ELLIS Alicante Foundation

What ELLIS Alicante Foundation does

ELLIS Alicante Foundation (legal name: Fundación de la Comunitat Valenciana Unidad ELLIS Alicante) is a private non-profit research foundation established in 2020 and registered in the Community of Valencia, Spain, with physical headquarters at Puerto de Alicante and registered address at Universidad de Alicante. It is a founding unit of the pan-European ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems) Network, which spans 44 units across 17 countries, and Dr. Nuria Oliver serves as both Director of ELLIS Alicante and Vice-President of ELLIS. The foundation's mission is to conduct fundamental research in human-centric artificial intelligence for social good, with core technical foci including trustworthy AI, algorithmic fairness, privacy-preserving federated learning, cognitive biases in AI systems, multimodal LLM safety, and the intersection of AI with art and societal norms.

Research output spans multiple workstreams. The foundation produces the Maike Socratic chatbot for educational critical thinking, datasets including OpenFilter and LLM Mental Health, and active research projects on Trustworthy AI, Federated Learning, Cognitive Biases and AI, Art Censorship, The Beautyverse (algorithmic beauty standards), and Covid19 impact modeling. The ELLIS PhD Program and postdoctoral positions recruit global talent into the European AI research ecosystem. Research is disseminated through 100+ peer-reviewed publications, an annual HCML Workshop series, Distinguished Speaker Series, doctoral symposiums, and HCML Reading Group. The foundation is the first Spanish research organization to join Partnership on AI and participates in EU-level science-policy forums convened by the European Research Council and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

The revenue model is multi-stream and entirely non-commercial. Primary funding flows from the Generalitat Valenciana (Regional Government of Valencia, which holds honorary presidency of the board of trustees), EU Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe project participation (ELLIOT and ELIAS totaling €38M across 30+ institutions), and structured corporate partnerships with tiered pricing (Platinum at €500K first year / €200K subsequent, Gold at €100K-€500K+ annually, Silver doctoral fellowships at €50K annually for 3-4 years). Individual sponsorships and donations operate under Spanish Law 49/2002 fiscal incentives, with tiers ranging from micro-funding (up to €5,000) to Bronze (€25,000+). All contributions qualify for tax deductions.

Name

ELLIS Alicante Foundation

Legal name

FUNDACIÓN DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA UNIDAD ELLIS ALICANTE

Website

https://ellisalicante.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ELLIS Alicante Foundation is a Spanish non-profit AI research foundation and founding unit of the pan-European ELLIS Network, conducting fundamental human-centric AI research — trustworthy AI, algorithmic fairness, federated learning — and serving European researchers, policymakers, and corporate partners through the ELLIS PhD Program, 100+ publications, and EU Horizon project participation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI Research and Policy

NAICS

Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Responsible AI, Security & Privacy Platforms (Safety, Guardrails, PII) (HDAEANAG)

Keywords

• Human-centric AI research
• Trustworthy AI systems
• Federated learning research
• AI policy advisory
• Open research datasets

Headquarters

HQ city

Alicante

HQ country

Spain

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Institutional Funding: Primary funding from the Generalitat Valenciana (Regional Government of Valencia), which has provided sustained commitment positioning Valencia as a European hub for ethical AI research and innovation excellence.
2. EU Research Project Funding: EU Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe project funding including ELLIOT and ELIAS projects totaling 38M€ investment across 30+ premier institutions advancing European AI independence and sustainability.
3. Strategic Corporate Partnerships: Structured partnership programs with corporations including Platinum (€500K first year, €200K subsequent), Gold (€100K-€500K+ annually), Silver (€50K annually for doctoral fellowships), and project-specific funding (€100K+).
4. Individual Sponsorships and Donations: Individual patronage program with tiers: Micro-funding (up to €5,000), Friends of ELLIS Alicante (€5,000-€25,000), and Bronze (€25,000+), with tax deduction benefits under Spanish Law 49/2002.
5. Microsoft Rewards Program: Donations through Microsoft Rewards/Bing program allowing users to designate ELLIS Alicante as their charitable organization for Bing searches.
6. Procurement and Services: Occasional revenue from professional services including legal, accounting, audit, and business management software services through public procurement processes.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

ELLIS Alicante Foundation performs fundamental, human-centric Artificial Intelligence research for social good, publishing peer-reviewed work, producing open datasets, and developing educational tools such as the Maike Socratic chatbot. It offers the ELLIS PhD and Postdoctoral program, participates in major EU Horizon research projects, and engages corporate strategic partners, governments, and policymakers through structured sponsorship tiers and policy advisory work.

Product overview

ELLIS Alicante Foundation operates as a pan-European research unit focused on human-centric artificial intelligence for social good. The foundation conducts research through multiple projects including Trustworthy AI, Federated Learning, Cognitive Biases and AI, The Beautyverse (algorithmic beauty standards), and Art Censorship. It offers research tools such as the Maike Socratic chatbot for education, and maintains datasets including OpenFilter and LLM Mental Health. Educational offerings include the ELLIS PhD Program and the HCML Reading Group. The organization functions as a research institution rather than a commercial product company.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ELLIS PhD Program Competitive doctoral and postdoctoral program offering outstanding young researchers from around the world entry to cutting-edge machine learning research across Europe, with mentorship from world-class scientists and pan-European mobility.
• Maike (Socratic Chatbot) An educational chatbot designed to foster critical thinking and student autonomy through Socratic questioning methods, used in educational settings.
• OpenFilter Dataset An open dataset supporting research in AI filtering and content moderation, released as an open research asset.
• LLM Mental Health Dataset Dataset for researching mental health applications and implications of large language models, including mental health crisis assessment.
• Strategic Corporate Partnerships Program Structured sponsorship program for corporate partners with Platinum (€500K first year, €200K subsequent), Gold (€100K–€500K+ annually), and Silver (€50K annually for doctoral fellowships) tiers, providing early access to research, consultative participation, and talent pipeline access.
• Trustworthy AI Research Research program focused on developing reliable, ethical, fair, and accountable AI systems, delivered as published research and advisory output to corporate partners and policymakers.
• Human-Centric Machine Learning Research (HCML) Core research program exploring human-centric AI and trustworthy AI systems integrating technical, social, and philosophical perspectives through the ELLIS HCML Reading Group and workshop series.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100+ publications produced through collaborative research
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Generalitat ValencianaflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe sustained commitment of the Valencian Government positions Valencia as a European hub for ethical AI research and innovation excellence. Areas of focus include regional innovation leadership, global talent attraction, economic development, and European AI excellence. The Generalitat holds honorary presidency of the foundation's board of trustees.
• European UnionflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerInvestment of €38M in ELLIOT and ELIAS projects advancing European AI independence and sustainability across more than 30 premier institutions. The foundation participates in Horizon Europe projects including ELSA, ELIAS, and ELLIOT, contributing to technology AI development, sustainable development, European independence, and ethical AI standards.
• IntelcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Intel Research Center for Responsible AI advancing fairness and reliability in intelligent systems. Focus areas include fair AI systems, transparent technology, human-AI collaboration, and responsible innovation.
• ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPan-European network of 44 units in 17 countries focused on fundamental research excellence in AI, advancing state of the art, generating technological innovation, and creating positive social and economic impact. ELLIS Alicante is a founding unit with Dr. Nuria Oliver serving as Vice-President.
• Universidad de AlicantecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost academic institution at Campus de San Vicente del Raspeig. The university provides research infrastructure, academic programs, and hosts ELLIS Alicante's headquarters and activities including thesis defenses and student presentations.
• Partnership on AI (PAI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerELLIS Alicante became the first Spanish research organization and first ELLIS unit to join Partnership on AI, contributing to reinforce European presence in this international alliance for responsible AI.
• ELIAS Project ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHorizon 2020 project consortium with participation from multiple European institutions working on AI research. ELLIS Alicante hosted the plenary meeting in Alicante and Dr. Oliver presents progress on work packages.
• ELLIOT Project ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHorizon Europe project advancing European AI independence through collaborative research across premier institutions.
• ELSA ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHorizon 2020 project contributing to ethical AI standards and European AI ecosystem development.
• European Research Council (ERC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with ERC through Dr. Oliver's participation in high-level science-policy forums organized by ERC and German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems is a leading European public AI research institute conducting fundamental ML and robotics research with significant faculty and doctoral training programs. Comparable to ELLIS Alicante as a peer European fundamental-AI research institute with PhD training pipelines.
• Allen Institute for AI (AI2): AI2 is a non-profit AI research institute producing open research, datasets, and models with a strong emphasis on AI for the common good. Comparable to ELLIS Alicante as a non-profit research lab publishing open datasets and research outputs, though AI2 is larger and US-based.
• German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI): DFKI is Germany's leading non-profit AI research center with multiple sites, public co-funding, and industry partnerships across applied and fundamental AI. Comparable to ELLIS Alicante in non-profit status, public funding model, and multi-site research structure.
• Mila (Quebec AI Institute): Mila is a non-profit AI research institute co-founded by Yoshua Bengio, focused on fundamental research with strong ties to academic, industry, and policy stakeholders. Comparable to ELLIS Alicante as a similarly structured, mission-driven AI research organization spanning fundamental ML, societal impact, and talent development.
• ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems): ELLIS is the pan-European network of which ELLIS Alicante is a founding unit, coordinating 44 research units across 17 countries. It is the direct parent/peer network for AI research excellence in Europe and is the natural comparator for governance, funding models, and research agenda.
• Stanford HAI (Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence): Stanford HAI is a university-affiliated institute focused on human-centered AI research, policy, and education. Highly comparable to ELLIS Alicante given the aligned focus on trustworthy, human-centric AI, policy influence, and training programs.
• FBK (Fondazione Bruno Kessler): FBK is an Italian research foundation conducting AI and digital society research with strong EU project participation and industry collaboration. ELLIS Alicante has co-hosted workshops with FBK, reflecting direct comparability in foundation status, AI research focus, and pan-European project participation.

Broad incumbents

• INRIA (French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology): INRIA is France's national public research institute for digital science, with deep AI research, EU funding participation, and industry partnerships. Comparable as a publicly-funded European AI research institution, but much larger and broader in scope than ELLIS Alicante.
• CSIC (Spanish National Research Council): CSIC is Spain's largest public research institution, with broad AI and computer science activity across many centers. Comparable as a Spanish public research counterpart, but vastly larger in scale and broader in research scope than ELLIS Alicante.

Emerging players

• Future of Life Institute: FLI is a non-profit focused on reducing existential and societal risks from advanced AI through policy advocacy and grant-making. Comparable to ELLIS Alicante in the AI ethics/responsible-AI policy space, but operates more as an advocacy and grant-making body than as a producing research lab.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@ellisalicante
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ellisalicante

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about ELLIS Alicante Foundation