• The LIDIA Group (Research and Development Laboratory in Artificial Intelligence) of CITIC will develop two lines of research in AI, focused on the energy efficiency of algorithms and the resolution of social and environmental challenges.
• The initiative has a total budget of over €5.5 million, of which more than €4.4 million will be contributed by the European Union through ERDF funding. It also foresees a significant investment in infrastructure within the Cidade das TIC by the A Coruña City Council, which coordinates the project.

A Coruña, 31 July 2024 – The Royal Hall of the City Hall of A Coruña hosted last Tuesday the signing ceremony of the collaboration agreement for the European project ALLOCATE (Accelerating Local Leadership by Open Computing and AI for Technological Empowerment), a strategic initiative aimed at promoting innovative, AI-based and sustainable solutions to improve public services and citizens’ well-being.

The event was attended by the Mayor of A Coruña, Inés Rey; the Rector of the Universidade da Coruña, Ricardo Cao; the President of the ICT Cluster of Galicia, Antonio Rodríguez del Corral; the President of Altia Consultores, Tino Fernández; and the representative of Khora Urban Consulting, Daniel Ayala.

During his address, the Rector of UDC emphasized that “ALLOCATE represents a decisive step towards a smarter, more sustainable and people-centered city”, highlighting the integration of two lines of research led by the LIDIA Group as part of the FRUGAL-AI project, and in collaboration with the Green Algorithms Chair and CITIC, a benchmark centre in information technology and data science: Green-in AI, focused on the energy efficiency of algorithms, and Green-by AI, aimed at tackling social and environmental challenges.

The Rector also underlined the project’s role in driving the Cidade das TIC ecosystem, consolidating collaboration between public administration, academia and the technology sector. “It is an example of how institutional cooperation can lead to transformative projects that improve people’s lives,” concluded Cao.

ALLOCATE

With a total budget of €5.5 million, the ALLOCATE project is coordinated by the City Council of A Coruña and includes the participation of the Universidade da Coruña (via CITIC), the ICT Cluster of Galicia, Altia Group, and the consultancy firm Khora UrbanThinkers. Through the development of infrastructures that support experimentation and the co-creation of AI, the project aims to boost the economic competitiveness of A Coruña, contribute to reducing its environmental footprint, and ensure inclusive urban development.

The initiative involves a significant infrastructure investment in the Cidade das TIC, helping to strengthen the local technological ecosystem. Initially, 40 companies will take part through the creation of a Local Computing Community (LCC), promoted by the ICT Cluster, with 10 SMEs and start-ups selected to pilot three real urban use cases: sustainable bicycle mobility, optimization of urban waste services and improvement in the management of municipal incidents. 

The project will run from 1 October 2025 to 31 March 2029 (a total duration of 42 months), during which the City Council of A Coruña will act as the Main Urban Authority, leading a multidisciplinary consortium working to position the city as a European benchmark in digital governance, ethical innovation, and sustainable urban transformation.

ALLOCATE is part of the “Technology in Cities” sub-programme of the European Urban Initiative, which enables cities to test unproven solutions in real and transferable contexts, fostering the creation of advanced urban policies at the European level.

UDC’s Participation

The LIDIA Group at CITIC will be a key player in this initiative, thanks to its proven track record in AI, data science and advanced digital technologies. The ICT research centre of the Universidade da Coruña will contribute to the project through four main pillars: supporting the identification of the City Council’s urban use cases and the necessary data to address them, designing a methodology to measure the energy consumption of both the infrastructure and the proposed solutions, leading a training project on Green Artificial Intelligence aimed at participating SMEs and the collaboration in the monitoring and evaluation of results.

Ultimately, the ALLOCATE project stands as a flagship example of joint effort and cross-sector collaboration among university, public administration and the business ecosystem, with a shared objective: improving people’s lives through sustainable innovation.