UC3M and the Community of Madrid create the first R&D&I Chair on territorial dynamism
3/18/24
The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the Community of Madrid (CM) create the first research Chair on territorial dynamism to promote R&D&I, research talent, knowledge transfer and internationalisation in this field.
The aim of this new Chair, called LODCoreMadrid, is to establish itself as a stable platform for R&D&I and talent generation to support the evaluation of policies that promote territorial competitiveness. To do this, research on specific datasets and open science support tools will be carried out, as well as the development of services based on open and linked data technology.
One of the specific aspects this Chair will focus on is the development of a set of indicators that will make it possible to define and evaluate territorial cohesion policies. To do this, different dimensions will be taken into account, such as: social welfare, economic dynamism, environmental conservation and political governance. This indicator will be called iCORE.
“All these research activities will be based on semantic web technologies and open and linked data to promote and enhance open science initiatives in relation to territorial cohesion policies,” explains the researcher in charge of the Chair, Javier García Guzmán, Associate Professor in UC3M's Computer Science Department. “The research community will be able to access the generated datasets through access points based on semantic technologies, and citizens will be able to access them through GIS viewers of iCORE information and its comparison with other external entities (autonomous communities and countries),” he adds.
In addition, the Chair will enable permanent collaboration between the Regional Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Local Administration, through the Directorate-General for Territorial Rebalancing and UC3M. “This Chair will promote research and the development of open data analysis activities, and most importantly, it will encourage research and scientific talent in the field of local administration. Applying innovation to optimise and make the management of public administration more efficient is one of our main priorities,” said the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Local Administration, Miguel Ángel García Martín.
Within the framework of this Chair, research will be carried out on different artificial intelligence techniques for the exploitation and use of the generated data in the definition and evaluation of related policies. “The first case study advancing on the datasets that are already being generated consists of determining the distance to public services from each of the population centres in the Community of Madrid,” reveals Antonio de Amescua, a professor in UC3M's Computer Science Department and a member of the Chair's monitoring committee.
Within the scope of the Chair's activity, studies encouraging the creation of talent in the area will also be sponsored, through the granting of scholarships, support for the completion of doctoral theses and final degree projects, the creation of thesis awards and Final Bachelor's and Master's Degree projects, etc.
This initiative has an investment of 300,000 euros provided by the regional government until 2026 and will allow the evaluation of public initiatives for territorial competitiveness and assess the suitability of promoting new businesses that boost local economies.
More information:
LODCoreMadrid project website
http://lodcoremadrid.es
