"Knowledge and Collaboration". Prof. Krawczyk on the establishment of STOS Center | Gdańsk University of Technology

The ceremonial opening of the Gdańsk Tech STOS Competence Center building and the presentation of the Kraken supercomputer took place on 25 April 2023. The complex, at the heart of which there is a set of specialized server rooms, is one of the most modern IT centers in this part of Europe. The total cost of the investment amounted to almost PLN 250 million.

Prof. Henryk Krawczyk talks about the first phase of work on the project, the implementation of the investment and what possibilities the Gdańsk Tech supercomputer will give scientists from the Pomerania region.

Maciej Dzwonnik, Gdańsk Tech spokesman: - The TASK IT Center has been in existence for many years, and supercomputers at Gdańsk University of Technology are not new. When did you start thinking about creating a completely new IT center that would be a technological distinguishing feature not only of the University of Technology, but also of the entire Tri-City and Pomerania?

Prof. Henryk Krawczyk: – On the one hand, it was a natural continuation of several projects I managed: MayDay, CD NIWA and KRICO, run by employees of the TASK IT Center (Trójmiejska Akademicka Sieć Komputerowa - MD). On the other hand, it resulted from the need to have new, innovative solutions for extracting and collecting useful knowledge. CC STOS will support research areas such as: security and processing of large data sets (Big Data), intelligent computing cloud technologies, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Smart applications and services are already being implemented to support medical diagnostics, optimization of planning and management methods, or research on the impact of the virus on the protein (micro world) or COVID-19 on society (macro world). We will also be open to modeling leading to a better understanding of social phenomena or analysis of organizational solutions.

What were the first months of working on the project like? What possible difficulties did the university and the people involved in the process encounter?

– This idea has been verified many times in several respects: the degree of innovation, the scale of usefulness, the feasibility of implementation, including, for example, the selection of the right team, as well as obtaining specific sources of financing and meeting the conditions required by the European Union. It took a lot of imagination and patience to meet such verification and to prepare an interesting proposal, which would be acceptable for the reviewers of the announced competition.

Were there moments of doubt and moments when the Gdańsk Tech authorities and you wondered whether the project would be implemented in the assumed shape?

–These were not moments of doubt, but rather moments of mobilization. After the project was accepted for financing, a new challenge was to go through the next stages required for the implementation of the investment part, namely: tenders for the construction project and for the implementation of the investment. It took over two years. Moreover, due to the pandemic and market turbulence, acceptance of the changes in costs and the project completion date were also required. I cannot imagine dealing with these problems without huge help from the relevant Gdańsk Tech departments, supervised by the Gdańsk Tech rector, Prof. Krzysztof Wilde and the chancellor of the university - Mariusz Miler.

The marshal of the province, Mieczysław Struk, certainly has great merits for the implementation of the investment, which was repeatedly emphasized at the opening ceremony by both the rector of Gdańsk Tech prof. Christopher Wilde, as well as you, Sir.

- Yes it's true. However, I would like to emphasize that many people were strongly involved in the implementation of this investment, both on the side of Gdańsk Tech and the authorities of Pomerania. I am thinking here in particular of the Marshal's Office, the Pomeranian Development Agency subordinate to it, or the EU institutions co-financing this project. We were lucky that we met so many smart people on the way of its implementation.

Who else contributed greatly to the implementation of the Gdańsk Tech CC STOS project?

– The names of these people can be found on the relief, which was placed on the wall in the lobby of the new building, and whose ceremonial unveiling took place during the opening ceremony. The entire team responsible for the implementation of the investment on the part of Gdańsk Tech was placed on the first layer. But I want to emphasize that there are as many as seven such layers of the relief, each of them symbolically "hides" successive sets of names relating to various organizations.

Unveiling of the relief in the building of CC STOS. From the left: Małgorzata Winiarek-Gajewska, president of NDI, Mariusz Miler, chancellor of Gdańsk Tech, Mieczysław Struk, marshal of the province Pomeranian, prof. Krzysztof Wilde, Gdańsk Tech rector, Dariusz Drelich, Pomeranian Voivode, prof. Henryk Krawczyk, arch. Zbigniew Reszka, designer of CC STOS. Photo: Bartosz Bańka/Gdańsk Tech

So there are the authorities and employees of the Marshal's Office, the Voivodeship Office, or the PDA. There is also a layer where all universities and companies cooperating with CI TASK appear together with our project partner - Television Chopin from Wejherowo, the largest local provider of telecommunications services. On another one, our consortium members participating in the road map projects are listed, including the Pionier consortium and other supercomputing centers in the country. Certainly, one of the next ones also includes a list of CI TASK employees who carry out the research and development part of the project, which will last for at least five more years, as well as all those employees who, through their work at CI TASK, contributed to raising the necessary funds for the own contribution for the project.

What can Tri-City scientists and residents gain from the creation of the STOS Center and the installation of the Gdańsk Tech Kraken supercomputer in it in the future? What will be its most important applications?

- It is a modern tool for extracting knowledge from a "stack" of various data, and on this basis, building services useful for society. This universal formula means that many companies and other universities can take advantage of such an offer.

What's more, it's not just about CI TASK teams developing such solutions, but about creating the so-called living laboratories where they will be created together. Thanks to such cooperation, the chance of developing innovative solutions of great practical importance increases significantly. Therefore, at the opening ceremony of the building, I emphasized that it consists of two layers: the server layer, where knowledge is developed, and the administrative and laboratory layer, where interdisciplinary cooperation flourishes. We have received two strong wings of development called: "knowledge" and "cooperation". I am convinced that this will ensure high flights for the center and all its cooperators.

CC STOS will now be the new seat of Gdańsk Tech CI TASK. The employees of the center must have been very excited about moving to such a place?

– For several years, due to continuous development, CI TASK has struggled with housing problems: both for people and supercomputers. The current, new location is particularly well-thought-out and ensures flexible configuration of the network and computing infrastructure as well as technical infrastructure, but it also allows for further increase of staff. I assume that after the end of the durability period of the CC STOS project, the number of CI TASK employees will be even 100 people. Then it will be possible to fully implement the assumed project challenges. Right now, we're all excited about how we're going to tackle these exciting challenges.

The opening ceremony was attended by nearly 200 people, including provincial and local authorities, members of the Polish Parliament, authorities of other universities, representatives of the academic community, as well as business and industry from all over Poland. What were their reactions when they saw the complex from the inside and watched the Kraken multimedia presentation?

– As results from my conversations with some of the guests, they were captivated by the demonstration of the supercomputer and the architectural solutions of the building. In addition, some people were pleasantly surprised that such an ambitious project, despite various difficulties, was implemented in the originally assumed shape. Others spoke of satisfaction from the fact that the EU funds spent will serve the Pomeranian community. At the same time, practically everyone claimed that this project would certainly consolidate the conviction about the need for future cooperation and full use of the existing opportunities that the construction of this complex gave Gdańsk University of Technology and CI TASK.