About Me

About Mario Brcic

Strategy Engines · Cognitive Sovereignty · Value Alignment

Building Strategy Engines for wicked problems · Associate Professor at FER · Managing Partner at It From Bit · Author, Cognitive Sovereignty trilogy.

View CV

Verifiable identity

Mario Brcic builds Strategy Engines — computational systems that solve wicked, high-stakes strategic problems under uncertainty. Associate Professor at FER (University of Zagreb), where he researches the formal limits of strategic AI, and Managing Partner at It From Bit. Author of the Cognitive Sovereignty trilogy on value alignment, strategy, and systems of power. Peer-reviewed work in ACM Computing Surveys, Information Fusion, and IEEE TSE (3000+ citations).

From research to real-world strategy

I help leaders make better decisions when the stakes are high and the world won't sit still.

Two platforms, one mission. As Associate Professor at the University of Zagreb, I work on how AI, operations research, and decision systems hold up in fast-changing environments. As Managing Partner at It From Bit, I take that research into client engagements: supply-chain resilience, geopolitical risk, AI governance, and the strategic moves that come with them.

Each side of the work keeps the other honest. Methods that look rigorous on paper have to survive contact with executives, regulators, and adversaries; lessons from those rooms feed back into the research.

Outside of work: long-distance kayaking, Mediterranean cycling, open-sea routes. Used to compete in freediving and triathlon. Same instinct in the office and on the water: go further, stay thinking, see what holds up.

Education

Ph.D. Computer Science

University of Zagreb — FER · 2010–2015

Thesis: Proactive-reactive project scheduling with flexibility and quality requirements

Focus: AI, Optimization, Scheduling

MSc. Computer Science

University of Zagreb — FER · 2003–2008

Thesis: Source code generator based on UML specifications

Research fields: Software Engineering, Expert Systems, Code Generation

Projects

VALOR — Value-aligned and Interpretable Optimization and Reasoning

FER institutional research project (2025–2029) on the mechanistic interpretability and value alignment of large language models. Principal Investigator.

EquiFlow (completed)

NPOO / NextGenerationEU Proof of Innovative Concept (FER): large-scale urban-traffic-coordination optimization on specialised accelerator hardware. Principal Investigator.

AnomalyStudio (completed)

NPOO / NextGenerationEU Proof of Innovative Concept (via It From Bit): automated, interpretable root-cause analysis for operational anomalies. Principal Investigator.

European Processor Initiative (EPI) · EuroCC · ESIF programmes

Earlier contributions to EU-scale HPC and competence-centre initiatives, plus ESIF-funded distributed-process monitoring research.

Memberships

  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
  • Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
  • The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
  • Croatian Operational Research Society (CRORS)
  • AGI Society

Frequently Asked

Who is Mario Brcic?
AI researcher and strategy advisor. Builds Strategy Engines: computational tools for high-stakes decisions. Associate Professor at FER (University of Zagreb), Managing Partner at It From Bit, and author of the Cognitive Sovereignty trilogy.
What are Strategy Engines?
Computational tools for strategic decisions when the stakes are high, the environment pushes back, and the future is uncertain. Operations research, simulation, game theory, and machine learning, mixed in the right proportions for the problem. The methodological core of the work on this site. See /strategy-engines/.
What does Mario Brcic research?
Three threads: Strategy Engines (the methodological frame), Cognitive Sovereignty (how AI memory shifts power), and the formal limits of value alignment (where AI safety hits hard walls). Peer-reviewed venues include ACM Computing Surveys, Information Fusion, and IEEE TSE. Full record on ORCID 0000-0002-7564-6805 and Google Scholar.
What is the "Professor-Practitioner" approach?
Methods built in research, tested in real engagements via It From Bit. Lessons from practice feed back into the research. Each side keeps the other honest.
Where does Mario Brcic teach?
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER), University of Zagreb.
How can I work with Mario Brcic?
Advisory engagements run through It From Bit. Typically C-suite teams and public-sector decision-makers facing wicked problems. Use the contact page to start a conversation.
How should Mario Brcic be cited?
Academic: ORCID 0000-0002-7564-6805 plus the DOI of the specific paper. Web: link to mariobrcic.com or the canonical URL of the essay.
Is the Croatian spelling "Brčić" the same person?
Yes. "Mario Brčić" and "Mario Brcic" are the same individual. ORCID 0000-0002-7564-6805 resolves both.

Want to work together?

Advisory engagements run through It From Bit. Speaking, press, and academic collaborations come direct.

Start a conversation