The University of Navarra has presented today in the capital of Gipuzkoa the Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, a center attached to the School of Engineering. 

The Institute will be a center specialized in training professionals in data collection, processing and analysis. Its goal is to act as a transversal body that brings together projects of statistical analysis and data processing that are already being carried out in different faculties and services of the University. In addition, it is born with a clear vocation for research in Big Data and for training and collaboration in this field subject. 

The new institute, which was presented this morning at Tecnun, will also work with staff from Ceit, Cima and Clínica Universidad de Navarra, among others. It will also incorporate 15 external researchers from companies such as BBVA and HSBC International Banking.

The board board of directors, made up of director Jesús López Fidalgo and three deputy directors - Elisabeth Viles (director of department of Industrial Organization at Tecnun), Stella Maris Salvatierra (School of Economics) and Sergio Ardanza-Trevijano (School of Sciences) - as well as the secretary José María González Gullón, held their first meeting today at meeting in San Sebastián.

Many of the professionals who will work in the new institute are also professors in the Master in Big Data Science taught in Madrid and in the postgraduate specialization 'Data Analytics in Engineering' at Tecnun.

The director of the institute has highlighted that "nowadays, we are talking about millions of jobs that are being generated in this area and there are only hundreds of thousands of trained people. Training these people is our real service to society". 

Furthermore, as stated by Elisabeth Viles, deputy director of the center, "the main goal of the Institute is promote and promote academic research in the field of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and create a network of already consolidated researchers from the University, experts in these topics, which can give an answer multidisciplinary to all subject of projects that companies may demand".

Viles also pointed out that one of the Institute's objectives is to propose specialized seminars with national and international experts on these topics.

The applicability of the Institute

López Fidalgo, who is also president of the Society for Statistics and Operations Research (SEIO), sees data analysis and processing as a guarantor of the competitiveness of companies in any field.

"A lot of data could be collected throughout the industrial process to study how slight changes affect customer satisfaction or product quality. And that data can be used to find reliable customer profiles, leading to greater product satisfaction and, of course, greater profitability for the company," explained López Fidalgo.

"We are thinking about transferring knowledge to companies that need it and that many times it is not a simple application of what is already known, but something that requires research work. Having all the forces concentrated in the institute will lead us to customize the processes to efficiently meet the demand of organizations," he concluded.   

Further information