The President of the AIR Institute and Director of the BISITE Research Group of the University of Salamanca, Juan Manuel Corchado, attended the gala dinner held at the Royal Palace on the occasion of the state visit of the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. In addition to their Majesties, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, the event was also attended by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, other members of his cabinet and numerous political and business representatives.

The Emir of Qatar and Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al Thani arrived in Spain on Monday 16 May. This is his first visit to Spain since he acceded to the throne in 2013. Although the two countries have maintained diplomatic relations since 1972 and investments and collaboration between entities from these territories is constant, this official trip is seen as an opportunity to further strengthen bilateral relations.

Qatar has the world’s third largest natural gas reserves and is Spain’s fifth largest supplier of liquefied natural gas. As reported by various national media, this has been one of the central topics of discussion during the visit of the emir, who has also taken the opportunity to announce an investment of almost 5,000 million euros in Spain over the next few years.

Juan Manuel Corchado, Their Majesties, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, and Sheikha Jawaher Bint Hamad Bin Suhaim Al Thani, accompanied by Their Highnesses, The King and Queen of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia.
© Casa de S.M. el Rey (Royal Household of H.M. The King) 

During his trip to Madrid, Juan Manuel Corchado held a series of meetings with the heads of research, innovation and transfer services of different organizations in Qatar, with the aim of showcasing the advances made by both the BISITE Research Group and the AIR Institute in the application of artificial intelligence in the energy sector. Above all, the aim of the meetings was to establish participation in new projects, in both Qatar and Spain. It has undoubtedly been an excellent opportunity to strengthen ties, present some of the projects we are developing and make our potential known.

With Qatar’s investments in Spain we will have great opportunities in the technology sector. This is fantastic news for both our research group and for the University of Salamanca.

Qatar, increasingly committed to energy efficiency

BISITE, as a research group specialized in new technologies, participates in the development of different projects aimed at promoting energy efficiency. The CHROMOSOME project, for example, focuses on the development of infrastructure that will promote a change in the behavior of residential energy consumers, encouraging more efficient habits, without compromising their comfort.

Thanks to our group’s experience, the Qatari institutions, specifically Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation and Tasmu Innovation Lab, have entrusted our research group and Iberdrola with the design of a plug-and-play device based on Edge Computing, capable of managing the energy consumption of Smart Buildings. To this end, they will allocate an investment of approximately one million dollars.

For its part, AIR Institute is carrying out projects related to Smart Cities; an area in which the city of Doha has gained much potential. We have collaborated with different Qatari institutions and companies in the development of solutions based on distributed intelligent systems. In addition, we have recently co-organized an international congress on Smart Cities “Sustainable Smart Cities and Territories International Conference”, in collaboration with Msheireb Downtown Doha and the Universities of Qatar, Texas A&M and Hamad Bin Khalifa.

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.

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