The Institute for Information Transmission Problems of the Russian Academy of Sci-ences (IITP) was founded on the initiative of Professor A. A. Kharkevich (1909-1965), full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. It was designed to solve problems bearing upon the progress of information theory and its applications, upon the development of prin-ciples of integrated systems of information transmission and distribution (the structures of communication networks and switching centers, the problems of control, the teletraffic the-ory), and upon automatic pattern recognition (reading machines, recognition of images, speech recognition). The formal birthday of the Institute is December 29, 1961, the date when the decision of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences entitled "On the reorganization of the Laboratory of Information Transmission Systems into the Institute for Information Transmission Problems" was issued. By the same decision, academi-cian A. A. Kharkevitch was nominated director of the Institute.
The first principal fields of research, initiated in the newly founded Institute, were studies in the fundamentals of information and coding theory; formulation and development of the concept of an integrated automated communication network; new approaches in pattern recognition theory; and new approaches in picture processing. 1963 saw the commence-ment of studies on information processes in living nature after the laboratory of vision bio-physics headed by Professor N. D. Nyberg (1899-1967) was transferred to this Institute from the Institute of Biophysics of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
After the decease of academician A. A. Kharkevitch, Professor V. I. Siforov, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, became the director of the Institute and held this position since 1966 till 1989. Over these years a number of new laboratories were or-ganized - those of complicated information systems, digital methods of information proc-essing, digital optics, learning systems of behavior organization, computer linguistics, and communication networks.
At present the IITP's basic directions of research are the information theory and applied mathematics, computer and communication sciences in technology, management, lan-guage, and living systems. Among the most important topics studied by the Institute are problems of the theory of nonlinear analysis of complex systems, multicomponent homo-geneous random systems, information transmission, queuing theory, coding and cryptog-raphy, pattern recognition and artificial intelligence, information distribution and computer networks, the theory of linguistic communication and linguistic processes (including ma-chine translation), statistical methods of information processing and control, the theory and methods of image processing (including data compression), intellectual partner computing and information systems, information transmission and processing in living objects, sen-sory systems, motion control in living systems and robotics.
The Institute is proud to have a stable staff of highly trained specialists and young re-searchers, including mathematicians, physicists, biologists, linguists, programmers, and engi-neers. In 2004, the Institute employed 323 staff members. Three of them are full members of the Russian Academy of Sciences and 254 are research officers, including 77 doctors of sci-ence (PhD habil.) and 138 candidates of science (PhD). Some of our employees are honorary members of foreign academies, laureates of Russian State Awards and international awards.
In 2004, the Institute included 15 laboratories, 6 sectors, a Scientific-Organization De-partment, a Committee for Scientific Terminology in the Area of Fundamental Sciences of RAS, and a number of auxiliary departments as well as the administration department.
The financing sources in 2004 were: State budget (through The Russian Academy of Sciences), grants from Russian State Programs (through The Russian Ministry of Industry, Science, and Technology) and other funds (Russian Foundation for Basic Research, In-ternational Association for the Promotion of Cooperation with Scientists from the Inde-pendent States of the Former Soviet Union, INTAS, etc.), some applied agreements.
The Institute offers post-graduate and post-doctoral programs for young Russian and foreign researchers at IITP's main facility as well as in three educational establishments affiliated with the Institute: Research and Educational Association "Svyaz' - Infor-matika (Communication and Informatics)", V. V. Kalashnikov Educational and Re-search Center for Controlling Information Processes, and Research and Training Center "Bioinformatics".
The Institute's scientific potential was instrumental in giving rise to its collaboration with the well-known universities and scientific centers of such countries as Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Korea, The Netherlands, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, etc., in all more than 30 Agreements and contracts in 2004.
The Institute has founded and publishes two academic periodicals: "Problems of Information Transmission" and "Automation and Remote Control", which circulate in Russia and abroad. Since October 2000 the Institute was founded the elec-tronic scientific journal "Information Processes".
On the basis of the, Institute there were formed The Information Theory Chapter of IEEE in Russia and two scientific departments of The World Laboratory.
It is hoped that this annual report introducing the scientific activities and results of the Institute in 2004 will assist other organizations to better understand the Institute and also promote exchanges between our Institute and research institutions overseas.
On February 3, 2004, an enlarged session of the Scientific Council of the IITP RAS took place. The session was devoted to the 100^th anniversary of Academician A. A. Kharkevich.
On May 19-20, 2004, a plenary meeting was held in Moscow's Central House of Scientists within the framework of the 59th Research Session of the Russian A. A. Popov Research and Technical Society of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Com-munications to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of V. I. Siforov, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The Institute has founded and publishes two academic periodicals: "Problems of Information Transmission" and "Automation and Remote Control" which circulate in Russia and abroad.
Since October 2000 the Institute has founded the electronic scientific journal "Information Processes".