PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Tiziano Zito

Also known as otizonaizit

Tiziano Zito is a Berlin-based researcher and software developer who coauthored MDP, a Python toolkit of supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms. He coauthored a 2007 Neural Computation paper on Independent Slow Feature Analysis with Tobias Blaschke and Laurenz Wiskott, and the MDP paper in Frontiers in Neuroinformatics appeared in January 2009. From 2009 he organized the Advanced Scientific Programming in Python school, announced MDP 3.0 with Python 3 support in January 2011, and served as Program Chair of EuroSciPy 2013. In 2014 he coauthored a Journal of Machine Learning Research paper that extended slow feature analysis to nonlinear blind source separation. He is head of the organization of the Advanced Scientific Programming in Python school, including its 2026 edition in Prague, and is listed with Compilers and Programming Languages at Technische Universität Berlin.

Works
25
Citations
48,936
h-index
8

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2007

    Independent slow feature analysis

    He coauthors "Independent slow feature analysis and nonlinear blind source separation" with Tobias Blaschke and Laurenz Wiskott, published in Neural Computation in 2007. The algorithm combines second-order independent component analysis with slow feature analysis, and the paper tests it on nonlinearly mixed music data.

  2. January 2009

    The MDP toolkit in Python

    In January 2009, Frontiers in Neuroinformatics publishes "Modular toolkit for Data Processing (MDP): a Python data processing framework", which he coauthors with Niko Wilbert, Laurenz Wiskott and Pietro Berkes. MDP collects supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms into data processing sequences and feed-forward network architectures, and he works at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Germany.

  3. 2009–2010

    Python schools for scientists

    He organizes the Advanced Scientific Programming in Python summer school in Berlin in 2009 with Michael Schmuker, and he teaches on its faculty. In 2010, he organizes an autumn school of the same name in Trento, Italy, with Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek for the German Neuroinformatics Node of the INCF, while based at the Berlin Institute of Technology and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin.

  4. January 2011

    MDP 3.0 with Python 3

    In January 2011, he announces release 3.0 of MDP together with the other MDP developers, among them Pietro Berkes and Niko Wilbert. The release adds Python 3 support and wrappers for scikits.learn algorithms, and moves the library to a BSD license.

  5. 2013

    EuroSciPy 2013 program chair

    In 2013, he serves as Program Chair of EuroSciPy 2013, the Sixth Annual Conference on Python in Science, which takes place in Brussels. His affiliation is Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

  6. 2014

    Extending slow feature analysis

    He coauthors "An Extension of Slow Feature Analysis for Nonlinear Blind Source Separation" with Henning Sprekeler and Laurenz Wiskott in the Journal of Machine Learning Research in 2014. Simulations in the paper invert a complicated nonlinear mixture of two audio signals with high reliability.

  7. 2024–2025

    Schools in Crete and Plovdiv

    In 2024 and 2025, he is head of the organization for the Advanced Scientific Programming in Python school and responsible for its scientific program, in Heraklion, Crete in 2024 and Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 2025. The announcements place him at innoCampus of Technische Universität Berlin, and the Tübingen AI Center supports the school financially.

  8. As of October 2026

    Heading the Prague school

    He heads the organization of the 18th Advanced Scientific Programming in Python school in Prague in 2026 and is responsible for its scientific program. He is listed with Compilers and Programming Languages at Technische Universität Berlin.

Career

  1. Since 2010Technische Universität Berlin
  2. 2013Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
  3. From 2009Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience
  4. 2008–2010Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Technische Universität Berlin. 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.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Technische Universität Berlin. 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.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Technische Universität Berlin. 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.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Technische Universität Berlin. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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  1. Independent slow feature analysis and nonlinear blind source separation (BlasZitoWisk2007) ini.rub.de. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Modular toolkit for Data Processing (MDP): a Python data processing framework frontiersin.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. start [Python Summer School] archives.aspp.school. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. start [Autumn School "Advanced Scientific Programming in Python"] g-node.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. [SciPy-User] [ANN] Autumn School "Advanced Scientific Programming in Python" in Trento, Italy python.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. MDP release 3.0 [LWN.net] lwn.net. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. EuroSciPy 2013 Call for Abstracts mail.python.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. An Extension of Slow Feature Analysis for Nonlinear Blind Source Separation jmlr.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. [Numpy-discussion] 16th Advanced Scientific Programming in Python in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, 25 August – 1 September, 2024 mail-archive.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  10. [Numpy-discussion] 17th Advanced Scientific Programming in Python in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 21–28 September, 2025 mail-archive.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  11. 18th Advanced Scientific Programming in Python in Prague, Czechia, 30 August – 06 September 2026 discuss.scientific-python.org. Checked 20 October 2026.