The Chair is part of a broad cooperation agreement that opens a period of joint research in areas of common interest.
The University of Granada and Amazon have signed a general cooperation protocol that opens a period of joint work in areas of common interest to both institutions. In the area of student training, the protocol foresees, among other things, the granting of scholarships to enable the completion of bachelor’s and master’s theses and industrial doctorates. In the field of teaching, it proposes the implementation of specialization courses, continuing education or language accreditation. In the field of research and technology transfer, it includes the development of joint projects, the creation of joint units, proofs of concept or the creation of sponsored chairs. Finally, the agreement covers areas such as infrastructure and heritage support and cultural, sports and social responsibility activities.
For the rector of the UGR, “this agreement with Amazon represents a strategic milestone for the University of Granada, as it reinforces our commitment to research excellence and quality training in key areas such as artificial intelligence and computing”. For Pedro Mercado, “this public-private collaboration not only boosts knowledge transfer and technological innovation, but also opens up new opportunities for our students and researchers in a global context where technology is advancing at great speed. Therefore, alliances like this are essential to position our universities as engines of economic and social development.”
In the words of Carmen Nestares, VP Prime & Marketing Technology at Amazon, “the signing of this agreement is a transformative step that unites the academic excellence of a historic university with the technological innovation of Amazon. Our commitment to train half a million young people in digital skills in Spain by 2027 fits perfectly with initiatives like this Chair, which will not only boost research in artificial intelligence and computing, but also open up new opportunities for young talent in STEM careers. This is the way Amazon understands education: practical, innovative and with real impact on society.”
The first two actions to materialize after the signing of this general protocol are the creation of the Amazon Chair and the launch of a research project that will enable doctoral theses to be written on the application of artificial intelligence to marketing.
The Amazon Chair, which will be directed by Professors Oscar Cordón, from the Department of Computer Science and AI and the DaSCI-UGR Institute, and Nuria Rico, from the Department of Statistics and Operations Research, is created with the aim of promoting academic excellence, innovation and knowledge transfer focusing on the advancement of research, education and practical applications in the specific field of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. The Chair also has among its main objectives the dissemination, the promotion of job placement through external internships at Amazon and the promotion of female talent in the area of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degrees. In short, it is a strategic collaboration that aims to unite the academic knowledge of the UGR with the technological and innovative capacity of Amazon, thus promoting scientific and educational progress with social and economic impact.
On the other hand, and within the framework of the chair, a project for the direction of industrial theses related to the application of artificial intelligence to marketing is also being launched. In a first phase, Amazon will finance two doctoral theses developed by two young researchers at the DaSCI Institute of the UGR, the Andalusian Interuniversity Institute in Data Science and Computational Intelligence, a research institute promoted by the universities of Granada, Jaen and Cordoba.
Contact:
Sergio Damas Arroyo – sdamas@ugr.es – Scientific Director of the UGR-AI Foundation.
Oscar Cordón – ocordon@decsai.ugr.es – Dept. of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence and DaSCI-UGR Institute.
