Included in a selection promoted by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp) and the Internet Steering Committee in Brazil (CGI.br), the Center for Applied Research (CPA) in Artificial Intelligence BI0S (Brazilian Institute of Data Science) goes into formal operation at Unicamp from November 28th (Monday).
Access more photos from the BIOS launch event here.
BI0S will focus on research in the areas of medical diagnostics aimed at women's health, precision agriculture and optimization of the use of agricultural resources, among others. The Center will also carry out research linked to data science, an area that studies how to treat, analyze and obtain information from sets of data, often of large dimensions. In addition, it must create a data repository specifically focused on health using patients' medical history – a system already called reBI0S.
The CPA will involve around one hundred researchers and has an international advisory committee of 15 members from different continents, all experts in artificial intelligence or related areas. The system will also mobilize nine teaching and research units and two interdisciplinary centers at Unicamp, in addition to five other Brazilian institutions – the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the University of São Paulo ( USP), the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) and the Federal University of Amazonas (Ufam).
BI0S will have resources of around R$10 million to be made available over a period of five years. Half of this amount will come from Fapesp and the other part will be financed from partnerships with private institutions, such as the Albert Einstein Hospital, in São Paulo, the Foundation for Technological Innovations (FITec) and the CPQD Foundation. The Center will also receive support, in economic return, from the Rio de Janeiro consultancy TEMPLO.cc. Furthermore, the Research Center will be open to work in cooperation with other national and international institutions. The approved project provides for 15 post-doctoral scholarships, 8 doctoral scholarships, 15 master's scholarships, 2 scientific initiation scholarships and 2 for scientific journalism.
The Center will be based at Unicamp's Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering (Feec) – and will be led by the University's Dean of Research, João Marcos Travassos Romano.
According to Romano, the development of the project involved the participation of numerous professors, including professors Henrique Sá Earp, from the Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing (Imecc), Rodolfo de Carvalho Pacagnella, from the Faculty of Medical Sciences ( FCM), Leonardo Tomazeli Duarte, from the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FCA), and researcher Jurandir Zullo Jr., from the Center for Meteorological and Climate Research Applied to Agriculture (Cepagri). According to the notice, the term of the project is five years, with the possibility of being renewed for another five years.
Digital transformation
Romano says that the project was developed based on two major missions: expanding the frontier of knowledge in artificial intelligence and contributing to digital transformation. Two research tracks were opened – health and agriculture. And, associated with these two fields of application, there is a third track, linked to the study of algorithms and the techniques and theoretical bases of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
One of the emphases in the health area is women's health, which will have a partnership with Hospital da Mulher Prof. Dr. José Aristodemo Pinotti (Caism) and Albert Einstein Hospital, which will offer postdoctoral scholarships specific to this topic. On the agricultural trail, research will take place mainly at the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering (Feagri) and at Cepagri.
The research will involve everything from the impacts of climate change to precision agriculture – such as automation and the construction of mathematical models that can guide planting, management and harvesting systems and that help in decision-making in all these processes. “Today, with the flood of data we have and the calculation capacity, we can reorient decision making with the help of machine learning tools”, assesses the dean.
There is also an interdisciplinary core of studies focused on the topic of the relationship between artificial intelligence and society – with research linked to ethics in the use of these technologies and regulation of the sector. In this case, there will also be involvement of researchers in human and social sciences. “Deep down, all of this is also linked to data science, big data, for which artificial intelligence is a fundamental tool”, explains Romano.
The mission of digital transformation includes the development of spin-offs e startups and carrying out scientific dissemination processes on artificial intelligence for undergraduate or even high school students.
João Romano sees a lot of work ahead, but says he is happy to have gotten such an ambitious project off the ground. “The fact of having brought together all these colleagues and all these institutions in a project like this, without a doubt, is a reason for great joy. After all, it is a ten-year project. I may not stay all this time [on the project], but we have young people, who will be very capable of continuing [with it]”, he states.
"It is a great joy to have this team, a very united team, to carry out work in important areas such as health and agriculture and which can make a very important social contribution”, he adds. "Furthermore, the project could also contribute to this ethical and sociological discussion, because artificial intelligence can also be very misused. And, from a scientific point of view, there are still many open problems”, argues the professor. Romano also says that, for the university, BI0S is “a strategic topic”.
Projects included
In addition to Unicamp, projects presented by the Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences (ICMC) at USP in São Carlos, by the Institute of Exact Sciences at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), by Senai/Cimatec, from Bahia, by Institute of Technological Research (IPT), in São Paulo, and the Federal University of Ceará (UFC).
According to information from Fapesp, the CPA at USP São Carlos will operate in a network with researchers from all regions of the country to study five aspects of smart cities: cybersecurity, education, infrastructure, environment and health.
The Center linked to UFMG will be made up of 130 researchers and will be dedicated to studying disease prevention and quality of life, diagnosis, prognosis and tracking of diseases, therapeutic medicine, health management, epidemics and disasters.
The Center at Senai/Cimatec, in Bahia, will implement an open digital data science and artificial intelligence platform for industry 4.0.
At IPT, the CPA will focus on topics such as real-time monitoring and control, digital twin, interoperability and chain integration, autonomous systems, robotics and machine tools, among others.
Finally, the UFC will aim to develop projects through the application of the internet of things (IoT), big data and digital transformation, in addition to other topics, all focused on the areas of disease prevention, disease diagnosis and low-cost therapeutics.
Check out BI0S event:
Unicamp hosts the 11th Brazilian Conference on Intelligent Systems - BRACIS 2022
Check this out link photos from the BI0S launch.
Read more:
Unicamp integrates institutions that will have Artificial Intelligence Research Centers
FCM will integrate the Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence
