As an author of more than 100 scientific and didactic publications (monographs, handbooks, conference papers, scientific magazine articles), he is also the co – author of several commissioned scientific research projects implemented to maritime economy, as well as the head and contractor of state and international research projects on up-to-date IT technologies applied to sea transport, at the same time leading a team for statute scientific /research works of the Faculty of Navigation at the Maritime University of Szczecin.

His most significant scientific achievements:

• Development of methods of acquiring, extraction and presentation navigators’ knowledge by means of knowledge engineering tools;
• Definition of criteria for a navigational situation assessment and development of methods of their determination;
• Development of original methods of optimizing a ship’s motion trajectory with the use of artificial intelligence methods and tools;
• Development of decision process and procedure models for handling a sea going vessel;

Zbigniew Pietrzykowski, PhD has been a member of the Traffic Handling Department of the PAN Transport Committee. In 2002 he was called by the Board of the Polish Register of Shipping for the 13th term (2002-2006) of the PRS S.A. Technical Council and then for the following 14th term for 2007-2011, at the same time holding the membership of the Polish Society for Safety and Reliability and the Polish Society of Transport Telematics.

He was one of the initiators and co-organizers of the international scientific/technological EXPLO-SHIP conference: Problems of sailing objects and port facility operation, organized by former WSM, currently Maritime University of Szczecin.
The prototype of a decision supporting marine navigational system is an innovative solution increasing functions of the currently used navigational systems. The system, apart from its typical navigational information functions (receiving, integration and displaying information - ECDIS, ARPA, AIS, GPS), additionally allows to:

• Analize and assess a navigational situation in reference to marine traffic regulations;
• Predict navigational situations;
• Determine solutions to collision situations automatically using specialist computing algorithms, including optimizing algorithms;
• Explain current navigational situations on the basis of navigational knowledge (marine traffic rules, principles of good marine practice, criteria of analysis and navigational situation assessment used by expert navigators);
• Explain (justify) the determined, suggested maneuvers,

The system operating in real time, has been tested and verified both in laboratory and real conditions on m/s Nawigator XXI, a research/training vessel.