- Convocatoria de concesión de ayudas para la creación de cátedras universidad-empresa (Cátedras ENIA)
Chairs in Artificial Intelligence
The Vice-Rectorate for Innovation and Transfer and the Vice-Rectorate for Employment and Lifelong Learning of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), launch a call to private entities, to express their interest in participating in the proposal that the UPV will submit to the Call for the granting of aid for the creation of university-industry chairs (ENIA Chairs) under the European Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, funded by the European Union-Next Generation EU.
Application Form
GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE CALL FOR GRANTS FOR ENIA CHAIRS
The Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) intends to submit a proposal to the Call of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation to grant aid for the creation of university-industry chairs (ENIA Chairs), aimed at research and development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), for its dissemination and training within the framework of the European Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, funded by the European Union-Next Generation EU (ENIA).BOE of December 1, 2022).
The call finances academic structures for research, training and dissemination of AI, configured as university-industry chairs, in Spanish universities, and has a budget of 16 million euros. The university-industry chairs are an instrument of collaboration between universities and the productive sector admitted by the legal system under Article 64.2 of Law 2/2011, of March 4, Sustainable Economy.
The actions to be financed will fall within one of the following subprograms:
a)Subprogram to Support the Creation of New IA Chairs 900,000 of assistance during the phase with funding from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Fund.
b)Subprogram of Support for the Creation of International Chairs in IA 1,200,000 of assistance during the phase with funding from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Fund.
The actions will be carried out in two phases.
– The first will cover the period from the time the application is submitted until the date of the first application. December 31, 2025. The project will be financed with funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
– The second phase will take place in the fiscal year 2026. The financing must be covered by the Chair’s own funds, and must represent at least one third of the total amount of the aid granted in the first phase.
The chairs must consist of the beneficiary university and at least one entity of the productive sector, (without prejudice to the adhesion of other additional entities). The beneficiary universities will ask the entities of the productive sector that become part of the chair, to guarantee the amount that must be the object of economic contribution on their part and that must reach at least 25% of the total amount of the project.
It is established as a special condition for the execution of the subsidy that before December 31, 2025, the entities of the productive sector must present an economic guarantee sufficient to ensure, in each university-business chair, on the one hand, the contribution of own funds in the year 2026, and, on the other hand, that the own funds are used to finance the activities defined as the objective of the projects. In order to ensure the contribution of these own funds, the entities of the productive sector must provide a guarantee for a value of 8% of the aid granted before December 31, 2025. Failure to comply with this special performance condition may result in the demand for total or partial reimbursement, depending on the degree of non-compliance.
The request consists of:
a) Two inseparable elements: the help request-questionnairea and the plan of action.
b) It must also be accompanied by a sustainability plan.
c) The application shall also be accompanied by a administrative agreement.
The activities which may form part of an action plan, comprise one or more of the following:
a) Activities of training only in the case of public universities, since it does not constitute an activity for them.
economic:
I. Development of undergraduate and graduate training programs linked to AI.
II. Development of Final Project programs (Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree).
III. Conferences and seminars within the framework of the Chair’s activities.
IV. Encouragement of educational cooperation (students in external academic internships or in companies) related to the subject matter of the Chair.
V. Collaboration in the training plans of the company/institution.
b) Activities of research and experimental development, both fundamental and industrial, including:
I. Development of research lines.
II. Carrying out research work, including those framed within the framework of doctoral theses.
III. Promotion of national and international meetings of experts on topics related to the Chair.
IV. Cooperation to achieve research projects at regional, national and international levels.
c) Activities of dissemination, public-private cooperation and knowledge transfer.
I. Organization of conferences and publications to disseminate knowledge.
II. Collaboration in the promotion of technical and scientific events.
III. Development of patents related to the professorship.
IV. Activities within standardization groups or working groups, national or international, of relevant institutions in the field of AI and the subject of the chair.
Each public university may submit a request for the creation of a single university-industry chair in the subprogram it selects, and this request must be framed within the thematic areas defined in the call for proposals.
More information on this website:https://portalayudas.mineco.gob.es/catedrasENIA/Paginas/Index.aspx
OBJECTIVE OF THE CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
To participate in the call, as detailed in the previous section, the participation of at least one private entity selected under the principle of concurrence, publicity and transparency is required, and there may be more than one participating entity. The purpose of this call is to invite private entities to participate in the proposal to be submitted by the UPV. The UPV proposal will be limited to the area of Sustainable Development referred to in the call, will be coordinated from the Valencian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (VRAIN), and the subprogram is yet to be defined.
As indicated in the previous section, the participating entities must make a contribution (private contribution) to the ENIA Chair of one third of the Ministry’s subsidy, which may reach up to 900,000 euros in the case of a national Chair and 1,200,000 euros in the case of an international Chair.
Private entities are invited to submit Expressions of Interest to be part of the UPV proposal under the following modalities:
a) Entity promoting the Chair. It must be a company with relevant experience in the thematic area of the chair and be willing to commit until 2026 inclusive a minimum private contribution of 30,000 € per year in the case of national chair (120,000 € in total for the four years), and 40,000 € per year in the case of international chair (160,000 € in total for the four years). The Promoting Company must have developed R&D collaboration with the UPV prior to the date of this announcement.
b) Associated Entity to the Chair. It must be an entity with relevant activity in the thematic area of the Chair, and be willing to contribute up to and including 2026 with a minimum private contribution of 10,000 euros per year (40,000 euros in total for the four years) to the activities of the Chair.
The amounts to be contributed by the total of participating private entities must cover €300,000 if the Chair is national and €400,000 if it is international. In the event that the contributions indicated in the Expressions of Interest total more than these amounts, each one could be reduced proportionally, until the target amount is reached. Likewise, if the grant finally awarded to the university is less than 900,000 €, or 1,200,000 €, these amounts may be reduced proportionally each one, until the requirement to contribute, for the total number of participating entities, 25% of the amount granted is met.
FORMALIZATION AND DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
Expressions of Interest should indicate:
1) If you wish to participate as a Promoting Entity, in which case you propose a national or international chair, or participate as an Associated Entity.
2) The activity developed in the field of Sustainable Development.
3) The capacity available in IA.
4) The innovation challenges it identifies in the application of AI to sustainable development.
5) The IA personnel profiles you consider necessary for your organization.
6) The R&D&I activity carried out in collaboration with the UPV in the last 10 years.
Expressions of Interest must be submitted by February 4, 2023, inclusive, through
of the following link. Items (2) to (6) must be provided in the form of a Report (free format).
of a maximum of 5 pages.
CRITERIA FOR THE SELECTION OF EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
The Expressions of Interest will be evaluated by a Commission formed by the Vice Rector for Innovation and Transfer, the Vice Rector for Employment and Lifelong Learning and the Director of VRAIN.
The evaluation criteria will be:
a) Capacity of the entity to incorporate AI technology.
b) Affinity of the innovation challenges and profiles with the proposal to be submitted to the Call for Proposals.
c) Relevance of sustainable development in the entity’s strategy.
Once the selection of the expressions of interest has been approved, the Vice-Rectorate for Research and the Vice-Rectorate for Teaching Staff and Academic Organization will communicate the result to the participating entities by e-mail. The result will also be published on the web page of the Vice-rectorate for Innovation and Transfer together with the present call (www.upv.es/vit).
The entities that are selected as Promoter Entity and as Associated Entity will sign an Agreement with the UPV that will formalize their participation in the Chair, forming part of its Monitoring Committee; this agreement will be included together with the application submitted by the UPV to the Call. The effectiveness of the Agreement will be conditioned to the granting of the aid by the Ministry.
Signed by Salvador Coll Arnau and Maria Dolores Salvador Moya.