Today, the Institute for Catalan Studies held the presentation of the ELLIS Barcelona Unit, which will become a key element in consolidating Catalonia's position as a benchmark in artificial intelligence (AI) research and innovation in Europe. The Barcelona Unit is one of the 43 local units of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) in Europe. In total, 23 leading researchers in the field of artificial intelligence from nine Catalan universities and research institutions will form part of the unit.
Karim Lekadir, Petia Radeva and Sergio Escalera, researchers of the UB's Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, are taking part in this project.
The ELLIS Barcelona Unit responds to the need to promote interdisciplinary research in AI, establish collaborations between experts from different institutions at both Catalan and European level, maintain links with industry and facilitate the recruitment and retention of talent in this field. With the support of the Government of Catalonia and in coordination with the agents of the Catalan knowledge system, the ELLIS Barcelona Unit contributes, within the Artificial Intelligence Strategy of Catalonia (CATALONIA.AI), to consolidate the region as a leader in innovation and technological development in Europe.
The Barcelona Unit is co-directed by Carme Torras, research professor at the Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics (IRI/CSIC-UPC), and Dimosthenis Karatzas, associate director of the Computer Vision Centre (CVC) and professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
In addition to the UB, researchers from five universities and four research centres in the Catalan artificial intelligence ecosystem are participating: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), the Computer Vision Centre (CVC), the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA-CSIC), the Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics (IRI /CSIC-UPC) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS).
The official presentation was opened by the Catalan Minister for Research and Universities, Joaquim Nadal i Farreras, and the Secretary for Digital Policies, Gina Tost i Faus. The Rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia, also attended the event.
