MathTech workshop in Poland

On 4.12.2020, the first MathTech Workshop on Mathematical Technologies for Industry was held in Poland. It was organized by the PL-MATH-IN network as a satellite event of the annual EU-MATH-IN Council Meeting. Originally, the workshop was planned to be held at the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IMPAN) in Warsaw. However, due to the severe epidemic situation in Poland, it took place online.

The goal of the workshop was to report on recent interesting applied maths projects carried out in Poland. The first edition had five speakers. Agnieszka Wyłomańska from Wrocław University of Science and Technology presented new mathematical methods for damage detection in mining machines. Witold Pawlus from Nokia AI Lab introduced a new forecasting method of raw materials deliveries in supply chain management. Paweł Dłotko from IMPAN gave an overview of problems in applied science that can be solved using methods from computational topology and, in general, computational mathematics. Piotr Miłoś from IMPAN reported on recent advances in reinforcement learning methods for autonomous driving systems.  Last but not least, Marek Niezgódka from Cardinal Wyszyński University in Warsaw presented a summary of his maths-driven industrial projects. All talks were accompanied by follow-up questions and discussion to retain some characteristics of a traditional workshop.

The workshop was openly accessible to the public. Although the online-only form of such a meeting may be still perceived as a little bit unusual, it was a success, attracting many researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs from across Europe. Since all attendees avoided air travel and cost, CO2 emissions and also reduced the impact on families, such a form  may turn out to be particularly beneficial in the future, not only in the phases of public health emergencies.

By Janusz Szwabiński, Chair of PL-MATH-IN