PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ioannis Pitas

Ioannis Pitas is a researcher in computer vision, machine learning and autonomous systems who built his career at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH). He earned a diploma in 1980 and a PhD in 1985 in electrical engineering, became a professor of informatics in 1994, and directed the Artificial Intelligence and Information Analysis (AIIA) lab from 1999 to 2025. In 2000, he published Digital Image Processing Algorithms and Applications, received the IEEE Fellow grade in 2007 and was elevated to EURASIP Fellow in 2013, and by 2019 he was leading the European drone-cinematography project MULTIDRONE. He coordinates the Horizon Europe project TEMA on AI-based natural disaster management, chairs the Management Board of the International AI Doctoral Academy (AIDA), and works as a researcher at AUTH and CERTH's Information Technologies Institute.

Born
1957
Badges

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1980–1985

    Electrical engineering in Thessaloniki

    He earns a diploma in electrical engineering from the University of Thessaloniki in 1980 and a PhD in electrical engineering from the same university in 1985.

  2. 1983–1994

    Lecturer and assistant professor

    He is a lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Thessaloniki from 1986 and an assistant professor there from 1989. Between 1983 and 1994, he also holds visiting research posts at the University of Toronto, the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Tampere University of Technology and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

  3. 1994–2025

    Professor and AIIA lab director

    He becomes a professor in the Department of Informatics at AUTH in 1994, a post he holds until 2025, and serves as Director of its Artificial Intelligence and Information Analysis (AIIA) lab from 1999 to 2025.

  4. 2000

    A digital image processing textbook

    In 2000, he publishes Digital Image Processing Algorithms and Applications, a 419-page book that presents filtering, transforms, compression, edge detection and segmentation algorithms in C code. Its lab exercises use EIKONA, his own image processing software.

  5. 2007–2013

    IEEE and EURASIP fellowships

    He receives the IEEE Fellow grade in 2007 and the AUTh Research Award in 2009 for the highest number of citations. In 2013, he is elevated to EURASIP Fellow for contributions in digital media watermarking, nonlinear signal and image processing and human-centered computing.

  6. 2017–2019

    Leading the MULTIDRONE project

    In 2017, he is project coordinator of MULTIDRONE, a European H2020 project that aims to build teams of three to five semi-automated drones to film large-scale sports events. By 2019, he still leads the project and chairs the IEEE Autonomous Systems Initiative.

  7. By 2025

    Coordinating the TEMA project

    By 2025, he coordinates TEMA, a Horizon Europe project on natural disaster management. The project aims to automate precise semantic 3D mapping and disaster evolution prediction for events such as wildfires and floods, by fusing drone, remote-sensing and geosocial media data.

  8. As of October 2026

    Researcher at AUTH and CERTH

    He is a researcher at AUTH and at the Information Technologies Institute (ITI) of the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), and he chairs the Management Board of the International AI Doctoral Academy (AIDA). In February 2026, he gives an AIDA lecture on decentralized and distributed deep neural network architectures for visual data analysis.

Career

  1. Since 1986Aristotle University of ThessalonikiLecturer, Assistant Professor
  2. NowCentre for Research and Technology HellasResearcher
  3. NowInternational AI Doctoral AcademyChair of the Management Board
  4. University of TorontoVisiting Researcher
  5. Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-NürnbergVisiting Researcher
  6. Tampere University of TechnologyVisiting Researcher
  7. EPFLVisiting Researcher

Education

  1. 1985Aristotle University of ThessalonikiPhD
  2. 1980Aristotle University of ThessalonikiDiploma

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Toronto. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Toronto. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Ioannis Pitas yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Pitas Ioannis – Τμήμα Πληροφορικής csd.auth.gr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Decentralized DNN Architectures for Visual Data Analysis - AIDA - AI Doctoral Academy i-aida.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Digital Image Processing Algorithms and Applications by Ioannis Pitas | Goodreads goodreads.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. IEEE Fellow Grade – Τμήμα Πληροφορικής csd.auth.gr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Speaker – Aristotle Innovation Forum aristotleforum.auth.gr. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. EURASIP Newsletter eurasip.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Multiple Drone Vision and Cinematography - Robotics Institute Carnegie Mellon University ri.cmu.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Swarms of smart drones to revolutionise how we watch sports - Robohub robohub.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. TheEvent - Bootstrap Event Template icprs.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. AIDA Committees - AIDA - AI Doctoral Academy i-aida.org. Checked 21 October 2026.