As part of the Telefónica Chair on Cognitive IoT, which is made up of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, a meeting of experts was organized to discuss the evolution of professional profiles in engineering. The impact of emerging technologies such as cybersecurity and data science, driven more recently by generative artificial intelligence, requires a profound reflection on their impact on the professional profiles demanded by the sector. The session, in expert Agora format, brought together a dozen professionals from different sectors as well as professors, students and managers from the UPC, UPF and UNIZAR, to discuss the future of professional profiles in the ICT sector.

On behalf of the UPF, Marina Suárez, a student of the Degree in Mathematical Engineering of Data Science, and Albert Domingo, a professor of the School of Engineering and director of UPF Ventures, participated.

Marina Suárez, who currently combines her work with UVE Solutions and the development of her TFG, focused on the analysis of the impact of AI in small and medium enterprises in Catalonia, pointed out that "the use of AI is impacting all sectors. There are ethical and professional aspects to take into account".
In addition, he added that "climate change is very often not taken into account in these processes of technological transformation and it is an aspect that worries young people." "We should look at both the positive and negative side of all these applications of technology, so multidisciplinarity is important," he said.
 

Albert Domingo, with an extensive vision of the world of knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship, pointed out that "at the UPF, engineering is more focused on people and looking for solutions for their welfare and not so much on industry. The university provides a solid base, but complementary training is essential to generate better professionals".
He also stressed the importance of "large companies offering a training or tutoring plan to young engineers. At university, neither the career plan that is presented in some companies nor the reality of the labour market is explained. There are two very separate worlds between young talent and companies that are often difficult to connect".

The session was chaired by the Vice-Chancellor of the UPC, Montserrat Pardàs, and by Julián Vinué, Digital Innovation Manager at Telefónica. The initiative was the joint UPF-UPC Chair co-directed by Lluís Jofre (UPC) and Miquel Oliver (UPF).

In a debate moderated by Carles Martín, in addition to the contributions of Marina and Albert, there were presentations of the university quality agency AQU and the ICT sector barometer of CTECNO by Anna Prades and Bernat Palau, respectively.

The debate closed with conclusions drawn up by the director of the UPC Chair, Professor Lluís Jofre.

The Telefónica-UPC-UPF Chair organizes annual debate activities on the profession and the sector in the Ágora. It is co-directed by Miquel Oliver, Professor of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) at the UPF, and Lluís Jofre, Professor of Signal Theory and Communications at the UPC.