Soft Computing is an area of artificial intelligence research focused on the design of intelligent systems to process uncertain, imprecise and incomplete information. Soft Computing methods applied to real-world problems offer more robust, tractable and less costly solutions than those obtained by more conventional mathematical techniques.

The main constituents of Soft Computing are fuzzy logic, neural networks, evolutionary computing and probabilistic reasoning. Since Lotfi Zadeh coined the term “Soft Computing” in 1991, this technological area has developed rapidly both in its theoretical aspects and in its business applications.

Soft Computing techniques address different types of problems both in typology (modelling, optimisation, planning, control, forecasting, data mining, etc.) and in the areas of application (industrial production, logistics, energy, banking, food industry, etc).

Some of the outstanding solutions developed by the ECSC are:

• An automatic forensic identification system
• An optimization and planning tool for industrial production lines
• A method to improve the design of the manufacturing process of new products
• A personalized information and advice solution to promote energy savings
• The personalization of services and content for mobile phones
• The application of cognitive technologies in production processes