Launch of the university-industry research program (ENIA programs) in Artificial Intelligence in collaboration with Repsol
18 October, 2024
The research program will focus on the importance of the ethical dimension of AI and its impact on privacy, fundamental rights and security.
The institution plans to create a ‘reliable’, general-purpose AI platform and to research Risk Scenario Applications.
The project, valued at 1.6 million euros, is being developed in collaboration with Repsol and the University of Modena in Italy and will involve 14 researchers and 10 contract researchers.
The University of Granada (UGR) has presented the University-Business Research Program in AI that it will develop over the next four years in collaboration with Repsol. The activities of the Research Program began with a ceremony at the Rectorate of the UGR with the presence of Enrique Herrera, Vice-Rector for Research and Transfer (substitute Rector); Francisco Herrera, Director of the DaSCI Institute and of the ENIA-IAFER Research Program; Emilia Martínez, member of the Committee and Director of Industrial Optimisation in the area of Technology and Corporate Venturing at Repsol; and José Antonio Montilla, Deputy Delegate of the Spanish Government.
During the event, the members of the Research Program´s Governing Board discussed the project to be developed, entitled ‘Ethical, responsible and general-purpose artificial intelligence: applications in risk scenarios’. This Research Program will focus on the importance of the ‘ethical dimension’ of AI and its impact on privacy, fundamental rights and security. Less obvious risks, such as bias, will also be addressed.
In the context of the Research Program, a ‘reliable’ AI platform called IAFER will be created. Repsol, which will participate in the project, will work together with the other experts in the research and development of Artificial Intelligence techniques that allow it to manage its industrial centres more efficiently, where the interpretability, reliability and robustness of the algorithms already used by the multi-energy company are crucial for the safety of daily operations. In addition, General Purpose AI models will be addressed that allow for almost automatic adaptation to the different challenges faced by the industrial centres.
Subsequently, Professor Dr. Javier Del Ser, principal researcher and head of AI at TECNALIA, Basque Research & Technology Alliance and Associate Professor at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), gave the lecture ‘Applied Artificial Intelligence: Current Context and Future Perspectives’ at the UGR AI building, in one of the first activities of the Research Program.
Other activities to be carried out by the Research Program include a Winter School, dissemination activities (scientific comics, participation in events for the general public such as Desgranando Ciencia and the researchers’ night) and training activities such as an online learning environment.
The Research Program also has an international dimension and will involve the participation of fourteen researchers, twelve from the UGR and two from the University of Modena in Italy. In addition, eight pre-doctoral researchers and two post-doctoral researchers will be hired to carry out research in various lines and specific objectives. In the case of Repsol, a team of researchers from Repsol Technology Lab, the innovation centre that the multi-energy company has located in Móstoles (Madrid), will participate.
Among the proposals received by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service, the UGR’s project was the highest scoring and will receive funding of 1.2 million euros through the DaSCI Institute and within the framework of the European Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, with funds from the European Union-Next Generation EU.
The Andalusian Inter-University Institute in Data Science and Computational Intelligence, known as DaSCI Institute, is a collaborative entity between the universities of Granada, Jaén and Córdoba. It is dedicated to advanced research and training in the field of Artificial Intelligence, with a particular focus on Data Science and Computational Intelligence. The institute brings together an outstanding group of researchers working on joint projects, promoting the development and application of innovative technologies in various sectors. With the aim of becoming a benchmark in its field, the DaSCI promotes the transfer of scientific knowledge to the socio-economic environment, thus contributing to technological progress and the digitisation of industry.
Contact:
- Francisco Herrera – herrera@decsai.ugr.es (Director of the Research Program).
- Isaac Triguero – triguero@decsai.ugr.es (Scientific head of the project).