Raúl Parada from the Sustainable Artificial Intelligence (SAI) research unit at CTTC organized an outreach activity with a group of visiting German students from the Dr. Buhmann Schule to explore how AI and digital technologies can support sustainable development and smart cities.
The session focused on concrete examples such as AI-based traffic and trajectory prediction, energy-aware computing, and distributed learning for urban services, linking current SAI research with real-world sustainability challenges.
Participants reflected on how more frugal and energy-efficient AI can reduce the environmental footprint of digital services while enabling better monitoring, prediction, and decision-making for climate and environmental action. In addition, the talk provided a mapping of sustainable AI solutions with different student disciplines, such as sports, real estate and event management, international marketing, and visual arts. The activity highlighted the role of youth, education, and international collaboration in advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
It has been an inspiring visit, fostering direct dialogue between students and researchers, which we hope may open the door to future collaborations in sustainable artificial intelligence and digital transformation for sensitive and high-impact applications.