From research to business

• Partisia was co-founded by three leading professors from the Department of Computer Science at Aarhus University: Ivan Damgård, Jesper Buus Nielsen, and Claudio Orlandi. Globally recognized for their pioneering work in Multiparty Computation (MPC), they have advanced cryptographic methods that enable privacy-preserving computation on data from multiple parties. This research has paved the way for real-world applications, including secure auctions, blockchain technologies, and more.
• Aarhus University and Partisia maintain a strong connection: 70% of Partisia’s employees hold a computer science degree from the university, and the company actively collaborates on research projects like HedaX, which uses MPC to enable secure computation on health data.
• Aarhus University is ranked #2 globally in cryptography (csrankings.org), establishing it as a hub for cutting-edge research in secure computation. Partisia’s success is rooted in over two decades of academic breakthroughs, including the groundbreaking 2008 project that demonstrated the first large-scale practical application of MPC, detailed in the landmark paper “Secure Multiparty Computation Goes Live.”
• Partisia has been part of INCUBA since 2018. Read more about the company’s scaling in INCUBA here.

• The Programming Languages research group at Aarhus University specializes in advancing the design and application of programming languages. The group's core focus is on developing theoretical foundations and practical tools for programming, with a particular emphasis on program analysis techniques that enhance software quality and programmer productivity. This research has long been a hallmark of the department, with significant contributions to fields such as object-oriented programming, functional programming, type systems, and concurrency. The group's work plays a critical role in academia and industry, as it addresses key challenges like error detection, security vulnerabilities, and program efficiency through advanced analysis tools. With a long history of impactful research, the group is currently ranked 5th in the world according to csranking.org.
• One of the most significant outcomes of the group's research is the founding of Coana, a company that brings their research into the practical realm of IT security. Coana was established by Martin Torp, Benjamin Barslev Nielsen, and Professor Anders Møller, who was also the PhD supervisor for Martin and Benjamin. Their collaboration, during their PhD studies at Aarhus University, led to the development of a tool designed to automate the process of updating JavaScript code packages. This solves a major challenge faced by developers - ensuring compatibility between existing code and new updates - by automating the update process and thus reducing the risk of errors and security vulnerabilities.
• Building on this work, Coana's technology also includes reachability analysis, an advanced static analysis tool developed by Anders Møller and his team. This tool filters out irrelevant data, identifying only those security vulnerabilities that pose a real risk. By streamlining this process, Coana enables software developers to achieve high security standards with significantly fewer resources. With this tool, Coana helps businesses mitigate risks associated with open-source components, providing a valuable service to companies in need of robust IT security solutions. The success of Coana exemplifies the successful translation of cutting-edge academic research into practical, industry-ready tools.
• Coana has been part of INCUBA since 2024. Read more about its work here.

The modern era of quantum research began in the 1980s, when scientists started exploring practical applications of quantum physics, such as quantum cryptography and quantum computers. The development in the field has progressed rapidly since then, especially in the last 10-15 years, with major technology companies and research institutions investing heavily in quantum technology. Quantum computers are still in their early stages, but the potential for revolutionary breakthroughs in areas such as materials research, medicine, and cryptography is enormous. The Department of Computer Science does not have a research group dedicated to quantum computing, but research in this field is instead spread across several research groups:

• Irfansha Shaik, industrial postdoc from the research group Logic and Semantics, share his time between the Department of Computer Science and Kvantify. This collaboration ensures that the lates research is quickly translated into practice. Kvantify works on simulating small molecules like enzymes by using quantum computers, with the goal of achieving “chemical precision.” Irfansha applies advanced techniques such as automated planning and SAT-solving to optimise quantum circuits. This has made it possible for Kvantify to reach a milestone: for the first time, demonstrating that quantum computation can achieve ‘chemical precision’ with current technology.
• Researchers from Cryptography and Cybersecurity have just advanced a project to phase two in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standardisation process. NIST’s standardisation process for Post-Quantum Cryptography is crucial for the development of algorithms, that are to protect sensitive information in a quantum-driven world.
• Professor Kasper Green Larsen (Algorithms, Data Structures and Foundations of Machine Learning) and Allan Grønlund from Kvantify have recently published the research paper ‘An Exponential Separation Between Quantum and Quantum-Inspired Classical Algorithms for Machine Learning’, wherein they have, for the first time, proven an exponential performance difference between quantum algorithms and quantum-inspired classical algorithms for an important machine learning task: solving linear systems with well-conditioned and sparse matrices.

Kvantify has been part of INCUBA since 2022 and in 2023 won the INCUBA award for startup of the year. Read more here.

• Scalgo originated from the basic research centre MADALGO (Center for Massive Data Algorithms), which was funded by the Danish National Research Foundation from 2007 to 2017 under the leadership of Professor Lars Arge.
• MADALGO advanced the algorithm research by bridging the gap between theory and practice. Traditional algorithms often perform poorly on modern hardware and massive datasets. MADALGO developed groundbreaking algorithms that take account for the real-world constraints such as hierarchical memory and data streams. The centre achieved a leading global position in I/O-efficient algorithms, cache-oblivious algorithms, streaming algorithms, and algorithm engineering. Its research has earned prestigious awards, fostered interdisciplinary collaborations, and resulted in the successful startup Scalgo.
• The algorithm research conducted by the Algorithms, Data Structures, and Foundations of Machine Learning group is crucial because it develops fundamental solutions that underpin modern technology. The group works on creating fast and efficient methods to process large datasets and solve complex problems – e.g. to improve search engines and streaming services. Additionally, it explores the limits of how optimal solutions can be, which helps to understand what is achievable in the world of technology.
• Sclago has been part of INCUBA since 2024. Read more about its choice of location for the company here.