What's next for the IDEAS Institute? Researchers are already working, but they have to do it remotely.

• The new IDEAS Research Institute has been operating since February 2025, bringing together 12 research groups. Some of them are led by AI experts who previously left the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR) along with Professor Piotr Sankowski.
• The center has already organized the first scientific events for the international ELLIS network, but it still does not have its own headquarters – researchers work remotely.
• In the background, there remains the question of doctoral students and the future of the IDEAS NCBR company, which the National Centre for Research and Development plans to merge with another of its units.

The IDEAS Research Institute was a lifeline for left-wing politicians after the scandal that erupted last year surrounding the dismissal of Professor Piotr Sankowski from his position at IDEAS NCBR. Sankowski was its initiator and first president – ​​he wanted to build one of the leading research centers in the field of artificial intelligence in Poland, based on international exchange of experiences.

After his first term, however, he lost the competition to Professor Grzegorz Borowik, a researcher with a much smaller reputation and track record. The competition took place under unclear circumstances, including sudden changes on the company's supervisory board. One of the new supervisory board members headed a department at the same university as the chosen candidate. The National Centre for Research and Development never published the candidates' scores or ranking list.

As a result, a scandal erupted around the competition. Members of the scientific council resigned in protest, and eventually, the leaders of the research teams also resigned. Dariusz Wieczorek, then in charge of the Ministry of Science, never admitted that the IDEAS affair was a mistake. However, after intervention by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski, he announced that the government would establish a new research institute, also named IDEAS, to be headed by Professor Piotr Sankowski.

And so it happened. With a two-month delay compared to the initial plan, in February 2025 the Council of Ministers established a new research institute, which no longer reports to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, but to the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense. In April, it was entered into the National Court Register (KRS). We're checking its progress.

The first months in the new IDEAS: start-up and formalities

According to WNP Professor Piotr Sankowski, the first few months of the new institute's operation were mainly focused on formalities and recruitment. Twelve research group leaders have already returned to work on AI development :

• Cryptography Group - leader: prof. dr hab. Stefan Dziembowski,
• Machine Vision Group - leader: PhD, Eng. Bartłomiej Twardowski,
• Cybersecurity Team - leader: Prof. Wojciech Mazurczyk, PhD, DSc, Eng.
• Natural Language Processing Team - leader: Piotr Andruszkiewicz, PhD, Eng.
• Medical Imaging Data Analysis Team - leader: PhD, DSc, Eng Żaneta Świderska-Chadaj,
• AI StrategyLab Team - leader: PhD, DSc Tomasz Michalak,
• AI Digital Forest/Reconnaissance Team - leader: prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Stereńczak,
• Computer Graphics Team - leader: PhD Przemysław Spurek,
• Learning in Control, Graphs and Networks Team - leader: PhD, DSc, Eng Paweł Wawrzyński,
• Robotics Team - leader: PhD, Eng. Krzysztof Walas,
• Drone Team - leader: PhD Eng Przemysław Mariusz Kornatowski,
• Privacy and Data Compliance Analysis Team - leader: Dr. Hubert Niewiadomski.

This composition largely overlaps with the team formerly employed at IDEAS NCBR. The institute's director assures that part of the scientific council is also returning. This time, however, it will not include foreign researchers . The goal is to avoid the need to translate all documents into English. These are not insignificant – the scientific council has a role at the research institute that goes beyond research-related matters. It reviews, among other things, annual financial reports and organizational regulations.

The Institute is slowly following the company's lead. Cooperation with the Ministry of National Defense is already underway.

The Institute has already organized the first PhD symposium of the ELLIS network (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems). This pan-European initiative promotes excellence in artificial intelligence research, with a particular focus on machine learning. It brings together leading researchers from academia and industry. The symposium focused on responsible artificial intelligence.

Researchers joined the ELLIS network before the changes , while working at a subsidiary of the National Centre for Research and Development. However, as Sankowski explains, the network does not belong to the institution, but to the specific scientists who are now at the new institute.

IDEAS is also gradually adding support staff, including public relations. So far, the institute only has a temporary website. Last week, it received its logo.

The IDEAS company is expected to merge with another entity

The question of what to do with the doctoral students remains to be resolved. Some of the people Sankowski hired in previous years still work at IDEAS NCBR. As one of the individuals hired in this way admitted in an interview with WNP, the situation is difficult because there are no research group leaders, making it difficult to work on projects. There is also no company president – ​​Professor Borowik was dismissed in May 2025. In June, he was replaced by Dr. Małgorzata Ciechomska. The National Centre for Research and Development has consistently stated that the company will be merged with another company – Akces NCBR.

The IDEAS research institute is also looking for a new location. Currently, it is registered in the Ministry of Digital Affairs building at 27 Królewska Street. For now, researchers are working remotely. However, it is already known that they are working on a project for the Ministry of National Defense. It will focus on detecting disinformation.