Founded in 1990, UPF is a public university based in Barcelona that is highly competitive in research and aims to transform education to respond to future challenges. The University carries out this activity in eight disciplines spread across three campuses (health and life sciences, political and social sciences, communication, law, economics and business, engineering and information and communication technologies, humanities, and translation and language sciences).

This document presents several examples of initiatives led by the university at a cross-cutting level (such as CeSANI - Center for Studies in Artificial and Natural Intelligence) and also some of the initiatives led by various departments of the university (such as the Department of Information and Communication Technologies: UPF-DTIC; Department of Language Sciences and Translation - DTRAD; Department of Communication - DCOM; Department of Economy and Business - DECON; Department of Medicine and Life Sciences - MELIS).

UPF programs - research and teaching

DTIC is the only university department working on AI in Spain recognized as a Maria de Maeztu Unit of Excellence, a recognition to the leading research centers in Spain in any field, under the strategic program “Artificial and Natural Intelligence for ICT and beyond”, which co-funds 20 research projects and 6 innovation projects.

The Center for Studies in Artificial and Natural Intelligence (CeSANI) has as its mission to foster innovative research by facilitating collaboration across disciplines. Combining the strengths of fundamental AI research and traditional natural intelligence research, the center promotes cross-disciplinary inspiration, exchange of ideas and breakthroughs in each field.

UPF coordinates the new Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters in Artificial Intelligence (EMAI). This is a two-year Erasmus Mundus Master (120 ECTS) that provides a comprehensive framework of theory and practice in the field of AI. Universities involved: UPF (coordinator), Sapienza University, Rome (Italy), Radboud University (Netherlands), University of Ljubljana (Slovakia). More than 1,300 applications in the first call for applications for the 2024-25 academic year.

T​​eaching

Other educational programs related to AI include:

• Engineering degrees: with 43% of female graduates out of the total number of students (academic year 2021-2022) and programs such as, for example, Mathematical Engineering in Data Science.
• Masters: all programs are taught in English, some focused exclusively on AI (e.g., EMAI or the Master in Intelligent and Interactive Systems).
• PhD: as an example, a thesis of DTIC-UPF received the award for best thesis in AI in Europe from EurAI in 2016.

Research

DTIC-UPF has a leading international research groups at the core of AI research, as the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Group (AI & ML), in computational neuroscience, on critical technologies for AI (e.g. Natural Language Processing in the TALN group; or computational vision in the IMVA group - Intelligent Multimodal Vision Analysis), and the development and use of AI in specific domains such as music technology, cinema, education, biomedical engineering or communication networks. Other UPF departments also have recognized groups doing AI research, for example the department of Translation and language sciences (Computational Linguistics and Linguistic Theory), the department of Economy and Business (Operations Research, Statistics) and MELIS (Functional Genomics, Computational Sciences, Dynamical Systems and Complex Systems).

L​​​​eadership and participation in networks

The DTIC-UPF has contributed (and is part of) with two of the four “ELLIS Fellows” for the ELLIS Unit Barcelona initiative, with the participation of the following UPF researchers (Carlos Castillo, DTIC - ELLIS Fellow, Emilia Gómez, DTIC - ELLIS Fellow, Gergely Neu, DTIC - ELLIS Scholar, Gabor Lugosi, Econ; Coloma Ballester, DTIC; Horacio Saggion, DTIC).

Four UPF research groups (AI&ML, IMVA, TALN, BCNMedTech) have joined the new Catalan network of R+D+I in artificial intelligence, funded by AGAUR, and formed by 16 different institutions. The RDI-IA Network’s mission is to provide the Catalan AI ecosystem with mechanisms for technology transfer and valorization of the knowledge generated at universities and technology centers.

DTIC-UPF researchers are part of several European networks of excellence in artificial intelligence, such as TAILOR, HUMANE-AI, and CLAIRE and are members of the International AI Doctoral Academy (AIDA), and stand out for the quality of their scientific production in specialized journals and international conferences.

Dissemination

Organization of conferences and other initiatives. Recent examples:

• UAI2024 (Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence), with the Barcelona School of Economics.
• 38th International Congress and Exhibition CARS 2024 Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery, including topics such as AI in surgery and radiology.
• Reinforcement Learning Summer School 2023.
• Festival RAIN+. International AI-generated film festival that explores how this technology intersects with contemporary filmic storytelling.
• Regularly invited to speak at professional and dissemination events related to the future of AI. Recent examples: the future of the music ecosystem and AI, or generative AI and education, or the organization of TED talks.

Leadership and participation in European projects

The DTIC-UPF participates in tenths of European research projects (leading university department in Spain). Examples of recent projects:

• EMERALD - AI and Process Automation for Sustainable Entertainment and Media (Horizon Europe - Cluster 4-DIGITAL-EMERGING-2022). Its objective is to improve the efficiency and energy efficiency of the media and audiovisual sector with artificial intelligence. Led by UPF-DTIC, it has seven European partners, Trinity College Dublin, the BBC and the four technology providers: Brainstorm Multimedia, Disguise Systems, Filmlight GmbH, and MOG Technologies.
• AI-BOOST - Artificial Intelligence for better opportunities and scientific progress towards a trustworthy and human-centric digital environment (GA: 101135737 — AI-BOOST — HORIZON-CL4-2023-HUMAN-01-CNECT), which aims to promote AI in Europe, includes a program of open challenge awards that will serve as a benchmark for the European artificial intelligence (AI) community and has a budget of several million to award these awards.
• FINDHR Fairness and Intersectional Non-Discrimination in Human Recommendation. An interdisciplinary consortium of universities (UPF, Radboud Univ, Amsterdam Univ, Pisa Univ, Erasmus Rotterdam Univ, Max Planck Society); companies (ETICAS Research and Consulting, Adevinta Spain - InfoJobs, Randstad Netherlands BV) and associations (Algorithm Watch Switzerland, European Trade Union Confederation, Women in Development in Europe, PRAKSIS Association); coordinated by UPF-DTIC, aims to promote a responsible use of artificial intelligence algorithms in the recruitment and hiring processes in companies. Taking into account technological, legal and ethical aspects, the EU-funded FINDHR project will facilitate the prevention, detection and management of discrimination in algorithmic recruitment and closely related areas involving human recommendations.
• iDEM - Innovative and Inclusive Democratic Spaces for Deliberation and Participation. iDEM will co-create the new generation multilingual models with the aim of (1) detecting possible sources of problems in the comprehension of messages and speeches for different European languages and audiences, (2) automatically adapting the texts in these languages to make them accessible and unbiased for these audiences, (3) providing AI tools to improve the controllable generation of messages and speeches. Project coordinated by the DTIC-UPF

Also, three European Research Council (ERC) awards recently obtained by DTIC-UPF researchers working in the field of AI, the EU’s most prestigious frontier research center.

Finally, UPF-DTIC will participate in the MSCA COFUND Postdoctoral programme Ramon Llull in Artificial Intelligence. DTIC-UPF can host and co-fund a maximum of 3 PostDocs. The objective is to optimize the capacity of the Catalan AI ecosystem by recruiting, hosting and training researchers in the AI R&I institutions in Catalonia.