Barcelona Joins the ELIAS Alliance as a New Innovation Node

Barcelona Joins the ELIAS Alliance as a New Innovation Node

The ELIAS Alliance for European Leadership in Innovation with AI and Science proudly introduced eight inaugural ELIAS Nodes at the Falling Walls AI Night on November 8th, 2024, in Berlin, Germany. This event, renowned for celebrating breakthroughs in science and innovation, provided an excellent platform for launching the pan-European Alliance with its new nodes in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Cambridge, Copenhagen, Munich, Potsdam, Tübingen, and Zurich. The nodes establish a network of startups and incubators and collaborate to support entrepreneurship and the open-source development of foundation models for European value creation.

Funded by the EU through the European Lighthouse of AI for Sustainability, the ELIAS Alliance has close links to the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) which brings together the strongest AI research labs in Europe and serves as a one-stop shop for PhD and postdoc candidates to find their best matching supervisors.

Building on this academic excellence network, the ELIAS Alliance is now pushing to integrate value-creation literacy and future skills into academic curricula, linking talent between academia and business across Europe. Each ELIAS node operates as an entrepreneurial hub, leveraging the unique strengths and ecosystems of its location, and creating new possibilities for students to earn their degrees with innovation-centric research projects.

The ELIAS Alliance is dedicated to advancing open science and empowering the next generation of AI innovators by providing access to cutting-edge tools, mentorship, and networking opportunities.

During the inaugural ELIAS Nodes event, which featured the participation of Dimosthenis Karatzas, CVC's Associate Director, and Sergi Besonias, coordinator of Xarxa RDI-IA, the Alliance unveiled ambitious plans for a European MSc Graduation Project Program and an annual Sciencepreneur Meeting. These initiatives are designed to foster knowledge exchange and cultivate thought leadership in AI value creation across Europe. Through these efforts, the ELIAS Alliance aims to build a robust European ecosystem of talent, entrepreneurship, and AI advancement, driving sustainable and high-impact innovation.

The ELIAS Alliance represents Europe’s decisive step towards fostering AI “made in Europe.” By connecting academia, industry, and startup ecosystems, ELIAS is paving the way for a future in which AI and innovation thrive together, building a sustainable economy while addressing the needs and values of European society.

ELIAS Node in Barcelona

The new ELIAS Node in Barcelona serves as a strategic hub for driving knowledge transfer across Catalonia and beyond. It fosters opportunities for European collaborations, strengthens local initiatives, and facilitates the adoption of best practices from other nodes, amplifying its overall impact. The vision of the Barcelona Node is to position Catalonia as a leading AI innovation hub in Southern Europe.

Through collaboration with other nodes in the ELIAS Alliance, the Barcelona Node aims to share and adopt best practices in knowledge transfer, entrepreneurship, and innovation. It will unify the AI ecosystem in Catalonia and enhance interactions between scientific and business communities, generating significant socio-economic benefits. By internationalizing its valorization programs and sharing expertise across nodes, the Barcelona Node seeks to drive the growth of AI-based startups and position the region as a European leader in research and innovation.

The ELIAS Barcelona Node is co-directed by Dr. Dimosthenis Karatzas, Associate Director of the Computer Vision Center (CVC). During the Falling Walls event, Dr. Karatzas shared his vision for Europe’s potential: “While Europe leads in AI talent and research, much of the real-world impact occurs outside our borders. ELIAS provides a platform that combines AI expertise with entrepreneurial skills, enabling us to scale AI-driven innovation in Barcelona while collaborating seamlessly with other top innovation hubs across Europe.”

About ELIAS

ELIAS, under the coordination of the University of Trento, is dedicated to positioning Europe as a leading force in Artificial Intelligence (AI) research, driving sustainable innovation and economic growth. Built on the foundation of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS), an internationally acclaimed institution, ELLIS provides a collaborative network for researchers to pursue funding, training, mobility, infrastructure, and policy initiatives.

ELIAS builds on ELLIS’ legacy by refining and expanding its criteria for excellence. It supports AI researchers and emerging talent at all career stages, creating a Network of Excellence that bridges academia and industry. This framework ensures that AI research in Europe not only fosters sustainable innovation but also contributes to a cohesive society that respects individual rights and values.

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