Prof. Mühleisen is recognized for his significant contribution, the DuckDB system. DuckDB is an open-source column-oriented relational database management system that executes complex queries on large databases and focuses on online analytical processing. DuckDB was created as part of ongoing research into database architectures at CWI together with former student Dr. Mark Raasveldt. The impact of DuckDB is impressive: the system is simple and is downloaded more than 10 million times per month. It is actively adopted in production by Fortune 500 companies. DuckDB is at the core of several innovative startup companies worldwide; for example, MotherDuck has raised over $100 million to build a data warehouse product using DuckDB. The project team has spun off from CWI into a separate company, DuckDB Labs, which provides commercial services around DuckDB, co-founded by Mühleisen and Raasveldt. The project is governed by the non-profit organization DuckDB Foundation, whose statutes ensure that DuckDB remains open source under the MIT license.
A monetary award of €50,000 is associated with the prize, which the winner may freely use to enhance his research. The prestigious Dutch Prize for ICT Research is awarded annually to a senior academic researcher who has conducted innovative research or is responsible for a scientific breakthrough in ICT. The prize is made available by the members of the ICT research platform Netherlands (IPN) with a subsidy from COMMIT, via the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities.
In addition to the prize money, a video has been produced with more information about Prof. Dr. Hannes Mühleisen and his award-winning work.
Previous winners of the Dutch Prize for ICT Research include:
- Dr. Ivano Malavolta – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2024)
- Dr. Cristiano Guiffrida – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2023)
- Dr. Jasmin Blanchette – Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2022)
- Dr. Felienne Hermans – Universiteit Leiden (2021)
- Dr. Pablo Cesar – Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) (2020)
- Prof. dr. Elmar Eisemann – Technische Universiteit Delft (2019)
- Prof. dr. Joost Batenburg – CWI/ Universiteit Leiden (2018)
- Dr. Peter Schwabe – Radboud Universiteit (2017)
- Prof. dr. Alexandru Iosup – Technische Universiteit Delft / Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (2016)
- Dr. Birna van Riemsdijk – Technische Universiteit Delft (2015)
- Prof. dr. Marieke Huisman – Universiteit Twente (2013)
- Dr. Cees Snoek – Universiteit van Amsterdam (2012)
- Prof. dr. Bettina Speckmann – Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (2011)
About KHMW
The Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW) was founded in 1752 and aims to promote science and bridge the gap between science and society. This is achieved by announcing prize competitions, awarding scientific achievements, and organizing lectures and scientific conferences. The Holland Society has been located in the Hodshonhuis in Haarlem since 1841.
About IPN
IPN is a national platform for the Dutch ICT research field and serves as the point of contact for policymakers, politics, business, and other societal groups. IPN strengthens the position of ICT in the Netherlands as a scientific discipline and makes it more visible.
* WUR excluded