500,000+ Swiss German sentences, built with Swisscom), a Sudoku OCR corpus, and the ACS-F1 and ACS-F2 appliance-consumption-signature databases.

iCoSys operates a public-sector funding model rather than a commercial one. Revenue is generated through grant-funded applied-research projects — primarily from innosuisse, the Swiss National Science Foundation (FNS), EU programs, and direct industrial mandates — together with contributions from research visitors and academic publication activities. The institute names 9 professors, 9 engineers, and 6 PhD students/postdocs (24 total) and reports more than 70 active or completed applied research projects and 381 publications across sectors including healthcare (Sensimed AG), heavy industry (Liebherr), real estate (IMMOMIG SA), telecommunications (Swisscom), and defense (Armasuisse). Named institutional partners include HES-SO, HEIA-FR, EPFL, IDIAP, the University of Fribourg, Berkeley Lab, and the Smart Living Lab, with iCoSys also a member of the national SCAI competence center.

Name

iCoSys

Legal name

iCoSys - Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Complex Systems

Website

https://icosys.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

iCoSys is the HES-SO/HEIA-FR-affiliated Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Complex Systems in Fribourg, Switzerland, conducting applied AI, deep learning, distributed computing and signal-processing research for academic and industrial partners via grant-funded projects and open-source tooling.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Applied AI Research Services

NAICS

Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Instrumentation, Controls & Automation Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAM)

Keywords

• Applied AI research
• Machine learning services
• Distributed computing
• Predictive maintenance AI
• Smart building analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

Fribourg

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Applied Research Projects: iCoSys conducts applied research projects with academic and industrial partners funded through innosuisse projects, FNS, EU projects, and direct research mandates.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

iCoSys is an applied research institute that conducts funded research projects with academic and industrial partners across machine learning, deep learning, big data, signal processing, distributed computing, and smart living/Industry 4.0 applications. It also develops and publishes open-source AI tools (DLL, ETL, COJAC, POP-C++/Java, SustAIn) and research datasets (SwissCrawl, Sudoku, ACS-F1/F2), and enables technology transfer from academic research to enterprise applications through its engineering team.

Product overview

iCoSys is an applied research institute specializing in Artificial Intelligence and Complex Systems. The institute develops and maintains a portfolio of open-source tools and frameworks including the Deep Learning Library (DLL), a C++ machine learning framework optimized for CPU performance; Expressions Template Library (ETL), a C++ numerical computing library; COJAC, a Java numerical anomaly detection tool; and POP-C++/POP-Java for distributed computing. iCoSys also produces datasets including SwissCrawl (Swiss German corpus), Sudoku Dataset, and ACS appliance signature datasets. The institute focuses on applied research across machine learning, deep learning, distributed computing, and smart building/Industry 4.0 applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Deep Learning Library (DLL) A C++ machine learning framework providing neural networks and convolutional neural networks implementations with significant CPU performance speedups compared to TensorFlow or Torch, designed for Industry 4.0 applications.
• Expressions Template Library (ETL) A header-only C++ library providing vector and matrix classes with Expression Templates support for highly efficient numerical operations.
• COJAC A two-fold Java tool providing a numerical sniffer for detecting arithmetic operation anomalies and an enriching wrapper that automatically converts float/double data into richer number types at runtime without source code modification.
• POP-C++ A comprehensive object-oriented programming suite for developing HPC applications on the Grid, including a programming language, compiler, and runtime system.
• POP-Java A Java implementation of the POP programming model that enables programmers to distribute object-oriented Java applications over the network without handling low-level distribution work.
• SustAIn A framework for evaluating and optimizing the energy and environmental impact of AI model applications, aiming to create a center of expertise in Sustainable AI.
• SwissCrawl Dataset A corpus of over 500,000 Swiss German sentences gathered from the internet, created as part of the SwissTranslation project in partnership with Swisscom.
• Sudoku Dataset A dataset of 160 Sudoku images captured from various newspapers using smartphone cameras, divided into 120 training and 40 test images.
• ACS-F1 Dataset Database of appliance consumption signatures containing 100 home appliances across 10 categories with 6 consumption measure types, including test protocols for appliance recognition tasks.
• ACS-F2 Dataset Machine learning dataset containing electric consumption signatures of 225 appliances spread into 15 categories including 6 time series such as current, active power, and reactive power.

Quantifiable outcome

• 381 publications in research database
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability12 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major, significant and notable.

• HES-SO (Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParent institution providing institutional framework and funding support for the applied research institute. iCoSys is affiliated with HES-SO through HEIA-FR.
• HEIA-FR (Haute école d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Fribourg)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost institution of iCoSys located at Boulevard de Pérolles 80, Fribourg. Multiple institutes at HEIA-FR collaborate with iCoSys including ChemTech, ENERGY, HumanTech, iPRINT, iRAP, iSIS, iTEC, SeSi, and TRANSFORM.
• Smart Living LabcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFribourg-based competence center focused on sustainable living environments. Collaborates on projects like BeCool for heating control system validation.
• EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)majorTechnology or IntegrationSwiss national academic partner for collaborative research projects and conference participation.
• IDIAP Research InstitutemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwiss AI research institute partner in Martigny. Collaborates on ADVANCe project for emotion analysis in video feeds.
• SwisscommajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTelecommunications partner for SwissTranslation project (automatic translation from Swiss German to High German) and SwissCrawl dataset creation with 500K+ sentences.
• LiebherrmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInnosuisse-funded project for predictive maintenance approaches on internal combustion engines from Liebherr.
• Sensimed AGsignificantStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealthcare technology partner for Sensimed Diagnosis project analyzing intra-ocular pressure monitoring signals using signal processing and pattern recognition.
• ArmasuissesignificantStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwiss defense technology procurement organization. Partner for TAKE (Tactical Ad-hoc network Emulation) project.
• Phenosystems SAsignificantStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustrial partner for GenoML project improving DNA sequence analysis using machine learning.
• IMMOMIG SAsignificantStrategic or Co-development PartnerReal estate technology partner for DigiRENT-AI project adding AI capabilities to the DigiRENT rental property management service.
• UNIFR (University of Fribourg)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal university partner with multiple research groups including DIVA, eXascale Infolab, HUMAN-IST, Statistical & Computational Biology group, and Microbial Genomics group.
• Berkeley LabnotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational academic partner for collaborative research.
• MorpheannotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerVideo surveillance technology partner for VideoProtector project managing camera streams in SaaS mode.
• SCAI (Swiss Center for Augmented Intelligence)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational competence center for development and democratization of augmented intelligence. iCoSys is a member contributing to the SCAI initiative.
• QuantisnotableStrategic or Co-development PartnerEnvironmental sustainability consultancy partner for projects related to sustainable AI and environmental impact assessment.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• IDIAP Research Institute: Swiss applied AI research institute based in Martigny, also affiliated with HES-SO and already a documented partner of iCoSys. Comparable as a similarly sized, publicly-funded institute delivering applied AI research to academic and industrial clients in Switzerland.
• IDSIA (USI/SUPSI): Swiss AI/robotics research lab affiliated with USI and SUPSI, historically known for deep learning research. Highly comparable as a small, Swiss-based AI research group conducting academic and applied projects with industrial partners.

Broad incumbents

• DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence): Germany's flagship publicly-funded applied AI research center, combining academic AI research with industry-funded projects and spin-offs. Mirrors iCoSys' applied-research-plus-technology-transfer model on a larger scale.
• Fraunhofer IAIS: German applied-research institute focused on AI, data science, and intelligent systems within the Fraunhofer Society. Comparable in delivering applied AI consulting, custom software, and data analytics to enterprise and government clients.
• Inria: French national research institute for digital science, conducting applied AI research with academic and industrial partners. Comparable for its public-research funding model and cross-sector AI project portfolio.
• ETH AI Center: Cross-disciplinary AI hub at ETH Zurich that coordinates AI research, industry engagement, and spin-offs in Switzerland. Comparable as a higher-tier Swiss AI research brand driving both academic output and industry collaboration.
• IBM Research Zurich: Global industrial AI research lab with a Zurich presence collaborating with Swiss academia and industry. Comparable for working at the intersection of fundamental AI research and enterprise-grade AI deployments.
• Microsoft Research: Large industrial research organization publishing foundational AI research and partnering with academic and enterprise clients. Comparable only at a strategic level: iCoSys operates at a much smaller scale in the same applied-AI-research-and-partnership space.

Emerging players

• Faculty AI: Commercial applied AI consulting firm founded out of UK academic AI talent that delivers custom ML solutions to enterprise clients. Comparable as a research-rooted, services-led AI consultancy competing for the same kind of applied AI mandates.
• QuantumBlack (McKinsey): McKinsey's AI and analytics consulting arm, delivering applied AI/ML projects to global enterprise clients. Comparable at the use-case and project-delivery layer, though operating at vastly greater scale and global reach than iCoSys.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/icosys

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about iCoSys