Cooperation is the ‘magical key’ for progress

“Young radical postgraduate from our universities with an fantabulous technological background. They spell overseas and they excel, and some travel back. Ideally, I would similar for each young Greek men and women who permission the state to broaden their horizons to travel back. This state would beryllium a paradise if they did,” says Athens University informatics prof Yannis Ioannidis. Having graduated from the National Technical University of Athens successful 1982 and then pursued postgraduate studies astatine Harvard (1983) and Berkeley (1986) earlier embarking connected a stellar career, helium speaks from experience.

“Personally, I became much Greek successful America. I americium amended than I would person been if I hadn’t near astatine each oregon if I’d near from the beginning. I came backmost aft 15 years – 4 spent connected postgraduate studies and 11 teaching – due to the fact that everything that tin beryllium measured is usually amended abroad, but those things that cannot beryllium measured are amended successful Greece,” helium adds.

‘A batch of miracles hap successful the space where antithetic fields meet, where divers technological fabrics are woven together’

As president of the Association for Computing Machinery, the biggest of its benignant successful the world, and arsenic affiliate module of the Athena Research and Innovation Center, of which helium was president for 10 years, not to notation having presided implicit galore committees, councils and forums done the years, Ioannidis consistently ranks among the 2% of the world’s astir influential scientists successful his field.

Kathimerini met up with him successful Athens precocious arsenic helium returned from a league successful London connected information and was preparing to permission for New York, where the ACM is headquartered, earlier coming backmost to Greece for an exam astatine Athens University and then working with the European OpenAIRE inaugural for unfastened science, successful mentation for a large league astatine CERN.

The ACM has been the situation successful which helium grew scientifically for 42 years. However, arsenic helium notes, his predetermination to its presidency successful '22 was “the culmination of semipermanent mentation gathering opportunity.” He would not person been elected successful the summertime of 2024 to service a 2nd term arsenic president of the 78-year-old enactment – whose halfway value is excellence – had helium not antecedently been president of the Athena Research Center, Greece’s nationalist typical to the European Strategy Forum connected Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) – where helium present serves arsenic a imperishable adept – laminitis and caput of OpenAIRE, and overmuch more.

“I travel each implicit the world. It’s tiring, yes, but it’s besides an bonzer experience, particularly successful an epoch when machine subject is astatine the halfway of attention, with artificial quality and quantum computing reaching unimaginable speeds. These advances bring tremendous opportunities but besides immense risks,” says Ioannidis.

“The ACM supports the exceptional scientists and professionals I conscionable wherever I go, while isolating those fewer who enactment unethically. It shapes and recommends policies for artificial quality to guarantee it is used for affirmative purposes, to forestall the mistakes it tin marque and to prohibit its use arsenic a lethal weapon, among different things. It informs argumentation makers and society astir technological developments. It advocates for cross-disciplinary cooperation, which is simply a magical yet hard key, arsenic scientists tend to retreat into their silos. However, a batch of miracles hap successful the space where antithetic fields meet, where divers technological fabrics are woven together, arsenic past year’s Nobel Prizes successful Physics and Chemistry showed, awarded to starring interdisciplinary machine scientists such arsenic Demis Hassabis.”

Perpetual motion

A recipient of some planetary and nationalist awards, Ioannidis has to his recognition astir 200 publications, 4 patents and much than 30 technological innovations, “some of which person recovered their way into systems we each use each day.” He has besides provided technological guidance for the European EBRAINS infrastructure, which aims to make a integer twin of the quality brain, and has coordinated dozens of probe projects, among different achievements.

His team, comprising 80 scientists from the University of Athens, the Athena Research Center and planetary organizations, works crossed 4 main areas, helium explains. “First, sustainability and solutions to code the clime crisis. Second, unfastened science, due to the fact that some scientists and society indispensable cognize what we are doing successful research. Third, health, done EBRAINS and different initiatives such arsenic the erstwhile Human Brain Project. For example, we cod objective information – without violating diligent privateness – connected neurodegenerative and definite different of the 8,000 uncommon diseases, from aggregate hospitals. Because these diseases are uncommon and samples are limited, pooling them enables us to gully scientifically valid conclusions with statistical significance.”

Last but not least, the team works successful a tract that is peculiarly breathtaking to Ioannidis: interactive integer storytelling, “the transmission of accusation and cognition done a narrative.”

“A depository visit is typically centered connected the exhibits, where each entity is accompanied by its ain small story. We person reversed that approach, making the depository acquisition centered connected a story: The exhibits look done a single overarching narrative, 1 with a thread, plot, characters, dialogue, and the anticipation of interaction. Visitors tin prosecute with it done their telephone oregon tablet, enjoying the story by playing with oregon altering its flow,” helium explains.

“It is simply a fusion of creation and technology that enhances representation and deepens the user’s cognitive and affectional engagement. Our interdisciplinary team includes machine scientists, scriptwriters, illustrators, archaeologists, historians and others. We person completed much than 35 such productions for museums, archaeological sites and nationalist spaces successful Greece, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Turkey. These are projects that fascinate me, due to the fact that they unite my emotion for technology with my passionateness for past and art.”

Challenges

Ioannidis argues that liable technology requires the publication of the humanitarian sciences present much than ever.

“Large connection models cannot beryllium developed without computational linguists, nor artificial quality without experts successful history, literature, the arts, cognitive science, behavior, philosophy, law, morals and economics. Quite suddenly, galore fields within the humanities are gaining a caller role, 1 that is not yet universally recognized, but is very overmuch elevated and progressively central,” helium says.

And what is the biggest challenge? “Open science, an unfastened mindset, the sharing of knowledge, and practice crossed disciplines,” helium says. “But unfastened subject besides means transparency successful the technological process, publically laying retired each stage of the work funded by taxpayers. Scientists successful the tract want to spot whether they will scope the aforesaid conclusions when they use what you describe. At times, however, there is neither transparency nor a consciousness of responsibility; information are manipulated, and arsenic a result, adjacent a fewer such antagonistic cases tin erode nationalist trust successful subject arsenic a whole. In astir technological fields, reproducibility – the quality to get the aforesaid results by pursuing the methods described successful a insubstantial – is simply a cardinal requirement. Yet this happens successful lone a overmuch smaller proportionality of studies than 1 would hope.” 

Big events and influences

The biggest defining lawsuit of his beingness was his family’s forced expulsion from Turkey. “I was calved successful Istanbul, and when they expelled us, successful 1964, I was 5 years old. The story of the protagonist of ‘Politiki Kouzina’ is my story too,” helium says, of the 2003 drama, titled “A Touch of Spice” successful English. “My father, Hermes, was arrested connected mendacious charges and deported. My mother, Efi, had dual nationality and stayed down with maine and my sister Xanthippi, who was 30 days aged astatine the time. She sold everything we had for pennies and we came to Greece, the beatified grail for Greeks successful Poli. It’s a legacy, with some positives and negatives, that has defined maine and which I transportation with large respect,” helium says.

Influential figures successful his beingness see his parents, colleagues, teachers and his family.

“I was influenced by my parents, who taught maine to emotion knowledge; by classmates who were antithetic from me; and by Timos Sellis astatine the NTUA, who became similar a member to me. We went to the US together for our master’s astatine Harvard, earned our doctorates astatine Berkeley, and became professors astatine antithetic American universities. He returned to Greece earlier I did. I besides larn from my world children – each acquisition is simply a lesson. Among my teachers, 1 who profoundly influenced maine during precocious school, astatine the 8th Gymnasium of Patissia, was a theologian and philologist named Vassilis Assimomytis. He introduced us to the theater, staged plays with us arsenic actors, took us to museums and to Mount Athos – helium opened up an wholly caller world earlier me. And then there was my doctoral adviser, Eugene Wong – he’s still live and is present 91 years old. He taught maine some very important principles: to perceive to everyone, but then beryllium acceptable to cull oregon hide everything that’s been said and make my ain idea, ever holding myself to the highest idiosyncratic standards. ‘Innovation outweighs erudition,’ helium used to tell me. It’s important to cognize a lot, but adjacent much important to create. And that’s what I strive to do…”