The ecosystem

Horst Görtz Institute
for IT Security
The Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security (HGI), Research Department of the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), is one of the largest and oldest institutes in the field of IT security in Europe. The institute was founded in 2002 at the RUB in order to address the europe-wide deficits in public research on IT security. Around 160 scientists from computer science, electrical engineering and information technology and mathematics as well as the humanities and social sciences are currently doing research at the Research Department IT Security. Since 2019, the HGI has been home to “CASA: Cyber Security in the Age of Large-Scale Adversaries”, the only German cluster of excellence in the field of IT security. CASA is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with around 30 million euros. The HGI is part of the Faculty of Computer Science at the RUB.

Faculty for Computer Science
With the founding of the Faculty of Computer Science in October 2021, the Center of Computer Science, the Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security and the Institute for Neuroinformatics will from now on combine their research strength and teaching competence. The research covers pioneering sub-areas of modern (core) computer science and IT security, including, for example, quantum information, machine learning, software engineering, neuroinformatics, cryptography, databases and distributed systems, and is internationally visible and recognized. The 2.000 students experience a solid basic education in the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral courses in applied computer science, computer science and IT security and choose from a wide range of courses on highly topical research topics. In addition to research and teaching, networking is a cornerstone of the faculty. Embedded in the ecosystem of the IT and IT security capital Bochum, new synergy effects are constantly being created in close proximity to renowned research institutes such as the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy and to industry, which enable technology transfer across technical and geographical borders.
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IT Security Startups

Apheris

AWARE7

Code Intelligence
EDGELESS SYSTEMS

emproof

Hackmanit

immune

PHYSEC

PRIVACEE

qbound

RIPS Technologies

securious

SoSafe

Trustcerts

VMRAY

XignSys
“I can report from my own experience that it is a very difficult phase to go to market with the first idea. Here it is important to have fellow sufferers. We form a network of founders in which they help each other if there are failures or setbacks in the realiziation of their ideas.”
