Artificial Intelligence

Description

As of today, the doctoral programme in Artificial Intelligence is the only doctoral programme in Catalonia focusing exclusively on artificial intelligence.

• The development of computing and its pervasiveness in all areas of society represent fundamental elements for understanding the socioeconomic progress of the second half of the 20th century. Particularly in recent years, artificial intelligence, due to its multidisciplinary nature, in addition to driving scientific and technological advancement in all fields of science, engineering and many other disciplines, has enabled the efficient and effective deciphering of scientific and social data, which has been critical to shaping our understanding of the world around us, living beings, mankind and society in general. Artificial intelligence is now present in nearly all domains of advanced society. Specifically, the financial, industrial, service, public administration, health care, communications, education and research and innovation sectors cannot be conceived without artificial intelligence playing a critical role in the systems that control them.

• The programme’s sphere of influence is Catalonia. As such it looks to attract Catalan students, though the Department also admits students from other parts of Spain and foreign countries. In Catalonia, and in particular, the metropolitan area surrounding Barcelona, industry and services have developed extensively. The financial, insurance, SME, consulting, education and research sectors here are key to the development of the country as a whole. And, as has already been mentioned, artificial intelligence is necessary in all of these fields. Consequently, educating and training well qualified AI researchers has undoubtedly become a strategic factor for growth.

• The doctoral programme in Artificial Intelligence was the first of its kind in Catalonia (1985), and for many years, it was the only one to exist. Since then, artificial intelligence has seen exponential growth and has been the starting point for many lines of research and products that have made their way to the general public, whether in American, Japan or Europe, where a significant number of Framework Programmes have been dedicated to financing projects that have artificial intelligence as a major element. In Catalonia in particular, the UPC’s doctoral programme in Artificial Intelligence has been vital to the creation of a thriving and growing scientific community. Some of the most important public and private research centres in Europe were founded by research graduates from our programme. Various spin-offs (e.g., ISOCO, 3SCALE, Intelligent Pharma and Sisltech) have been created as the result of one or more doctoral theses. Additionally, the Catalan Association for Artificial Intelligence (ACIA) is one of the most important in Europe.

• The doctoral programme in Artificial Intelligence stands out in Europe thanks to the research quality and output produced by its members, who participate in research projects financed with funds from the EU, Spain or other Spanish organisations and companies. Special mention should be given to the coordination of and participation in research projects involved with the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Framework Programmes (Share-it, Laboranova, Contract, Agencities.RTD, Alive, Superhub, etc.). At the UPC there are three established groups that have been acclaimed by the Government of Catalonia and another by the university itself. These groups are directly related to the programme, ensuring that it remains dynamic and maintains the scientific standards needed to keep it in such high standing. Additionally, as has been previously mentioned, these groups are very active when it comes to obtaining financing through EU calls, which ensures they have continuous contact with national and European businesses and a high level of internationalisation. Furthermore, other groups at the UPC regularly send students to study in the programme. The same is true with students from other universities, such as the URV and the CSIC’s Artificial Intelligence Research Institute.

• The UPC’s doctoral programme in Artificial Intelligence was given the Quality Award in 2003 (MCD2003-00129), which was renewed in the following years: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Among other recent accolades, it is worth noting that some of the programme’s theses have received awards:

• Two recent doctoral theses presented in the programme were given the Artificial Intelligence Dissertation Award (in 2010 and 2003). This is the only programme in all of Spain that has been given such distinctions. In Europe, there are two other examples: the doctoral programmes in artificial intelligence at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the J. Stefan Institute in Ljubljana.

• Furthermore, some of the programme’s distinguished former students include five ECCAI Fellows. Ours is one of the programmes that has produced the most Fellows in Europe. They are: Prof. Carlos Sierra (IIIA-CSIC), Enric Plaza (1) (IIIA-CSIC), Vicenç Torra (IIIA-CSIC), Pedro Messeguer (IIIA-CSIC) and Lluís Godó (IIIA-CSIC)

• Another of the programme’s theses was given the Best Thesis Award 2009 by the European Association for Machine Translation.

• Another was given the Joan Lluís Vives Prize 2003, the Barcelona City Research Prize 2003 and the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize by the UPC for the 2003-2004 academic year.

• Another was given the Chihuahua Research Prize 2002, by the state of Chihuahua, Mexico.
  

The doctoral programme in Artificial Intelligence falls into the field of information and communication technology (ICT), as does the research work carried out in the programme, and this represents one of the primary areas of research at the UPC. The education and training provided in the programme is intended to respond to one of the challenges posed by Catalonia’s 2010-2013 Research and Innovation Plan: Excellent and cutting-edge research and technology (see section 8, page 13). It is also intended to respond to the objectives of area 1—production of scientific and technological knowledge and competencies—of the National Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation Plan 2008-2011 (PN I+D+I).

From a technical and scientific point of view, some of the programme’s lines of research contribute to tackling other challenges included in Catalonia’s Research and Innovation Plan:

• Efficient flows of people and goods (sustainable mobility) and of information. The programme covers lines dealing with flows of information related to the accessibility and management of information, particularly in the contexts of algorithmics and programming.

• The new service society with consumer "serviproducts". The programme incorporates lines of research related to the study and analysis of the structural and algorithmic aspects of social networks and heterogeneous computing networks (sensors, robots, mobile phones, etc.) that could play a crucial role in the development of new methodologies in this field. It also deals with the development of computer graphic technologies and those related to virtual and augmented reality.

• Healthcare and risk prevention. The programme incorporates lines of research related to biocomputing and medical visualisation.
  

With regard to the PN I+D+I and in line with the objectives of Strategic Action 4, the programme’s lines of research include the following: Telecommunications and the information society, with potential contributions to the following sub-lines:

1. Computing technologies

b) Advanced multi-modal interfaces.

c) Distributed and embedded systems.

d) Software engineering and information management.

e) Intelligent systems.

f) Free and open-source software.

8. Sector-specific applications, services and contents

a) Businesses and particularly SMEs. E-business, in its broadest sense.

b) Healthcare, social welfare and social inclusion, including broadband e-inclusion.

c) Security, in its broadest sense.

d) Transport, in its broadest sense.

Regarding the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme, from topic 3, Information and Communication Technologies, of the 2011-2012 Work Programme, the doctoral programme’s lines of research pertain to the planning, design and analysis of some of the developmental components of the challenges posed:

• Challenge 1: Pervasive and trusted network and service infrastructures
  • tools and platforms for novel Internet application development
  • key technological developments in networking, digital media and service infrastructures.

• Challenge 3: alternative paths to components and systems
  • multicore computing systems
    - embedded systems
    - monitoring and control
  • cooperating complex systems 

• Challenge 4: technologies for digital content and languages
  • online access and use of content and services
    - reliability of retrieval and use of digital resources
  • scaling up data analysis to keep pace with extremely large data volumes

• Challenge 5: ICT for health, ageing well, inclusion and governance. ICT for disease prediction, early diagnosis, prevention, minimally invasive treatment

Artificial intelligence is undoubtedly at the core of the technological and scientific development of other emblematic concepts and challenges, including "smart cities", "greener technologies" and "living labs"