Extensive Media Coverage of AIR Institute's Development Milestone
The AIR Institute achieved a development milestone with the inauguration of its new headquarters on Avenida Santiago Madrigal, in the district of Puente Ladrillo. A conference was held at the new headquarters "Salamanca Tech: Aeronautical Industry. An engine for technological development", in which Bertrand Masson, Vice-President of Airbus, took part. The inaguration was widely covered in the media in Salamanca, but also in the regional and national press.
Media interest reflects the importance of the project, which has the backing of all the institutions and organisations in the town, the province and the community of Castilla y León. The representatives of different institutions expressed their interest by attending the inauguration of the new facilities where more than sixty staff members are already working, most of them young computer scientists specialised in metaverse, blockchain, artificial intelligence, industry 4.0 and IoT.
"AIR Institute and the Town Council promote Salamanca as a benchmark in technological innovation" is the headline of the online La Gaceta de Salamanca news article which reported on the inauguration of the new building. In the printed version, the newspaper made this event the main story of the day and it was featured on its front page. It dedicated the first two inside pages to it, with extensive graphic coverage of the opening and the subsequent conference. The article also quoted statements from the authorities who took part in the event. It applauded the initiative in its opening pages, highlighting one of the statements made by the President of the AIR Institute, Juan Manuel Corchado.
"'The inauguration of the building that will convert Salamanca into a town that is at the forefront of innovation, research and artificial intelligence", was the headline of Salamanca 24 hours; "Salamanca creates more than 60 jobs for researchers", highlighted Salamanca Hoy; "Salamanca inaugurates the Artificial Intelligence Centre: 'The future of the town is innovation'", said Tribuna de Salamanca. Salamanca RTVE Al Día and La Crónica de Salamanca also covered the news.
In addition, daily newspapers Diario de Ávila, El Día de Valladolid, Diario de Burgos and Diario Palentino reported on this event of regional and national scope, as media such as La Razón, ABC and El Español highlighted the launch of the new headquarters of the AIR Institute and its premiere with a conference focused on the world of aeronautics. "The Artificial Intelligence Centre of Salamanca starts its work with 60 researchers", headlined ABC, while La Razón highlighted that "The Artificial Intelligence Centre of Salamanca is now a reality".
Media agencies, such as EFE and Europapress, were also responsible for publicising the event, as well as the University of Salamanca itself through its communications office and USAL TV.
And, of course, social networks proved important for the dissemination of the event, with 16,850 views on AIR Institute (357% more than in a typical week) and more than 13,500 views (130% more) on the accounts of Juan Manuel Corchado, which has resulted in almost 373% more interactions on AIR Institute publications (2,042 in total) and about 92% more interactions in the case of Juan Manuel Corchado's networks (610 in total). Similarly, the readership was noteworthy: almost 2,000 page views on the AIR blog (48% more) and 706 visits (34.48% more), while in the case of corchado.net there were almost 69% more visitors than in a normal week and almost 59% more visits (529 in total). Interestingly, not only citizens from all over Spain, but also from the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Colombia, and other countries, have viewed the content.