In the beginning of the 1960s, it became apparent on a political level that the extensive development related to computing motivated increasing measures on several educational levels. In 1964, a government report proposed that the discipline ”Administrative Data Processing” (ADP) should be established in Sweden.

A new world discipline

In 1965, Börje Langefors laid the foundation to DSV. As Sweden’s first IT Professor, he helped develop the new academic subject of Information processing, specialising in methods for Administrative Data Processing within the ADP discipline. The discipline was the first in the world within the field, and as one of the Nordic IT pioneers, Langefors contributed to placing Sweden on the international IT map.

Creating the department

In 1966, a joint department was created by Stockholm University and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), named Svenska ADB-institutionen (ADB is a Swedish abbreviation for IT or ICT, used from the 1950s to the 1980s). The first students were actually given education within this new discipline the year before. In 1987, the department changed its name to Computer and Systems Sciences (”Data- och systemvetenskap” in Swedish), abbreviated DSV.

Our subject

From the outset, the academic activities have had a strong focus on Information Technology (IT) and mixed Systems Sciences in a Social Sciences perspective on Applied Computer Science and Communication. The integration of technical and social science perspectives on the topic gave the department unique opportunities.

One of the world’s first IT departments

DSV’s unique focus differentiates us from many other similar institutions in Sweden, who instead moved towards the narrower field of Informatics with its Swedish definition of ”Informatik”. That makes us the first IT department in Sweden, and one of the first IT departments in the world.