CVC Awarded COFUND Project to Integrate Postdoctoral Researchers into Catalonia’s Artificial Intelligence Research Ecosystem

• CVC has been awarded one of the thirty projects granted by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions - COFUND of the Horizon Europe program.
• The Ramon Llull - AIRA Postdoctoral Program project will offer 33 postdoctoral contracts benefiting 13 leading Catalan institutions in R&D in artificial intelligence.
• CVC coordinates the Artificial Intelligence Research Alliance - AIRA - the talent-focused instrument within the Catalan AI strategy, Catalonia.AI.

The Computer Vision Center (CVC) is one of the thirty beneficiaries of the COFUND grant awarded by Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) under the Horizon Europe program. The winning project, named Ramon Llull - AIRA Postdoctoral Program, stands as an international initiative set to grant 33 contracts to 13 leading Catalan institutions dedicated to research and development in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). This program serves as an instrumental mechanism for AIRA to attract top-tier talent to propel the advancement of AI in Catalonia.

With a total budget of €9,455,811.75, of which the European Commission will fund €4,728,240, the Ramon Llull - AIRA postdoctoral program aims to enhance the career prospects of young researchers with outstanding academic excellence, focusing on human-oriented artificial intelligence research, leadership, and interdisciplinary research in collaboration with other top-level institutions and R&D companies.

The 33 postdoctoral positions will be distributed among different research institutions in the field of AI in Catalonia: Centre de Visió per Computador (CVC), Institut d'Investigació en Intel·ligència Artificial (IIIA-CSIC), Barcelona Supercomputing Centre - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), Intelligent Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Research Center (IDEAI-UPC), Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (IRI-CSIC-UPC), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Universitat de Girona (UdG), Universitat Ramón Llull (URL), Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Eurecat Centre Tecnològic, Fundació i2CAT, and Institut de Recerca contra la Leucèmia Josep Carreras (IJC).

To optimize the capacity of the Catalan AI ecosystem, the Ramon Llull - AIRA program seeks to hire, host, and train researchers in AI R&D institutions in Catalonia to turn them into competent scientific leaders in different AI disciplines. This initiative will stimulate the growth and development of the Catalan research ecosystem in this field while promoting training, international mobility, and professional progress for researchers within the intersectoral business ecosystem of the territory.

The Computer Vision Center (CVC), as the coordinator of the Artificial Intelligence Research Alliance (AIRA)*, is the leading entity of this project. AIRA is part of the Catalan AI Strategy (Catalonia.ai), driven by the Government of Catalonia, and its main objective is to promote research and talent in the field of artificial intelligence in the region. The postdoctoral program is an action within the AIRA's work lines to promote talent attraction to the territory.

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*The Artificial Intelligence Research Alliance (AIRA) aims to drive scientific research, talent management, and accelerate the development of AI-based solutions in Catalonia. The alliance, coordinated by the Computer Vision Center (CVC) and formed by the Government of Catalonia, the Institut d'Investigació en Intel·ligència Artificial (IIIA-CSIC), Barcelona Supercomputing Centre - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), Intelligent Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Research Center (IDEAI-UPC), and Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (IRI-CSIC-UPC), is one of the four pillars of the Catalan Artificial Intelligence Strategy (CATALONIA.AI), alongside CIDAI, DCA-IA, and OEIAC. This strategy, driven by the Government of Catalonia, establishes priorities and lines of action to make Catalonia a hub of innovation, leadership, and attraction of talent and companies in the field of artificial intelligence. More information: http://airacat.eu/.