The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) will coordinate a new collaborative project selected in the 2025 call for “Research Projects in the Field of Artificial Intelligence” issued by the State Research Agency (AEI, Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities).
The project, entitled 2AID (Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Driven Discovery of Sustainable Fuels, Industrial Feedstocks, and Materials), is led by Juan Vicente Alegre Requena, a CSIC researcher at the Institute of Chemical Synthesis and Homogeneous Catalysis (ISQCH), a joint center of CSIC and the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR). Overall, the consortium has been awarded €1.9 million in funding, of which €541,250 corresponds to the CSIC subproject, known as AI-BRAIN.
The aim of 2AID is to accelerate and modernize chemical discovery through the combined use of artificial intelligence, autonomous robotics, and advanced chemistry. The project seeks to develop new intelligent tools capable of designing, analyzing, and optimizing more sustainable materials, fuels, and chemical processes.
In addition to its scientific impact, the project will have a significant effect on research training and employment in Spain, as it will enable the recruitment of six PhD students and five postdoctoral researchers. Furthermore, four scientific workshops and an international conference on artificial intelligence will be organized and opened to the scientific community.
The consortium is made up of leading teams in chemistry and engineering from various Spanish institutions. Participating researchers include Prof. Julio Lloret Fillol and Dr. José A. Berrocal (Institut Català d’Investigació Química, ICIQ), Dr. Carla Casadevall Serrano (ICIQ and Universitat Rovira i Virgili), Prof. Juan Manuel Cuerva Carvajal and Prof. Delia Miguel Álvarez (University of Granada), and Dr. Jesús Campos Manzano (Institute of Chemical Research, IIQ-CSIC).
The call under which this project is funded is part of the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2024–2027 and is aligned with the Spanish National AI Strategy (ENIA), which promotes the development of artificial intelligence–based solutions in key areas ranging from theoretical research to applications in sustainability, the environment, and physical systems.
The projects AIA2025-163492-C51, AIA2025-163492-C52, AIA2025-163492-C53, AIA2025-163492-C54, and AIA2025-163492-C55 have been funded by MICIU / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033.