Hundreds of researchers working on artificial intelligence (AI) from various study centers across the country have seen a call for applications unparalleled in Spain fall in December. The Ministry of Science left 31 million euros from the Next Generation funds unexecuted due to “unforeseen causes.” Those affected have sent several letters this Monday to national and European representatives to explain what happened and ask for protection from Europe: They also demand the assumption of responsibilities and even resignations, although their primary objective is the restoration of the call.
They have sent letters to the European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the European Office of Artificial Intelligence. Over five pages, they explain what happened in this year and a half of the call that, finally, has been cancelled. “This decision was made before the announcement of the award-winning research projects and after a long delay of more than a year, something extremely dangerous and unprecedented. We request your support and protection against this decision, which affects our work and professional development, as well as the general state of Artificial Intelligence in Spain and Europe,” they begin their message.
They are not alone. The Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) has also demanded by letter to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Universities, Juan Cruz Cigudosa, that he reinstate the call. They have been followed by the Spanish Confederation of Scientific Societies, which through a statement has asked the Ministry for “a detailed and transparent explanation.” In addition, the Sumar parliamentary group has presented to the Congress of Deputies a battery of questions aimed at resolving what happened, such as whether the extension of deadlines or the modification of objectives was proposed as solutions before opting for the total cancellation of the call.
Dana as an excuse
The beginnings of the story date back to July 2023. The now defunct Ministry of Universities, now the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, published a call that excited hundreds of researchers in Spain. Nothing like this had ever been seen. Each project presented could qualify for funding of up to 2 million euros to be executed throughout 2024 and 2025. The conditions to receive aid required that specialists come from different research centers and different areas of knowledge.
The final resolution did not come out in December 2023, as planned, nor could any of the proposed projects become a reality, as long as the attempts of those affected do not bear fruit. “During the development of the administrative procedure, a series of unexpected circumstances have arisen that have ultimately made it technically impossible to resolve this call,” explained the letter sent to them by Cigudosa.
Cigudosa added in his letter that to this “is added the need to prioritize the management of standards and aid programs for the reconstruction of infrastructure and communications and resources of various kinds towards the territories affected by dana.” According to an email in the hands of those affected, the evaluation of the research plans had already been carried out in March 2024. “Why didn’t they publish it? Assuming that the dana thing is true, when in reality it is a crude lie, what has the Ministry done from March to October?” asks Toni Gomila, professor of Basic Psychology at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB). ).
An insulting and offensive “mockery”
Gomila was one of the many researchers who applied for this call a year and a half ago. “It was a great opportunity for Spain, something that could place us at the top of research into AI. We don’t know very well who or why, but they let him die,” this expert complains. Specifically, his proposal was focused on demonstrating the limitations of generative AI at a time when this technology is established in society and whose activity seems to be able to replace the human being in many of its facets.
The project led by Gomila as principal investigator had nine initial researchers from centers such as the Universitat Politècnica de València, the Autonomous University of Madrid, the Carlos III University of Madrid and the UIB itself. It also had a budget to hire nine other specialists, including psychologists, philosophers and computer scientists.
“What has happened is insulting, offensive. It is so brazen that it borders on prevarication. How is it possible that you have an evaluated call and do not publish the final resolution?” Gomila himself reiterates. Such is the anger that overwhelms them that many of them have decided not to appear again for calls from the ministry led by Diana Morant: “I know that it is a luxury that I can afford because I have other sources of financing for my projects, but this thing that they have This is typical of a banana country. Perhaps younger researchers cannot have this position, but I consider that they have made fun of us and I prefer to avoid the Ministry from now on,” explains the UIB researcher.
From discouragement to the desire to fight
Once they had overcome the cold water that came to them in the form of a publication canceling the call one day before New Year’s Eve, those affected have organized themselves. In addition to having published a statement explaining what happened on a website created for this purpose, this Monday they sent several letters to different personalities. Among them, Cigudosa, the aforementioned Secretary of State for Science, with a copy to Minister Morant and the Minister for Digital Transformation and the Public Service of Spain, Óscar López.
Those affected emphasize to Europe that the decision “not only interrupts critical efforts to position Spain as a leader in AI research, but also jeopardizes the strategic use of European recovery funds dedicated to promoting innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration in this fundamental field.”
The Spanish researchers convey to Europe that “the canceled call represented a unique opportunity for universities to retain predoctoral and postdoctoral talent within their institutions. Its annulment has created unprecedented disruption.”
Thus, they demand the publication of the results of the evaluation and the provisional and definitive lists of the selected projects; the reestablishment of the canceled call or an equivalent mechanism that guarantees the continuation of positively evaluated projects; and the accountability of the people in the Ministries of Universities and of Science, Innovation and Universities “responsible for this unprecedented failure”, in their own terms.
The goal: restore the call
According to Gomila, “what happened with this call is not going to help the reputation that Europe has for Spain, which is already not very good in itself.” He believes that Spain will have to return these 31 million euros, since they could not be used for another item either. “Europe will ask for explanations and will have to think twice the next time it allocates funds to Spain, because this cannot be repeated again,” he emphasizes.
He also adds that some appeals for reconsideration and contentious-administrative appeals have already been filed by those affected against the resolution signed on December 27 by Cigudosa himself through which he communicated the “technical impossibility of resolving” the call. “Here someone has to show their face. Someone here hasn’t done their job well. Here someone has to assume responsibilities, resign or be dismissed and, of course, someone must reinstate the call,” Gomila concludes.
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