The Image Processing Laboratory (IPL) of the University of Valencia will coordinate all actions related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Earth and Climate Sciences within the European project ELISE. Funded with 12 million euros by the European Commission, led by Aalto University (Finland) and composed of 23 research organizations, ELISE will be a research center of excellence for the development of AI in Europe.
Machine learning has triggered the current revolution in Artificial Intelligence, which has impacted on all associated disciplines, such as computer vision and sensory processing, data science, symbolic reasoning, robotics or human-machine interaction. The separation between academic and industrial research is becoming increasingly blurred thanks to the rapid and extensive process of knowledge transfer that is taking place in this field and which has led to the need to strengthen the excellence of European research in order to remain competitive.
In this sense, the European Commission is investing in the development of AI research networks; and in its first major call -ICT-48 (H2020)- has given the green light to the ELISE project (European Learning and Intelligent Systems Excellence), an open and decentralized international collaboration for basic and applied AI research, where the University of Valencia plays an important role.
The initiative, funded with 12 million euros, is supported by the ELLIS network, the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems, which aims to attract and retain talent to compete with China and the U.S. in Artificial Intelligence. "ELLIS is driven by excellence and is an open network, which is just what Europe needs; we are playing for Europe's team," says Samuel Kasko, researcher at Aalto University in Finland, director of the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence FCAi and the project's principal investigator.
Following this line, ELISE will constitute a research center of excellence that will group more than 200 researchers and a hundred organizations and companies that will work, from different aspects of AI -15 programs-, both in research and in attracting talent and transferring knowledge to the industry. Each programme will bring together the most outstanding AI centers and researchers, to address the main scientific and technological challenges that Europe must face and that will boost its role in the world.
The project is integrated by 23 leading academic and industrial centers in Artificial Intelligence in Europe: Aalto University (Aalto) [coordinator], University of Tübingen (EKUT), University of Amsterdam (UvA), Czech Technical University (CTU), Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Johannes Kepler Universität (JKU), University of Cambridge (UC), Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale Per L'informatica (CINI), Universitat de València (UVEG), Max Planck Society (MPG), Radboud University Nijmegen (UK), ETH Zürich (ETH), Oxford University (UOXF), University College London (UCL), Knowledge 4 all Foundation (K4A) Saidot OY (saidot), Oticon S/A (Oticon), FundingBox Accelerator (FBA), Siemens AG (Siemens), Zalando SE (Zalando), Fraunhofer (FRA), Spinverse (SPV), EnliteAi (Enlite). The scientific excellence of its researchers is beyond doubt, as they hold a total of 60 prestigious ERC grants, have an h index of scientific impact above 60 and lead European research in AI.
The University of Valencia at ELISE
The University of Valencia -one of the 23 key centers of the project- will participate in a scientific program aimed at improving climate models and data analysis of the earth system. Gustau Camps-Valls, Professor of Electronic Engineering and researcher at the Image Processing Laboratory (IPL) of the University of Valencia, in the Science Park of the academic institution, will coordinate activities related to AI for Earth and Climate Sciences. "Understanding and modeling the Earth system is one of the fundamental objectives facing humanity. This has been considered by the European Research Council and now by the European Union. Now we have access to many data and accurate simulation models that, through Artificial Intelligence, allow us to attack the problem. This is a new approach and one of the most relevant applications of AI today," said the scientist. "The project will put in direct contact the best values and scientific capabilities of Europe in AI and Earth and Climate Sciences, to attack one of the most urgent problems of humanity, climate change," he concludes. Gustau Camps-Valls is the holder of two projects of the European Research Council (ERC): a Consolidator Grant obtained in 2015 and a Synergy Grant of 2019 with 10 million euros, both at the intersection of machine learning and the physics of the atmosphere and the biosphere.
The objectives of ELISE
ELISE is a network of centers with global aspirations, but anchored locally. Like its own nature, ELISE's objectives are open, decentralized and collaborative.
The project will implement six flows of activities to achieve different objectives. It will create and implement a European Strategic Research Agenda in AI; design a mobility programme for experienced researchers to foster new ideas and collaborations; launch a doctoral and post-doctoral programme with strong industrial connections; connect researchers with resource owners; increase innovations by providing expertise and networking to industrial actors; and disseminate knowledge among academic organisations, industry and society.
Furthermore, within the ELLIS dynamic, ELISE will invest efforts in attracting and retaining talent, both experienced researchers and at the training level. It will establish a network of excellent researchers and flagship laboratories locally around Europe, as well as an attractive training network for junior scientists; it will strengthen links with industry and disseminate its knowledge and research methods to industry and society.