UC3M establishes itself as a benchmark in Artificial Intelligence
10/5/23
Yesterday, the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) held the opening ceremony for the 2023-24 academic year in the Leganés Campus Auditorium with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI). The inaugural lecture was given by Dr. Nuria Oliver, known for her work in this field, and the University announced that it will fund 20 predoctoral research theses on transversal topics of innovation in AI, a pioneering measure in the Community of Madrid.
The event, at which more than 350 people were present, was attended by the President of the Assembly of Madrid, the Minister of Digitalisation and the mayors of Leganés, Getafe and Alcorcón, among other authorities. The event began with the reading of the summary of last year's report by UC3M's Secretary General, Professor José Vida. The medals were then awarded to around thirty new doctors from the University. The inaugural lecture, entitled "Towards socially sustainable AI", was given by telecommunications engineer Nuria Oliver, a doctor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab and co-founder and director of the ELLIS Alicante Foundation. The Medal of Honour was also awarded to Matías Rodríguez Inciarte, former president of the UC3M Social Council.
The invitation to Nuria Oliver to give the inaugural lecture is part of UC3M's initiative to focus on AI this academic year. In this context, in his closing statement during this event, UC3M Rector Ángel Arias recalled the need to recover classical values, those included in the university's motto -homo homini sacra res-, in order to face challenges such as those posed by AI. He also announced the granting of 20 of the University's own grants to research transversal aspects of this new technology.
He also confirmed the support and constructive dialogue with the Community of Madrid's Ministry of Digitalisation, which has already announced the Artificial Intelligence Cluster's location in the UC3M Science Park Building. In turn, the University is carrying out research transfer actions in this area through different city councils. In this sense, the commitment to AI is transversal and involves research staff from the School of Engineering, Faculty of Social and Legal Sciences and the Faculty of Humanities, Communication and Documentation at UC3M.
With this set of measures, and others to be announced soon, UC3M is firmly committed to establishing itself as a benchmark institution in the field of AI.
