Prof. Piotr Sankowski showed that Poles can also create artificial intelligence at the highest level
Prof. Piotr Sankowski is one of the most famous and awarded Polish scientists in the world. The artificial intelligence research community was disappointed with the information that he would not be the head of IDEAS NCBR, a research center that involved Polish companies and institutes in the development of AI, in the next term.
Piotr Sankowski is a professor at the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Warsaw, where he received his habilitation in 2009 and his PhD in computer science in 2005. His research interests concern algorithmics, with particular emphasis on algorithmic graph analysis and data analysis algorithms.
Appreciated around the world, the winner of numerous awards
Piotr Sankowski is the winner of many awards. He was the first – and only so far – Pole to receive four grants from the European Research Council (ERC): ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant (2010), ERC Proof of Concept Grant (2015, 2023), ERC Consolidator Grant ( 2017). He is the co-founder and CTO of the MIM Solutions spin-off.
From 2021 to June 2024, he headed IDEAS NCBR (Intelligent Algorithms for Digital Economy) – a research and development center he founded, operating in the field of artificial intelligence. The main goal of the center is the development of artificial intelligence in Poland with the participation of local and foreign scientists. Other goals include educating young scientists in cooperation with universities, cooperation with business and commercialization of research through spin-off companies with the active participation of creators.
Controversy regarding the position in IDEAS NCBR
His term ended a few weeks ago and although he took part in the competition, he was not re-elected. This caused consternation among artificial intelligence specialists. They wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in which they expressed their incomprehension for not entrusting him with the role of president, even though he performed this role perfectly in his first term.
“Prof. Piotr Sankowski is a high-class scientist, which is confirmed by his outstanding achievements measured by international recognition. He was ranked in the top 2 percent by Stanford University. researchers from all over the world, he was the only one in Poland to win the prestigious European ERC grants four times,” we read in the letter.
The authors of the letter ask for “an explanation of the reasons behind this personnel decision” and also “to consider the possibility of re-analysis of the situation and possible revision of the steps taken.”
In the name of solidarity, a group of scientists resigned from sitting on the scientific council of IDEAS NCBR, including – as reported by “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”, prof. Marta Kwiatkowska from the University of Oxford and prof. Alexander Wise from MIT and OpenAI.
Sankowski: “scientists believed they could create artificial intelligence in Poland”
At the beginning of October, Bogdan Rymanowski asked prof. in the “Guest of Events” program. Piotr Sankowski, whether he feels as if he has lost his “child” due to the election of the new head of the center.
– I would rather say children, because this story is much more complicated. IDEAS NCBR is, above all, employees. We just hire great people, amazing people. Several of them returned to Poland after many years of stay abroad. They believed that they could do this artificial intelligence here in Poland, do cool projects – said Prof. Sankowski.
He added that he left the center “in good condition, consistent with the assumptions set by the National Center for Research and Development.” – The long-term action plan assumed that the company was making losses. It is not the case that income from scientific or research activities appears after three years. These are long-term processes, often lasting ten, twenty, thirty years – he said in an interview with Bogdan Rymanowski.
