On December 27, with the universities on vacation, the ministry led by Diana Morant reported by email of the “technical impossibility” of executing a aid program for research projects in Artificial Intelligence. That email dashed the expectations of hundreds of scientists who had trusted that the State could finance a good idea or, at least, would consider it.
«Many professionals had been traineds to be able to integrate into work, which now they have to start over,” says Raquel Abalo, professor of Pharmacology at the Rey Juan Carlos University who had participated in one of the projects presented.
«The attitude of the ministry is a tease which indicates that our efforts are not valued. The proposal may or may not be chosen, but minimum is that there is a valuation before dismissing so much work,” argues this researcher.
31 million euros for 15 projects
The call was launched in July 2023, when Joan Subirats was in charge of Universities and consisted of a funding for AI projects of 31 million euros. Specifically, they were going to select 15 proposals, that each would receive aid of more than two million. Alejandro Rodríguez, who is a professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, coordinated one of these projects. “It is the first time I have seen something similar, it is an unprecedented contempt,” says this teacher.
This newspaper has contacted the Ministry of Science and Universities, which justified the cancellation of the initiative by «unforeseen circumstances». Sources from this ministry add to ABC that, at this time, “there is a need to prioritize the management of standards and aid programs for reconstruction of various kinds towards territories affected by dana». Morant’s people also apologize for what happened: “We deeply regret that the proposals presented will not be able to be carried out.”
The ‘reallocation’ of funds as a consequence of the dana does not convince these researchers as an excuse, who recall that The call had to have been resolved in March 2024several months before the catastrophe occurred in the Valencian Community.
Furthermore, they call the ministry’s way of operating “not very serious” and predict a growing discredit of the institutionn Well, last summer a list of rejected or rejected proposals had been published and, throughout these months, rumors had been heard that the initiative would finally come to fruition.
The idea that both Alejandro Rodríguez and Raquel Abalo had worked on consisted of a tool that used AI to reevaluate drugs. «I can’t calculate the hours we have invested», says Rodríguez, who was in charge of coordinating different work groups within the same project. In addition to the fact that, as Abalo points out, the requirements to be able to present themselves they were “absolutely devilish”: «We were working for a whole month just to be able to present the idea. I believe that no one comes to these types of initiatives who is not qualified to undertake them,” concludes Abalo.
This researcher highlights the anomalous nature of the situation when compared to similar projects: «When I saw the project I had the feeling that it was a copy of a call designed months before by the Community of Madrid. Just that this one was resolved», he reports.
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