Last week, the fourth “ASI Innovation Week” conference was held, organised by the Salvadoran Association of Industrialists (ASI), which represents the industrial and productive sector of El Salvador.  Juan Manuel Corchado, director of the BISITE Research Group and president of AIR Institute participated to present the training offer of the group and the opportunities in technological research. He then gave a lecture on “The Digital Innovation Hub: A case of the development of digital innovation centres in Europe”.

Digital Innovation Hubs – DIHs are groupings of entities that facilitate access to companies and public administration in a given territory to the information, services and facilities they need to successfully address their digital transformation processes. In this regard, Corchado presented the DIGIS3 project, which is led by the AIR Institute, to the attendees. It is a disseminator of smart, sustainable and cohesive digitisation of SMEs and public sector organisations in Castilla y León, specialising in Artificial Intelligence (AI), High Performance Computing (HPC), Industry 4.0, Smart Renewables and Smart Agriculture.

The main objective of DIGIS3 is to ensure the smart digital transformation of SMEs and Public Administration entities in the region; with an urban and rural territorial scope focused on cohesion, through comprehensive support to users. These actions facilitate access to specialised technical knowledge through education and training in order to increase knowledge of disruptive digitalisation technologies.

This project is a great initiative for SMEs and entrepreneurs in the region, and will also help boost the digitisation of the region by being an example of innovation recognised by the European Commission.

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.