Atlas report
AI researchers in Spain
Universitat Pompeu Fabra is the largest, with 314 indexed researchers, barely ahead of Universidad de Granada at 292. No single place dominates here.
The short answer
Spain is the 13th country by indexed AI researchers, 8 572 of them.
Among people who started since 2024, the subject gaining fastest in Spain is Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning: its share of newcomers is 2.2 times what it was over the three previous years, with 90 people starting on it.
Per million inhabitants, Spain has 177 AI researchers in the index against 89 worldwide, 2 times the world figure.
What stands out
Semantic Web and Ontologies is where Spain stands apart. 320 researchers, 1.8% of the country's total, against a world share of 1.1%.
5.9% of the AI researchers indexed in Spain sit in a company rather than a university, 67% of the world share of 8.9%.
Spain holds 1.2% of the researchers with a known country and 0.6% of the world's population, 2 times its demographic weight.
The single most common subject is Topic Modeling, on which 4.7% of Spain's subject assignments fall.
Subjects
Subject reports: Natural Language Processing Techniques, Neural Networks and Applications, Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning.
| Subject | Researchers | Share here | Share worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Topic Modeling | 807 | 4.7% | 7.9% |
| Natural Language Processing Techniques | 656 | 3.8% | 4.3% |
| Advanced Neural Network Applications | 445 | 2.6% | 4.3% |
| Neural Networks and Applications | 327 | 1.9% | 1.2% |
| Semantic Web and Ontologies | 320 | 1.8% | 1.1% |
| Robotic Path Planning Algorithms | 311 | 1.8% | 1.2% |
| Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning | 191 | 1.1% | 1.9% |
| Machine Learning in Healthcare | 141 | 0.8% | 0.9% |
Newcomers by year
Newcomers since 2024 number 1 563 in Spain, against 1 097 between 2021 and 2023: a ratio of 1.4, where the world sits at 1.8.
Measured on 2025 alone, entry into Spain ran at 0.8 times its three-year average, where the world ran at 0.8.
| First publication | New in Spain | Share of the world's newcomers |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 259 | 1.3% |
| 2020 | 280 | 1.3% |
| 2021 | 307 | 1.2% |
| 2022 | 424 | 1.2% |
| 2023 | 366 | 1.2% |
| 2024 | 398 | 1.3% |
| 2025 | 329 | 1.3% |
Institutions
The three largest institutions, Universitat Pompeu Fabra first, hold 10% of the country's indexed researchers.
Universitat Pompeu Fabra is the largest, with 314 indexed researchers, barely ahead of Universidad de Granada at 292. No single place dominates here. Everyone else sits in places too small to name without pointing at individuals.
| Institution | Researchers | Share of the country |
|---|---|---|
| Universitat Pompeu Fabra | 314 | 3.7% |
| Universidad de Granada | 292 | 3.4% |
| Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya | 290 | 3.4% |
Compared with its peers
The two countries closest in size are Switzerland and Netherlands. Same order of magnitude, different profile. The gap that stands out is the researchers per million inhabitants: 177 here, below the 699 of those two. Reports: AI researchers in Switzerland.
| Spain | Switzerland | Netherlands | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Researchers | 8 572 | 8 518 | 7 878 |
| Per million inhabitants | 177 | 957 | 440 |
| In a company | 5.9% | 13% | 6.0% |
| Early career | 44% | 55% | 51% |
| Newcomers, recent against previous window | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.3 |
Method
A country is where the institution sits, so someone who has moved and not yet published from the new address still counts at the old one. Counts move between two refreshes because the index grows every night. The method page sets out the sources and what each field leaves out.
Common questions
- How many AI researchers are there in Spain?
- As of October 2026, the index holds 8 572 researchers whose institution sits in Spain, 1.2% of everyone with a known country. Only people who published AI research are counted, which makes the figure a floor.
- Where do you find AI researchers in Spain?
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 314, Universidad de Granada, 292, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 290. Their most common subject is Topic Modeling, 4.7% of the country's subject assignments.
- What is Spain strongest in?
- Semantic Web and Ontologies, at 1.7 times the world share.
- Is the pool of AI researchers in Spain growing?
- Yes, slower than the world. Since 2024, 1 563 people in Spain published for the first time, against 1 097 over the three years before, a ratio of 1.4 where the world sits at 1.8.
The names behind the numbers
Every count on this page is a list in the index.
Search it by subject and country to find who leads the work today, and set an alert on the ones about to come free, for $179 a month or 149 € in the euro area. Or hand the search over and pay only when someone joins.