The research of Infotech Oulu is carried out in groups. The research groups mainly operate in those laboratories and departments where their directors are working. The selection of Infotech Oulu research groups is for a four-year period, and it is based on external scientific evaluation of the research presented by the applicants. For the period 2010–2013, five groups were selected as full members, and three groups as associate members. Some of them are joint groups at the University of Oulu and VTT Technical Research Centre.

Information technology is designated as one of the four focus research areas of the University of Oulu, including machine vision and ubiquitous computing technologies, wireless communications, high-speed electronics and photonics, biomedical engineering, and information systems and software. The main research areas of Infotech Oulu are

• electronics
• communications engineering
• computer science and information engineering