The IMDEA Software Institute (Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Software Development Technologies) is a research institute dedicated to advancing the scientific and technological foundations of software development. It focuses on producing the science and technology necessary to ensure that software systems are safe, reliable, and efficient. It was established in 2006 by the Madrid Regional Government, as part of the Madrid Institutes for Advanced Studies (

IMDEA IMDEA () is a project founded by the Madrid Regional Government, included in the ''IV Regional Plan of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation 2005-2008 (PRICIT)'', for the purpose of setting up advanced research centers and higher educat ...

) initiative and is located at the Montegancedo Campus of the

Polytechnic University of Madrid The Technical University of Madrid or sometimes called Polytechnic University of Madrid (, UPM) is a public university, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different Technical Schools of Engineering and Arc ...

History

The institute was established as one of the seven

institutes by the Madrid Regional Government in 2006 to enhance scientific research and technological innovation in the region. It is legally constituted as an independent, non-profit foundation. In 2025, the IMDEA Software Institute received the María de Maeztu accreditation, recognizing it as a Unit of Excellence in Research.

Research

The IMDEA Software Institute focuses on advancing the science and technology needed to develop high-quality, reliable, secure, and efficient software. Its research is primarily concentrated on three areas: * Logic and Verification: This area develops frameworks and tools to ensure software correctness in functionality, efficiency, and resource use, crucial for fields like avionics and financial technologies. Research includes verification of concurrent systems and static analysis techniques. * Programming Languages and Software Engineering: This research provides tools for creating clear and modular code, focusing on programming languages that express complex properties and techniques to simplify programming. It includes work on type systems, compilation, and AI applications to improve system performance. * Security and Cryptography: This area aims to secure computations and data storage in hostile environments, focusing on cryptography, network security, malware analysis, and privacy-enhancing technologies.

European Research Council (ERC) grants

The IMDEA Software Institute has secured several ERC grants:

MadQuantum-CM

MadQuantum-CM is one of IMDEA Software's key research project. It focuses on quantum cybersecurity by enhancing secure communications through a scalable

quantum key distribution Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a secure communication method that implements a cryptographic protocol involving components of quantum mechanics. It enables two parties to produce a shared random secret key known only to them, which then can b ...

(QKD) network. Led by a consortium including the

Technical University of Madrid The Technical University of Madrid or sometimes called Polytechnic University of Madrid (, UPM) is a public university, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different Technical Schools of Engineering and Arc ...

and IMDEA Software, MadQuantum-CM integrates

software-defined networking Software-defined networking (SDN) is an approach to network management that uses abstraction to enable dynamic and programmatically efficient network configuration to create grouping and segmentation while improving network performance and monit ...

(SDN) and all-optical switches to dynamically establish quantum links across nine interconnected nodes in the Madrid metropolitan area. This initiative supports a wide range of QKD technologies and protocols, promoting interoperability and the integration of new devices, and setting a blueprint for future quantum communication infrastructures such as the EuroQCI project. The MadQuantum-CM project is part of broader efforts to strengthen Madrid's position in secure quantum communications, with an overall funding of €73 million from the Regional Government of Madrid, the Spanish Government, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, and further supporters.

Governance

The institute operates as an independent foundation governed by a board of trustees, comprising representatives from academia, industry, and government. A scientific advisory board, consisting of international academics, provides guidance on the institute's scientific strategy and research activities. It is composed of

Roberto Di Cosmo Roberto Di Cosmo is an italian computer scientist and director of IRILL, the Innovation and research initiative for free software (). He graduated from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and obtained a PhD from the University of Pisa, before b ...

, Gustavo Alonso, María Alpuente, Anindya Banerjee,

Patrick Cousot Patrick Cousot (born 3 December 1948) is a French computer scientist, currently Silver Professor of Computer Science at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, USA. Before he was Professor at the École Normale Supéri ...

, Veronica Dahl, José Meseguer,

Luís Moniz Pereira Luís Moniz Pereira (born in 1947 in Lisbon, Portugal) is Professor of Computer Science and Director of the AI centre at New University of Lisbon. His research is in the field of logic programming and in knowledge representation, reasoning and cogni ...

Catuscia Palamidessi Catuscia Palamidessi (born 1959) is a computer scientist whose research topics have included differential privacy, location obfuscation, fairness in machine learning, the logic of concurrent systems, and the design of programming languages th ...

, Marta Patiño,

Martin Wirsing Martin Wirsing (born 24 December 1948 in Bayreuth) is a German computer scientist, and Professor at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany. Biography Wirsing studied Mathematics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) a ...

, and Andreas Zeller.

Media Coverage

The institute's research has garnered substantial media attention. Their contributions to safety research in cryptography were cover by

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

. Additionally, their development of a tool for tracking cybercrime was covered by several major outlets, including

COPE A cope ( ("rain coat") or ("cape")) is a liturgical long mantle or cloak, open at the front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colour. A cope may be worn by any rank of the Catholic or Anglican clerg ...

. Their quantum communication network was covered by

La Vanguardia ' (; , ) is a Spanish daily newspaper founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan. It has its headquarters in Barcelona and is Catalonia's leading newspaper. Despite being mostly distributed in Catalonia, ...

. Their research on security threats in smart homes has been covered by

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

, ElDiario.es, and

20 Minutos ''20 minutos'' is a Spanish free newspaper, with local editions in several Spanish cities, published by Multiprensa & Mas S.L. History Multiprensa & Mas S.L. was founded in Madrid in 1999. The founder of 20 minutos is José Antonio Martínez ...

. Additionally, research on the economic aspects of cybercrime, specifically the hidden fortunes and overestimations in cybercrime revenue, was highlighted by

Eurasia Review Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents dates back to antiqu ...

Europa Press Europa Press is a Spanish news agency founded in 1953. It broadcasts news 24 hours a day, publishing 3,000 articles on average per day. Originally founded as a book distribution company by five monarchists, Europa Press became a news agency in ...

, and Madrimasd. The investigation into the use of disposable phone numbers in online frauds was also featured in an article by ADSLZone. Lastly, the hidden riches of cybercrime were explored in detail by Knowridge Science Report and El Mundo.

References

External links

IMDEA Software Institute Official Website

Community of Madrid

Madri+d
{{DEFAULTSORT:Instituto IMDEA Software Research institutes in the Community of Madrid Science and technology in Spain Non-profit organisations based in Spain