VRAIN-UPV participates in the launch of the laboratories that will evaluate the future of AI in Europe

VALENCIA, June 30. (EUROPA PRESS) -

A team from the VRAIN institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) is part of the launch of the four laboratories that will evaluate the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Europe, reports the academic institution.

Researchers from the Valencian organization have participated this week in Copenhagen in the launch of the four TEF (Testing and Experimentation Facilities) --AgriFoodTEF (Agriculture and Food), TEFSalud (Health), AIMatters (manufacturing) and CitCom.ai (Cities and Communities intelligent)--, which will act as "filters and safeguards" between technology providers and companies and society to ensure that the EU remains the place where excellence in Artificial Intelligence (AI) thrives without conflicting with the European values.

The VRAIN-UPV team whose director, Vicent Botti leads, within the TEF CitCom.ai, a working group in charge of facilitating the necessary data space infrastructures, has been working for months on the development of accessibility and interoperability of the data infrastructures to make them accessible to people.

"Their objective is to test AI and robotics before it enters places where humans live and move, because it is necessary to prove that the application of various AI techniques is viable in smart city environments, which is also focused on the human and complies with ethical principles. And in this sense we are testing its application in various domains such as energy, mobility and in various services aimed at citizens," Botti himself explained in a statement.

The TEF project is endowed with 220 million euros from the European Commission, of which 40 million are for CitCom.ai. It brings together 128 entities, and within CitCom.ai, the Valencian University Institute for Research in Artificial Intelligence of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (VRAIN-UPV), the University of Valencia, the Valencia City Council and Las Naves participate. In each participating country --Denmark, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Italy and Spain-- a city has been chosen, which in the case of Spain has been Valencia.

Within the TEF CitCom.ai, the VRAIN-UPV group, together with other European researchers, is working on some specific use cases such as the use of driverless cars, data recovery in telecommunications, software or a robotic tractor in a park municipal, collaborative garbage collection and location planning of assistance vehicles to minimize arrival times in case of notice.

In this sense, Vicent Botti explains that "AI can provide services that add value to people, such as information on pollution, optimization of transport routes or emergencies and care for uninhabited or inland towns from cities, as well as studying real cases, their consequences and positive and negative aspects".

This week, in addition to the official launch of the four initial physical and virtual test facilities (TEF) throughout Europe, which provide safeguard filters between technology providers and society, working meetings and a meeting with the Commission have been held European.

TEFs (Testing and Experimentation Facilities) are permanent facilities in the EU where complex digital technologies can be tested in real-world environments, physically and through simulation. From robots and AI to network protocols and data processing and management.

In this way, TEFs are a kind of security filters between emerging technologies such as AI and citizens. And its goal is to turn complex technology into something more prepared for society and citizens. In this way, AI-powered solution providers have the opportunity to test their products in real environments to assess whether they meet customer needs.

AgriFoodTEF deals with the agricultural sector and food production, ranging from testing with a robotic tractor to using AI for crop optimization. TEFSalud is helping companies bring their products to market with the highest levels of reliability and compliance with European values ​​and regulations.

For its part, AIMatters aims to increase the resilience and flexibility of the European manufacturing sector by deploying the latest developments in AI and robotics, as well as intelligent and autonomous systems for flexible production.

And Citicom.ai aims to test AI and robotics before it reaches the places where humans live and move.