New ELLIS unit in Warsaw joins the network
The European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) keeps growing further and welcomes its 41st unit to the AI excellence network. The new unit is the first one in Poland and is hosted by IDEAS NCBR - an AI research and development center in Warsaw.
ELLIS Units are committed to research excellence and connect outstanding scientists at their respective locations. IDEAS NCBR (with ‘IDEAS’ standing for ‘Intelligent Digital Economy AlgorithmS’) aims to train the best specialists in the field of artificial intelligence and digital economy. In order to build scientifically excellent workspaces for junior and senior researchers, the center builds a platform connecting the business and academic environment in Poland, and offers plenty of networking and training opportunities.
IDEAS NCBR was founded by the National Center for Research and Development (NCBR) in 2021 as a non-profit research and development organization. The focus of its activities lies not only on pure research, but also on the commercialization of results. As the host of the ELLIS Unit Warsaw, its mission is to foster technological development and to train the next generation of scientific leaders.
The research activities of the new unit in Poland are grouped into six areas:
1. The “Intelligent Algorithms and Learned Data Structures” area focuses on explainable algorithmic tools, learning data structures and algorithmic tools for Data Science and ML.
2. The “Efficient and Sustainable Machine Learning focused on Computer Vision” area concentrates on efficient machine learning algorithms for computer vision, in particular on conditioning network computations, leveraging partial information for faster inference, and accumulating knowledge in continually trained models.
3. The “Machine Learning and Sequential Decision-Making” area develops methods that can be applied in control to obtain broadly intelligent agents that could be deployed in the real world.
4. The “Algorithmic Game Theory in Security” area develops multi-level management systems to protect critical infrastructure as well as systems for securing key state services against both kinetic and cyber threats.
5. The “Interpretable Artificial Intelligence” area focuses on developing machine learning models that provide trustworthy and comprehensible explanations of how complex artificial intelligence models work.
6. The “Autonomous Agents and Alignment of Language Models” area aims to develop training protocols that empower artificial agents to collect the most informative learning data and apply these protocols to align language models.
"We are excited to announce that our pan-European AI network expands once again and is now also represented in Poland”, says ELLIS Board Member Serge Belongie. “With IDEAS NCBR we welcome an outstanding place for modern AI research to our community. The new unit in Warsaw will not only contribute to fostering AI research excellence in Europe, but also promote strong connections between academic research and industry.”
“The ELLIS Unit Warsaw will stand as a beacon of excellence in machine learning research and innovation in Europe, uniquely bridging the gap between academia and industry in Poland. It will be instrumental in cultivating future generations of AI innovators through specialized training and educational initiatives. Its strategic position within the ELLIS network also makes it a vital connector, fostering collaborations and exchanges between Western and Eastern European AI research communities”, says Tomasz Trzciński, Director of the ELLIS Unit Warsaw and Associate Professor at the Warsaw University of Technology, where he leads the Computer Vision Lab, and at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (GMUM).
“Recent months of increased interest in AI have revealed a different approach to its use, e.g. between America and Europe in the context of privacy and data acquisition. That is why it is worth for Poland to develop its own solutions in the field of machine learning and AI, and not to be doomed to import tools that are not fully compliant with our legal system or values. For several years this effort was executed under the supervision of the ELLIS Society, and Poland can now be a part of this process”, highlights Piotr Sankowski, CEO IDEAS NCBR and Associate Professor at the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Warsaw.
ELLIS units form a network of research sites across Europe and Israel
ELLIS units connect outstanding AI researchers at a certain location and fulfill a set of strict criteria to ensure scientific excellence and a maximum level of competitiveness at international level. They are local representations of the ELLIS network which aims to secure Europe’s leadership in modern AI by enabling free basic machine learning research open to economy and society. The long term goal of ELLIS is to establish a set of world-class ELLIS Institutes, each being the core of a local AI ecosystem.
More information
Find more information about the ELLIS Unit Warsaw and its members here: ellis.eu/units/warsaw
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Find more information about all 41 ELLIS units here.
Further information and ELLIS contact details for media: ellis.eu/formedia
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About ELLIS
ELLIS is a pan-European AI network of excellence. It builds upon machine learning as the driver for modern AI and aims to secure lasting international leadership of AI made in Europe by connecting top researchers in this field and by creating a multi-centric AI research laboratory. Founded in 2018, ELLIS has grown into a network that counts 41 ELLIS units at world-class institutions in 16 countries, 16 ELLIS programs and a pan-European PhD program. The members of ELLIS are committed to shaping the future of AI in Europe by pushing the scientific and technological boundaries for human-centered, beneficial and safe AI.
