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

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

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

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

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

The director of the institute stressed that "nowadays, there is talk of millions of jobs being generated in this area and there are barely 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 centre, "the main objective of the Institute is to promote and encourage scientific research in the field of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and to create a network of already consolidated researchers from the University, experts in these subjects, who can provide a multidisciplinary response to all kinds of projects that companies may demand".

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

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 this data can be used to find reliable customer profiles, allowing for greater product satisfaction and of course greater profitability for the company," López Fidalgo explained.

"We are thinking about knowledge transfer to companies that need it and that often 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 personalise the processes to efficiently meet the demands of organisations," he concluded.   

Further information