Vít Vondrák, the current Managing Director of IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center, has been reappointed to his post for another term. This will be of the same length as the previous one, i.e. for 3 years. In this interview we discuss what he achieved in his first term as the IT4Innovations Managing Director, and what plans he has for his next term.
You are no newcomer to IT4Innovations - you were one of its founders and have been the Managing Director for the last three years. In its nine years of existence, what has IT4Innovations achieved so far?
It's almost hard to believe what we have achieved within such a short period. At the very beginning, there was a meadow with a couple of containers housing the Anselm supercomputer. Today, I look at the impressive building housing a perfectly equipped world-class supercomputing centre, where respected experts are found, and various prestigious national and international projects have been implemented.
What do you take as your greatest merit in helping to get closer to that goal?
The fact that IT4Innovations has become a respected world-class supercomputing centre is the result of years of work pursued by all the team members and other people involved. I have been here since the very inception of this idea and have tried to achieve this goal throughout the construction of this centre. Next year marks the 10th anniversary of its foundation. I think that a significant amount of work with my share in it has been done.
When you took up your position, was your main strategic objective to ensure the upgrade and extension of the existing computing systems? Has it been achieved?
I hope so. Our first Anselm supercomputer has just reached its well-earned retirement, and has only just been decommissioned. Now we have the modern Barbora supercomputer, which has already fully replaced the service provision of Anselm. Also, our flagship Salomon supercomputer is overseeing the installation of its successor, the Karolina supercomputer, in the data room right now. Karolina will outperform Salomon in many ways. It will become one of the five European supercomputers to be installed and operated under the pan-European EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, with a full 35% of its capacity available to the European scientific communities and industry. I expect Karolina will fully replace Salomon before the summer begins. In addition, we are also involved in building the most powerful supercomputer in Europe's history. As part of the LUMI consortium led by Finland, we are working with 8 other countries on this historically unique event. This supercomputer will be located in Finland and will also be one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. Czech research communities will, of course, have access to it.
You mentioned even then that the key to success is people. It is surely still true. But I wonder how you manage to recruit new talented people, and what do you do to keep those you already have?
That is a hard nut to crack. It is not that I am trying to hide the magic formula. There is actually no 100% working formula, in my opinion. I think that it is important to arouse the interest of young people, and motivate them by presenting interesting projects we are involved in. We are part of many important international project consortia bringing together top institutions, which are active in high-performance computing, data analysis, and artificial intelligence. These are the global trend-setters in these fields and their outputs find real application. I think that young, ambitious, and talented people see this as an opportunity to be involved in very interesting work that is at the cutting edge of IT technology in Europe, as well as worldwide. Moreover, it is creative work, with its results being recognized and implemented in practice. I believe that for many of our young and talented employees, this is also sufficiently motivating for them to stay with us and participate in setting new supercomputing trends.
What has recently been source of joy for you?
I was very pleased that the research team from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences had their research published on the front page of Science, one of the most prestigious scientific journals in the world. I think that it is real recognition of their work. Our recognition stems from them having done this research using our supercomputers, which provided the necessary technical background. I would very much like the users of our infrastructure to have more results of such worth. I was also delighted by the research teams operating right at our centre. They continually earn the respect of other top international workplaces, thus making our centre a desired partner in world-class research projects. This is clearly demonstrated by, for example, our involvement in prestigious projects to support the European Processor Initiative (EPI).
How would you describe your position?
As the name of my position implies, it is my job to manage the largest public supercomputing centre in the Czech Republic. This includes, in particular, ensuring the operation of all the computing and data facilities that are located in our centre and, of course, planning and implementing their further development, upgrade, and modernization. Part of that includes the provision of services that go with the operation of such infrastructure. Alongside the operation of the supercomputing infrastructure and its services, it is essential to build a competence centre for research, development, and innovation in the fields of high-performance computing (HPC/High Performance Computing) and data analysis (HPDA/High Performance Data Analysis), which brings together experts and knowledge in these fields.
What is the main objective you have set for your next term?
There is definitely not just one objective. I would like our supercomputing centre to continue to grow in importance and prestige both at the national and international level. I would also like it to be an increasingly respected centre of research and development, which will be one of the pillars for the digitalisation of both industry and society in our region, the Czech Republic, and Europe. However, I would be most delighted if all our employees were satisfied with their work, enjoyed working here, saw their future in it, and enjoyed going to work every day looking forward to finding a pleasant environment for their own self-fulfilment. That, I think, is essential to achieving all other objectives.
What are you most looking forward to in your professional life?
Personally, I am a creative person. I am very pleased when something new is being created. Something that has not been done before. Building unique computing infrastructures provides a number of opportunities for this. Together with my colleagues, we have already implemented many great ideas. You could say that we were always ahead of our time with them. Let me give you an example; together with a foreign partner from Denmark, years ago, we began to develop software tools to make elegant use of powerful supercomputers directly from desktop, or even mobile applications, which are now commonly referred to as IaaS or HPCaaS - HPC cloud, if you will. We had to convince almost everyone that this was a great idea, and we were often thought of as dreamers, perhaps even naively indulging unfeasable visions. Even our foreign partner was very hesitant and not sure whether to go for it. Now, the world's largest hardware and software companies are racing to have the most sophisticated service, and there is little doubt about the necessity of such services. They are becoming a normal part of information technology. So this is exactly what I always look forward to and am satisfied with. To create and implement something that will be of great use, even if people are not yet able to appreciate or even imagine it. Always to be two steps ahead of others. It is a path-breaking kind of work of discovering, devising, inventing and exploring something new, which has not been explored yet at all. It is an adventure. Moreover, it is essential for society, which would not otherwise develop. The fact that there are people in this world who do not understand this and deliberately prevent it from happening is something that I am not happy about, on the other hand. But it has always been that way, and it seems likely to remain so. Fortunately, there are people around me who enjoy it at least as much as I do, and this is something that enhances my delight.
Let’s finish on a lighter note. What do you do in your free time/when you are not at work?
I ride a bike, I sometimes go to the mountains, and I love skiing. I like having more expedition-style holidays, lately in the Nordic countries. There, I can literally switch off. Or I could just sit in the garden and relax. Nowadays, however, travelling abroad is not that easy, so all I have left is the garden. Well, even the garden could be enjoyed only by true Nordic lovers in winter.