IRIT (Institut de Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse) was founded in 1990. Since then, it plays a prominent role in Toulouse computer science research. It gathers together more than 400 members among which 300 researchers, faculty members, and Ph.D. students afiliated to CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), INPT (Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse), UPS (Université Paul Sabatier) and UT1 (Université Toulouse1 Sciences Sociales).

Research at IRIT covers most of the fields where computer and information science is in progress, be it in its core, ranging from computer architecture to software engineering and computer networks, or in its most contemporary developments like artificial intelligence and cognitive systems, multimedia man-machine interaction, image interpretation and synthesis.