Zbigniew Michalewicz

Zbigniew Michalewicz is an entrepreneur, author and professor in the fields of mathematical optimisation and new technologies. He is the author of over 250 articles and 25 books which have been widely cited. He is the co-founder of NuTech Solutions, SolveIT Software, and Complexica where he currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer.

Early life and education

Michalewicz attended Warsaw University of Technology where he earned a Master of Science degree in Applied Mathematics in 1974. In 1975, Michalewicz joined the faculty of the Institute of Computer Science at the Polish Academy of Sciences as a researcher. While there, he obtained a PhD in Computer Science in 1981; and a Doctor of Science (Habilitation) degree in Computer Science in 1997.

Professional career

In 1982, Michalewicz left Poland and moved to New Zealand with his wife Ewa and son Matthew Michalewicz. He took a position with Victoria University of Wellington, leaving behind all of his possessions in Poland with the exception of a few personal items. In an interview, he stated that he left Poland for many reasons including the difficult economy at that time and the lack of access to scientific publications to conduct research.

NuTech Solutions

Michalewicz co-founded NuTech Solutions, Inc. in 1999 with his son Matthew. NuTech offered technology solutions to predict business changes and helped companies prepare for these changes. In September 2003, Matthew left the company after resigning from the board of directors.

In 2005, Michalewicz sold his shares of NuTech back to the company to make way for new investments into the company. NuTech was acquired by Netezza Corporation in 2008 and in 2010, IBM Corporation acquired Netezza and became the licensor of the technology licensed by NuTech.

SolveIT Software

Michalewicz is the co-founder of SolveIT Software which was founded in 2005, a few months after his arrival in Australia. The other co-founders are Matthew Michalewicz, Martin Schmidt, and Constantin Chiriac. All were the co-authors of the book Adaptive Business Intelligence.

The company develops advanced planning and scheduling business optimisation software, which helps manage complex operations using artificial intelligence. Most of the products were initially developed around the key South Australian industries of wine and grain handling, and today SolveIt has a specialist mining division due to early adoption of the companies solutions within the mining market. The software helps companies accurately predict and plan their production, supply chain, shipping and currency hedging.

Complexica Complexica, artificial intelligence software provider, was co-founded by Zbigniew and Matthew Michalewicz.

Publications and lectures

Select articles Michalewicz has been published in numerous journals including the IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation – TEC.