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The II ValgrAI Artificial Intelligence Awards recognize the top students from the nine AI Masters programs at the Public Universities of Valencia.

Alicante, January 21, 2025 – The Universitat d’Alacant hosted the II ValgrAI Artificial Intelligence Awards Comunitat Valenciana. An event that celebrates excellence in the field of AI and recognizes Master’s students who are making a difference in this field at the five Valencian public universities (Universitat de València, Universitat Politècnica de València, Universitat d’Alacant, Universitat Jaume I, and Universidad Miguel Hernández).

The Gala began with a welcome by the Rector of Universitat d’Alacant, Amparo Navarro, and the Director General of Science and Research, Rafael Sebastián, who highlighted the strong commitment of the Generalitat Valenciana to Artificial Intelligence, as the Valencian Community possesses the necessary tools to become a reference territory in this field.

The II ValgrAI Artificial Intelligence Awards Comunitat Valenciana addressed the “Challenges and perspectives of AI: business-university strategy,” through a roundtable moderated by the Director General of ValgrAI, Vicent Botti, with participants including José García Rodríguez (University Professor and researcher at the ValgrAI Mixed Research Unit, expert in AI and model design for problem solving), Cristina Baixauli Fons (Director of Transformation, Innovation, and Information Systems at Hidraqua), Víctor Adsuar Abaldea (Founder and CEO of Cloud Levante and Minte AI), Javier Barrachina Giménez (R&D Director at FacePhi), and Cristina Cachero Castro (Associate Professor at the University of Alicante, noted for her work in disseminating AI and its implications in teaching).

José García Rodríguez, a reference in the design of AI models for solving complex problems, opened the debate by emphasizing the impact of research and development projects in advancing this discipline nationally and internationally. Cristina Baixauli Fons highlighted the key role of AI in critical areas such as sustainability, water management, and urban environmental health.

The business perspective was represented by Víctor Adsuar Abaldea, who provided his vision on the transformative capacity of AI to enhance business competitiveness, especially in sectors related to cybersecurity and data analysis. His intervention was supplemented by the experience of Javier Barrachina Giménez, who shared advances in biometric recognition technology and how these solutions are redefining identity authentication globally. Finally, Cristina Cachero Castro reflected on the importance of disseminating AI in the educational field to prepare new generations for technological challenges.

The debate covered fundamental issues such as the impact of AI on the economy and society, the challenges graduates face in adapting to new professional demands, and the opportunities for collaboration between universities and companies. Strategic topics such as European AI regulation and the necessary measures for Europe to reduce its technological dependence on other countries were also discussed.

Following the roundtable, ValgrAI’s training manager, Sergio Esparcia, delivered a motivational talk in the form of a humor monologue, which was the prelude to the award ceremony. The Managing Director of ValgrAI, Ana Cidad, who was responsible for announcing the awards, reminded that the future of AI lies with the students being trained in this discipline, and with the companies supporting this talent.

The awardees:

  • Best Academic Record. Data Science Master’s. Universitat de València: María Gómez Mahiques.
  • Best Academic Record. Master’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence and Digital Image and Shape Recognition. Universitat Politècnica de València: Diego Torres Bertomeu
  • Best Academic Record. Master’s Degree in Engineering and Technology of Software Systems. Universitat Politècnica de València: Manuel Gregorio.
  • Best Academic Record. Master’s Degree in Data Analysis Engineering, Process Improvement, and Decision Making. Universitat Politècnica de València: Javier Boix Campos.
  • Best Academic Record. Master’s Degree in Data Science. Universitat d’Alacant: Carmen García Barceló.
  • Best Academic Record. Master’s Degree in Artificial Intelligence. Universitat d’Alacant: Cristina Romero Mirete.
  • Best Academic Record. Master’s Degree in Intelligent Systems. Universitat Jaume I: Miguel Pardo Navarro.
  • Best Academic Record. Master’s Degree in Computational Statistics and Data Science. Universidad Miguel Hernández: Daniel Cárdenas Hernández
  • Best Academic Record. Master’s Degree in Robotics. Universidad Miguel Hernández: Marcos Alfaro Pérez.
  • Best Master’s Thesis. Universitat d’Alacant: Adrián Roselló Pedraza.
  • Best Doctoral Thesis. Universitat Politècnica de València: Pasqual Martí Gimeno.

Specifically, the winning Master’s Thesis, titled “Source-Free Domain Adaptation Techniques for Score Transcription” by Adrián Roselló, discusses how to improve the automatic transcription process of musical scores into digital formats using advanced artificial intelligence techniques. The research proposes an innovative method called Source-Free Domain Adaptation (SFDA), which allows trained models to be adjusted to work with new scores, even when these present characteristics very different from the originals, such as historical styles or ancient notations. This approach facilitates the digitization of ancient musical works, often inaccessible due to physical deterioration or lack of standardization in their writing.

The key to this research lies in the development of a system based on neural networks that adapts its capabilities to different types of scores without the need for large amounts of previous data. The results obtained show that this model not only improves transcription accuracy but also contributes to preserving musical heritage, allowing broader access to historical works and facilitating their study and analysis. This advance represents a significant step towards the conservation and dissemination of music globally.

The awarded Doctoral Thesis “Towards Sustainable and Efficient Road Transport: Developing Artificial Intelligence for Urban and Interurban Mobility Solutions” by Pasqual Martí, addresses the improvement of road transport, both urban and rural, through the use of artificial intelligence and agent-based simulations. In the urban context, the work focuses on decentralized fleet systems that optimize mobility by reducing operational costs, improving service quality, and minimizing environmental impact. This is achieved through innovative techniques such as the modeling of self-interested systems, where vehicles act according to their objectives while collaborating to avoid congestion and enhance user experience. Additionally, a simulation framework is introduced that allows experimenting with different configurations to analyze impacts before their real-world implementation.

In the rural context, the thesis adapates these solutions to meet the specific needs of less connected areas, prioritizing a flexible and sustainable public transport based on demand. The study also includes proposals for algorithms and systems for efficient resource allocation, allowing greater coverage with less economic and environmental impact. Overall, this research offers practical tools to transform transportation into more sustainable, user-adapted, and efficient systems, with potential applications beyond transportation, such as the coordination of distributed resources in other sectors.

This award ceremony was supported by ValgrAI patrons S2 Group, Pangeanic, Nunsys, Idrica, Hidraqua, and Balearia; and sponsored by Neotic and Facephi companies, which, through their support of these awards, recognize their commitment to Artificial Intelligence talent in the Valencian Community and showcase their stake in the new perspectives offered by AI in driving the Valencian Innovation System.

Watch the full gala on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@valgrai