Professor Piotr Sankowski, director of the IDEAS Research Institute, and Zdzisław Nowakowski, director of the Practical Training and Teacher Development Centre in Mielec, have won the 25th Marek Car Award. The honours were presented at the 32nd Teleinformatics Forum. The award recognises significant contributions to the information society and digital development in Poland.
The Marek Car Award has been presented since 2002. Including this year’s winners, 47 people have received it. The jury focuses on tangible achievements in IT applications, digital skills, education and the development of Poland’s technological capabilities.
Nowakowski recognised for computing education
Zdzisław Nowakowski was honoured for promoting computing in schools and universities, writing textbooks and teaching materials, and organising successive editions of the Mielec Science and Technology Festival.
The jury also highlighted his work in vocational education and in adapting curricula to labour-market needs. He heads the Practical Training and Teacher Development Centre in Mielec and is deputy chair of the education minister’s Council for the Computerisation of Education. He also coordinated work on a new computing curriculum.
His activities include developing sector-specific qualifications in fields such as aviation, automation and embedded computer systems.
Sankowski honoured for advancing AI research
The second winner, Professor Piotr Sankowski, heads the IDEAS Research Institute and is a professor at the University of Warsaw. The jury recognised his efforts to build a strong centre for new-technology research and establish IDEAS, which develops advanced technologies, including AI, and their practical applications.
A major focus of the institute is technology for security, defence, the economy and public administration. It also aims to strengthen technological skills in Poland and increase the participation of Polish teams in European AI research.
Sankowski is a computer scientist specialising in algorithms, particularly algorithmic graph analysis and data-analysis methods. He was the first Pole to receive four European Research Council grants. He also co-founded the Highlights of Algorithms conference, belongs to ELLIS Unit Warsaw and is an ELLIS Fellow.
From 2021 to 2024 he led IDEAS NCBR. He is also a co-founder of MIM Solutions.
Digitalisation experts among the nominees
This year’s other nominees were Dr Ewa Janczar, Professor Dariusz Szostek and Dr Janusz Zalewski. Janczar works on healthcare digitalisation and IT projects in local government. Szostek specialises in new-technology law and cybersecurity. Zalewski spent many years working on computer systems and automation in Poland and the United States.
Who was Marek Car?
The award commemorates Marek Car, a pioneer of digitalisation in Poland and an early promoter of the internet. He conceived the Teleinformatics Forum and was its first programme council chair. He also helped develop Poland’s technology-media market and early internet initiatives.
Car co-founded the Association for the Development of Open Systems and the Polish Internet Community. He was involved in “Internet for Schools”, a campaign to improve educational institutions’ network access.
As the prime minister’s representative for information technology, he participated in efforts to standardise IT systems used by public administration. After leaving government, he co-founded Polska OnLine, one of Poland’s first internet service providers. He died in 1997.
The award bearing his name highlights people whose work advances digitalisation, digital education and new technology in Poland.
Source: ManagerPlus.
