Brief Summary

The Foundation for Advanced Computer Studies (FACS) is a non-for-profit research and application institution, which deals with education, software and consultancy in the field of computer science, in particular in the domain of knowledge mining, multimedia information systems, database management systems and the Internet.

FACS was founded on the 9th of March 1994 by

• the Institute for Computer and Information Engineering (http://www.icie.com.pl)
• Prof. M. Muraszkiewicz (http://www.icie.com.pl/mrm.htm)
• Prof. H. Rybinski (http://www.icie.com.pl/rhr.htm)

and registered under number 4457 at the court of Warsaw. Prof. H. Rybinski has been elected President of the Foundation.

FACS supports young researchers, in particular it sponsors preparations of "promising" Ph.D. theses and organizes professional competitions. FACS can also design and implement information systems of various types, knowledge systems, library management systems, and educational systems. The Foundation can handle full-scale computer and computer related projects based on the client-server architecture, and the projects related to the Internet and intranets. FACS can provide turn-key systems, as well as, top-notch consulting and training.

The main asset of FACS is its permanent staff and a pool of consultants working for FACS on a contractual basis. All of them are highly qualified computer specialists and lecturers in system analysis and evaluation, design, software implementation, training, Internet, etc. There are 3 permanent employees (2 professors and 1 Ph.D. of computer/ information science) and 9 cooperating persons on a contractual basis (including 3 Ph.Ds).

The FACS staff and its collaborators conducted a number of large-scale database/information system projects (based on PCs, SUNs, HP; Micro CDS/ISIS, MINISIS, MS Access, Oracle, Sybase, SQL Server), in various countries; some of the projects were based on the Internet. As a result, they have acquired the skills on a cooperative way of producing high quality software products and related items such as documentation and training. In addition, almost all persons cooperating with FACS are professional lecturers at the Warsaw University and Warsaw University of Technology. As a rule, students are involved in many projects carried out by FACS.

Through its staff and collaborators FACS closely cooperates with, inter alia,:

In Poland:
Institute of Theoretical and Applied Computer Science (Polish Academy of Sciences), Institute of Computer Science Foundations (Polish Academy of Sciences), Central Agriculture Library, Information Division of Sejm (Polish Parliament), the Institute of Information Science and Librarianship (Warsaw University), Polish-German Cooperation Foundation, Polish Chamber of Commerce.

International:
Termnet, Infoterm, Naturhistorische Museum Wien, and Oesterreichische Forschungsstiftung fuer Entwicklungshilfe (Austria)

United Nations agencies:
UNIDO, FAO, UNESCO, UNEP, UNOV