National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence

The objective of the strategy is to set the framework for the implementation of a trustworthy transparent and inclusive national strategy for artificial intelligence. The measure includes 3 legislative reforms to set the regulatory and ethical framework on AI and 9 investment projects to support the development and adoption of technologies based on AI in the Spanish economy and society, supporting skills, talents and infrastructures.

The Strategy has to be implemented by 31 March 2026.

Examples of investments at local level:

Missions IA 2021

Research and innovation missions that are part of the Strategy are financing industrial research or experimental development projects in the field of AI to address the major societal challenges or sectors with high capacity for disruption and impact (i.e. energy, mobility, biomedicine, climate, agri-food, health, tourism and hospitality). In 2021, EUR 50 million were awarded to finance R&I missions applying AI to different strategic sectors of the economy: energy, agriculture, employment, environment and health.

More information can be found at the links below:

• Disposición 10680 del BOE núm. 152 de 2021

• Resolucion_Global_Misiones IA 2021.pdf (mineco.gob.es)

• Listado de proyectos estimados por puntuación.pdf (mineco.gob.es)

AgrarIA

AgrarIA, is a public-private partnership comprising 24 entities including large companies, SMEs, research centers, and universities, forming a research ecosystem capable of addressing the ambitious challenges of the project with:

• Top-level technology companies in different fields of robotics such as Kivnon, Dronetools and Helix North, and leaders in artificial intelligence such as GMV.
• Leading research bodies in different technologies to be studied: AI/multiagents (University of Salamanca), quantum artificial intelligence (CSIC), agro-monitoring (University of Seville), predictive quality and augmented reality (ITCL), and genomic phenotyping, modeling, and prediction (IRTA).
• Expert companies in the agricultural field and leaders in their sectors such as Florette, Familia Torres and Casa Ametller.

Specifically, AgrIA investigates the applicability and feasibility of AI in agricultural production, processing and distribution. This project, which has an impact on the entire agri-food value chain, facilitates a more technological, innovative, sustainable and committed approach of the agri-food sector to energy efficiency and reduction of the carbon footprint.

Solutions with AI include the development of new products for pest and disease control; the use of collaborative robotics to optimise the transformation phase of products, segmentation of audiences, product recognition and improved customer care in shops; or the study and optimisation of the storage conditions of goods and their layout in long-distance heavy refrigeration trucks. It is expected to have a direct impact on 77 end- user entities, to carry out 16 new direct recruitments of staff and to publish a minimum of 12 articles in prestigious magazines.

The project has received EUR 9.7 million from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

IA4TES

The project’s main objective is to develop advanced AI technologies for renewable energy generation, smart grids, efficient consumption and facilitating markets.

The IA4TES project is led by Iberdrola in collaboration with Indra and a number of startups (Balantia, Baobab, Barbara IoT, eProgram, Flexidao, Rated Power, Singlair, Stemy and AriadnaGrid). Along with Iberdrola as the driving force, and the other companies in the consortium, the project will also have the collaboration of 7 research centres and universities: TECNALIA Research & Innovation, BCAM – Basque Center for Applied Mathematics, University of Granada, Polytechnic University of Madrid, University of Salamanca, Vicomtech and the ‘Instituto de Ingeniería del Conocimiento (IIC)’.

The project has received EUR 12.5 million from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

AI for the early diagnosis and treatment of diseases with high prevalence in aging

The project’s objective is to investigate the use of IA to gather data that would allow to anticipate and act rapidly in a number of illnesses that prevail amongst the elderly (psychiatric, neurological, motoric and degenerative).

Based on a consortium of 16 Spanish partners, including universities, research centres, foundations and companies, the IA4HEALTHYAGING project should enable healthcare professionals to diagnose these diseases at an early stage, study their trajectory, identify biomarkers and even identify the best interventions for each patient to slow down or reverse the change in the body. The diseases to be treated include heart disease, sleep disorder, stroke, cognitive impairment, cancer or Parkinson’s.

The project has received EUR 12.4 million from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.