Barcelona AI accelerator expands startup support and Nvidia access

Barcelona Supercomputing Center's AI accelerator has moved beyond its pilot, offering startups computing resources, training and technical guidance. Nvidia said on October 19 that its Inception portal now provides access to selected BSC AI Factory services.

Nvidia highlighted three participants recognized during the pilot: Qatium, OneCareAI and Avatia. Their projects cover water utility operations, identifying possible heart rhythm problems in ECG recordings, and pharmaceutical information systems. Qatium trained its proprietary models using the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer.

The national expansion follows a pilot restricted to Barcelona startups. Spain's digital transformation ministry is providing 2.3 million euros for a 14-week program selecting as many as 100 companies, with locations in Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Malaga. Participants will receive business advice alongside technical support from BSC and partners Nvidia and AWS.

Applications close November 9, and selected companies are scheduled to begin December 2 with an event in Barcelona. Further editions planned over the following two years aim to bring total participation to 400 Spanish startups.