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.

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.