Daniel Peña, Chancellor of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), and Ana Botín, president of Banco Santander, signed an agreement today for the creation of the Instituto Mixto de Investigación UC3M-Santander on Financial Big Data (Combined Institute for Research on Financial Big Data), whose headquarters will be on the university’s Madrid-Puerta de Toledo campus. During the ceremony, another agreement was also signed, renewing the Banco Santander’s backing of the Cátedras de Excelencia Internacional (International Chairs of Excellence, through Santander Universidades.

The objective of the Instituto Mixto de Investigación UC3M-Santander on Financial Big Data is to become a World leader in the collection, storage, treatment and analysis of the large sets of data generated by institutions, companies and governmental organizations. The institute will work with "Big Data" in all areas, with a special focus on the banking and finance sector, through training and research programs, as well as through the establishment of projects with companies and with both public and private institutions.

To begin with, the institute will be charged with training “data scientists” and highly qualified personnel, who will specialize in extracting the information contained in large sets of data using the scientific Tools of computation and statistical analysis. This center will offer training in the latest technology for the storage, in-take and recovery of large sets of data to graduate students who stand out for their quantitative and statistical analysis skills; these students will have completed degrees in physics, mathematics, economics, astrophysics, engineering, computational biology, and the like.

In addition, the institute will establish lines of research to develop innovative tools and techniques in Big Data Analytics and in the application of technologies and analytics schemes to the needs of companies. In order to do this, the institute will organize academic activities (seminars, workshops and meetings) on an international level that will facilitate participation by doctoral candidates whose dissertations focus on "Big Data".

Finally, the institute will carry out research and analysis work for companies as well as for public and private institutions, while also supporting the creation of "spin offs" or "start ups" should any of the projects it is involved in present a commercial opportunity.

Daniel Peña, the chancellor of UC3M, indicated during this act that this Project is going to create a world-renowned center for the analysis of large sets of data in the field of finance; it will be a model for other joint university-company research centers in Europe.

Ana Botín, the president of Banco Santander commented "the digital revolution, technology and the intelligent management of information will allow us to put innovation at the service of our clients. With Big Data we will better understand what their needs are, how they use our products and services and how we can improve them. This institute will research and develop the ways we can do exactly that, with a special focus on financial services.” She added, “our goal is to continue to earn our clients’ trust and loyalty, by doing things in a way that is simple, personal and fair.  Big Data presents a great opportunity to transform and to improve our lives, and we must take advantage of that opportunity."

Internationally renowned scientists at UC3M

UC3M and Banco Santander, through Santander Universidades, will continue their collaboration to promote excellence in research by means of the Cátedras de Excelencia UC3M-Santander (UC3M-Santander Chair of Excellence) for four more years (2015, 2016, 2017 y 2018). With this program, which began in 2011, UC3M intends to attract top researchers from the worldwide university and research community.

For all of these initiatives, UC3M enjoys the support of Banco Santander which, through Santander Universidades, holds nearly 1.200 agreements with universities and research centers throughout the world. Since 1996, Santander Universidades has been in charge of the bank’s social action area, which has awarded over 1 billion Euros to university projects.