The Computer Vision Centre (CVC), a consortium of the Government of Catalonia and the UAB, will join the European Institute of Innovation & Technology's (EIT) Deep Tech Talent Initiative to develop more training and courses to fast-track the careers of Deep Tech learners.
The Computer Vision Centre, the Tampere University of Applied Sciences, and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, together with the tech companies Abodoo, Generation, Intel Corporation and JA Europe are the first organisations to join the EIT's Deep Tech Talent Initiative to offer courses and contribute to the development of learning to help fast-track the careers of deep tech learners. These first pledgers reflect the diversity of organisations targeted by the Deep Tech Talent Initiative: a combination of training providers, financial backers, enterprises, and non-profit and public sector partners who will work together to equip learners with tech skills and the savvy to turn that knowledge into solutions to the most important global challenges.
Programmes will be available for a wide range of learners, from those in secondary school to those in higher education programmes or seeking further professional development. The EIT and its partners will also work to level the playing field for groups that are disadvantaged and underrepresented in the worlds of technology and business, particularly women.
The EIT's Deep Tech Talent Initiative was presented by Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, who stated that, "As a flagship of our New European Innovation Agenda, the EIT's Deep Tech Talent Initiative will help put Europe at the forefront of developing technology needed for essential elements of the green and digital transitions. The progress made in only a few months proves that the EIT is the perfect vehicle for developing the best talent development programmes, in large part because of its ability to mobilise its unmatched network of partners across Europe and beyond".
The role of the CVC at the Deep Tech Talent Initiative
The CVC is a public research centre in computer vision, with the mission of conducting cutting-edge research, providing capacity building and boosting knowledge transfer to society.
"Computer vision, the AI on images and videos, is having an increasingly higher impact in our lives, with solutions for challenges on medical imaging diagnosis, autonomous driving, industrial processes, media and culture, and more. Following Commissioner Gabriel's encouragement, we have the full commitment to shaping the EU's leadership in the decades to come by training professionals with the highest quality standards, in the horizon of a socially acceptable AI for all", claims Dr Fernando Vilariño, CVC associated director.
The centre will contribute to the Deep Tech Talent Initiative by providing training actions on AI and entrepreneurial skills, through its specific role in the coordination of the Artificial Intelligence Research Alliance (AIRA), the research and talent axis of the Catalan strategy on AI; the coordination of the Xarxa RDI-IA, the regional network for valorisation and tech transfer of AI technologies in Catalonia; the coordination of the AI-Node of the European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH) DIH4CAT in conjunction with the Centre of Innovation for Data tech and AI (CIDAI); and collaboration in the AI training programmes at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), such as the bachelor's degree in Artificial Intelligence, the master's degree in Computer Vision, and the PhD programme and entrepreneurship courses in AI.
In the context of the aforementioned initiatives, the CVC will train around 730 learners while fostering a generation of new highly qualified job profiles in AI.
About the Deep Tech Talent Initiative
The Deep Tech Talent Initiative by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) will train one million Europeans in deep tech skills and entrepreneurship by 2025. To do so, the EIT will rally its network and new partners to develop training and courses in cutting-edge fields that will be at the forefront of future industries. The long-term goal is to increase the amount of European innovation being created to fight climate change, create new agrifood systems, build more livable cities, and more.
