Research Institute of Computer Science and Random Systems

{{Short description|Joint computer science research center in Rennes in Brittany}}

{{More citations needed|date=June 2025}}

{{infobox organization

| formation = {{Start date and age|1975}}

| native_name = Institut de recherche en informatique et systèmes aléatoires

| native_name_lang = fr

| image = IRISA_travaux.JPG

| abbreviation = IRISA

| type = {{Lang|fr|Unité mixte de recherche}}

| location = Rennes, France

| website = {{Official URL}}

| coordinates = {{coord|48|06|58|N|1|38|21|W|source:kolossus-frwiki|display=title,inline}}

}}

The Research Institute of Computer Science and Random Systems ({{Langx|fr|Institut de recherche en informatique et systèmes aléatoires}}; IRISA) is a joint computer science research center of CNRS, University of Rennes 1, ENS Rennes, INSA Rennes and Inria, in Rennes in Brittany. It is one of the eight Inria research centers.{{Cite web |title=Irisa (Research Institute of Computer Science and Random Systems) {{!}} IMT Atlantique |url=https://www.imt-atlantique.fr/en/research-innovation/scientific-community/national-organisations/irisa |access-date=2025-06-02 |website=www.imt-atlantique.fr |language=en}}

Created in 1975 as a spin-off of the University of Rennes 1, IRISA was formed by merging the young computer science department with a few mathematicians, specifically probabilists, including Michel Métivier, who became the first president of IRISA.

Research topics span from theoretical computer science, such as formal languages, formal methods, and other mathematically oriented fields like information theory, optimization, and complex systems, to application-driven areas like bioinformatics, image and video compression, handwriting recognition, computer graphics, medical imaging, and content-based image retrieval.