The UAM and Telefónica InternacionaI have signed an agreement for the creation of a sponsored chair with the general purpose of promoting research, development, innovation, excellence and the dissemination of knowledge of information and communications technology, in particular as regards biometric recognition technology.
The Chair will be associated with the ATVS group of the Area of Theory of Signs and Communications, currently under the Department of IT Engineering of the School of Engineering of the UAM, and will be directed by EPS professor Javier Ortega. The Chair, which will promote research, development, innovation, excellence and the dissemination of knowledge of ICT, will have a virtual presence on the website of the General Foundation of the UAM.
At the inaugural ceremony, the Vice-chancellor of the UAM, José María Sanz, said, “this agreement ties in with the strategic plan of the University as a Campus of International Excellence, to integrate with the surroundings and promote development in the northern zone.”
For his part, Luis Miguel Gilpérez, General Manager of Telefónica – mobiles in Latin America - referred to the chair as “an exponent of the creation of ideas; a project that binds together institutions that know how to develop our products. ''We have to capitalise on the talent we have available in Spain'', he continued, ''most of it in the universities. Our aspiration is that the UAM will become a partner and a standard bearer vis-à-vis research centres and universities around the world.”
The Chair will carry out a programme of activities every year aimed at developing, among others: lines of research generated by the ATVS in the field of biometric recognition; promoting new algorithmic lines in that same field; encouraging dissemination and knowledge of the research carried out; promoting introduction to research for undergraduates by financing a specific programme of grants for excellence; carrying out teaching activities in postgraduate programmes, UAM qualifications, expert or specialist diplomas, etc. Furthermore, it will implement a plan of activities which will contain on the one hand the R&D&I Plan and on the other the Specific Plan for R&D&I Initiation Grants.
Biometric recognition technology enables individuals to be identified, or identities to be verified, by applying mathematical and statistical techniques to individuals' physical or behavioural traits. In information technology, biometric authentication refers to technology for measuring and analysing human physical and behavioural characteristics for purposes of authentication. Fingerprints, retina, iris, facial features, veins in the hand and the geometry of the palm of the hand are all examples of physical (static) characteristics, while examples of behavioural (dynamic) characteristics include signature, gait and typing. Voice is considered a mixture of physical and behavioural characteristics, although in fact all biometric features include both physical; and behavioural aspects.
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