Inria Chile’s Technology Seedbed: Cultivating a New Generation of Digital Sciences Talent Between Chile and France

Human capital is one of the cornerstones of digital transformation and the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. Globally, it is estimated that there is currently a shortage of 85.2 million skilled professionals in these fields, and in Chile, the situation is equally critical, with an estimated annual shortfall of 6,000 specialised professionals. Talent development is undoubtedly the primary enabling factor driving the AI revolution and its adoption.

Seeking to contribute to the training of a new generation of talent in digital sciences and technologies, Inria Chile has been involved in the development of specialists in these fields, with a growing emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), since its establishment in 2012. This work not only aims to enhance the individual capabilities of local talent but also to amplify the impact of the Institute’s mission through close collaboration with Chilean universities and with France and Europe, via Inria.

At Inria Chile, training is delivered in a "hands-on" manner, either by integrating students and young researchers into high-impact scientific projects, or through internships and placements lasting from two to six months in Chile, as well as abroad in France. This approach provides young professionals with both technical tools and their first international scientific experiences.

Inria Chile carries out this work collaboratively, particularly in partnership with universities across Santiago and the regions of Chile, to facilitate student learning in globally recognised scientific environments.

One of the most emblematic programmes is the Inria Research Internship Programme in France, established in 2018. Led by Inria Chile, this programme is developed in collaboration with Inria and leading Chilean universities: the Universidad de Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, and, since 2024, the Universidad de Concepción and the Universidad de Valparaíso.

Each year, up to five students from each of these universities are selected to undertake three-month research internships, addressing research challenges proposed by Inria’s own research teams across its nine centres in France.

Students receive comprehensive support, including travel expenses, insurance, accommodation grants, a monthly stipend, and personalised guidance from Inria Chile, their home universities, and their host centres and teams. This ensures they can fully dedicate themselves to researching a specific topic under the supervision of an Inria researcher for three months.

Since its inception, over 80 students from Chilean universities have participated in the programme. More than 25 of them have pursued or are currently pursuing PhD studies in Chile and abroad, with over 10 conducting or having completed their PhDs at Inria and three at other French institutions.

In the 2025-2026 call, under the framework of the Franco-Chilean Binational Centre on Artificial Intelligence, the programme focused primarily on artificial intelligence, receiving a record 30+ research topics proposed by Inria teams.

For this edition, 13 students from the Universidad de Chile, Universidad de Concepción, and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile were selected to carry out their internships across various centres in France. During the first semester of 2026, they are conducting research in areas such as:  "Evaluating Artificial Intelligence", "Generative AI and Foundation Models", "AI for Science and Other Sciences for AI Development" and "Frugal and Embedded Artificial Intelligence"

This initiative continues to drive the development and training of future Chilean scientists, fostering international collaboration and excellence in research.

Inria Chile fosters talent development through internship and research programmes conducted entirely within Chile. These initiatives aim to integrate undergraduate students from Chilean universities into digital sciences and technology projects.

In 2022, the Inria Chile Summer Internship Programme was launched. This annual nationwide call invites students from Chilean universities to apply for specific research topics, offering two-month internships during the summer period.

Additionally, the programme includes a flexible modality for International and Continuous Internships. Depending on specific requirements, the Centre welcomes international students—primarily from French universities and Grandes Écoles—for research stays of varying durations.

• Boosting Local Talent: Summer Internships at Inria Chile

For the Inria Chile Summer Internship Programme, an annual nationwide call is launched in Chile for summer internships open to students from national universities. In late 2024, the call for 2025 internships was announced, receiving 139 applications from students across 14 universities in the country. Ultimately, 14 students from the University of Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, and Universidad Austral were selected and completed their internships at Inria Chile during January and February 2025.

For the 2025-2026 call, as part of the training strategy, significant efforts were made to connect young talent with high-level digital sciences and AI. Eight students from the University of Chile, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, and Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana were selected. In this edition of the programme, the selected students joined ongoing research projects under the guidance of expert teams in AI initiatives, strengthening their skills by achieving tangible results.

• Attracting International Talent to Chile

Inria Chile also promotes the development of international talent, particularly French students undertaking internships of varying durations in the Centre’s projects. Since 2018, over 10 international students have completed research internships in digital sciences and technologies. The year 2026 is already set to be a record year, with five students from prestigious French Grandes Écoles joining Inria Chile’s teams for internships lasting 4 to 6 months.

Across its various lines of work, Inria Chile integrates students and young researchers, providing many with their first experience in high-level research and exposure to international ecosystems.

In 2025, advanced training and technical upskilling were highlighted through the following initiatives:

• A total of 87 individuals, including master’s, PhD, and postdoctoral students, conducted research within Inria Chile projects such as OcéanIA, PANDA, SWAM or FUSION. Many of these collaborations began with internships before progressing to postgraduate studies with teams in France.

Additionally, since 2023, Inria Chile has become a strategic partner in implementing Inria’s Postdoc Programme, fostering bilateral research projects with Inria teams and trilateral collaborations with Chilean universities.

In 2025, three postdoctoral researchers developed Franco-Chilean projects under Inria’s Postdoc Programme:

• Two initiatives were already underway, and a new project was awarded in the areas of AI Evaluation and Generative AI and Foundation Models, as part of the Franco-Chilean Binational Centre on Artificial Intelligence.

• Among these, the LLACA project (LLM Assimilation of Cultural Aspects) stands out—a collaboration between Inria Paris’s ALMANACh team, the Universidad de Chile, and Inria Chile. Its goal is to enhance the sociocultural understanding of language models in underrepresented regions, such as Latin America, by creating structured cultural databases and integrating them into models to reduce biases and improve contextual comprehension.

The other two projects addressed applied challenges:

• One evaluated neural networks for urban flood modelling, comparing architectures like CNN and SR-GAN, concluding in November 2025.

• The other applied Stackelberg game theory to optimise urban patrols and reduce crime, concluding in March 2025 after its researcher was hired as an academic.

Both projects reflect the interdisciplinary approach and practical impact of Franco-Chilean collaboration in AI.