BSC-CNS Newsletter January 2025

BSC to host one of seven European AI factories to drive its development in the business ecosystem

This infrastructure will provide access to powerful computational resources and R&D services to companies, startups, SMEs and scientists, accelerating the development of AI applications aligned with European values. This initiative foresees a total investment of close to 200M€ from the European Commission, the Spanish Government and the Government of Catalonia. This initiative will enable both the public and private sector to drive high-impact science and technology R&D projects.

ERC Consolidator Grant to advance climate prediction to the next level

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant to the BSC researcher Pablo Ortega. Ortega is the principal investigator of the PREDDYCT project, which will offer new conceptual and methodological perspectives to drive advances in the realism and reliability of climate predictions on a global scale

ERC Synergy Grant to boost sustainable aviation through artificial intelligence

The TRANSDIFFUSE project, with the participation of BSC, has obtained nearly 10 million euros from a Synergy Grant from the European Research Council. BSC researcher Oriol Lehmkuhl is one of the principal investigators of the TRANSDIFFUSE project, which aims to develop an AI model that will revolutionise propulsion technologies and lay the foundations for a future hydrogen-based engine.

BSC develops AI model to predict stroke risk using mobile devices

The Innostroke’s project technology developed by BSC researchers focuses on using digital tools and artificial intelligence to deliver more efficient, precise, and personalized healthcare. Three main objectives drive this initiative: preventing and monitoring strokes, applying artificial intelligence in personalized medicine, and developing digital health platforms specifically tailored for hospital environments.

New AI tool to enhance cancer diagnosis and treatment

BSC researchers played a key role in the INCISIVE project, which has enabled the creation of AI-based decision support services and a federated data repository with images, and associated clinical data, to facilitate the diagnosis of lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancer. The BSC team has overseen the development of the core components of the INCISIVE platform, a prototype AI toolbox with 28 AI models that help healthcare providers better interpret AI-generated recommendations.

BSC collaborates with Micron to Launch FAiNDER: a new tool for exploring AI system requirements

As part of an ongoing eight-year collaboration, BSC and Micron Technology have unveiled FAiNDER an open-source web platform designed to transform how researchers and developers navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape. FAiNDER provides centralized, up-to-date information on the key system requirements of all major AI models to facilitate exploration and optimize hardware choices.

Women, girls and gender-diverse people are at greater risk from the impacts of climate change, BSC study finds

Researchers at BSC and University of Cambridge lead an investigation focused on the intersection between climate change, gender, and human health, which was presented to coincide with COP29 in Azerbaijan. Scientists call on countries to work harder to ensure gender equity in global climate negotiations, as well as new climate strategies to identify gender-specific risks and vulnerabilities and address their root causes.

High temperatures and heavy rains trigger West Nile Virus infections in Europe

Led by BSC, a team of researchers has analysed data from over 3,000 of West Nile Neuroinvasive Disease (WNND) cases across 20 European countries, finding that climate change has directly increased the probability of local circulation of WNV in Europe. The research focuses on the relationship between two key meteorological factors—weekly average temperature and cumulative precipitation—and human cases of WNND, the most severe form of West Nile Virus infection.

BSC coordinated METASAT project wraps up with ground-breaking European innovation in space

The METASAT project, coordinated by BSC under Horizon Europe, concludes after making significant strides in advancing the development of high-performance space systems. The project has redefined how space technologies are designed and validated, delivering innovative hardware, software, and engineering methodologies poised to set new benchmarks for aerospace efficiency, reliability, and cost-effectiveness.

New release of OmpSs-2 programming model

The new release of the OmpSs-2 programming model introduces support for C++20 coroutines through the LLVM Clang compiler, the NODES runtime and the nOS-V tasking library. This advancement enables efficient task suspension, greatly improving performance and flexibility in parallel computing applications. Additionally, we are releasing a redesigned TAMPI library, highly optimized for parallel and communication intensive scenarios.

Aina Hack, a hackathon to solve challenges of the Catalan administration

For 24 uninterrupted hours, 67 participants in 20 teams developed innovative AI solutions to help improve public services. To create the solutions, the participants used the tools generated by the Aina Project, promoted by the Government of Catalonia and BSC to encourage the use of Catalan in the digital arena. The hackathon, organised by the Eurecat technology centre and BSC, is part of Catalonia's Artificial Intelligence Strategy Catalonia.AI through the CIDAI and the Aina Project.

BSC and the Instituto de Ciencia y Teatro launch CREARTE project

BSC collaborates with the Instituto de Ciencia y Teatro to validate a new methodology for co-creation of scientific theatre, under the CREARTE project.The aim of this project is to create a play about the science of climate change, combining the work of climate researchers, social scientists and artists. The co-creative process and the co-creation methodology implemented are intended to be applicable to other thematic areas of interest.

BBC journalist to join BSC as part of the ERC FRONTIERS programme

BBC journalist Danielle Fleming has been one of the selected journalists for the European Research Council's FRONTIERS programme and will be in residence at BSC, where she will research climate change and its impacts on global health. Fleming will spend three to five months in residence working in the Global Health Resilience group. The programme seeks to address current challenges in science journalism.