The UAB Innovation Week brings together more than 700 professionals and confirms the university as a driving force for innovation in the region
UAB brought together more than 700 professionals, including researchers, businessmen and entrepreneurs, for the second edition of the Innovation Week, which took place from 14 to 18 October. The various activities were designed to connect the ecosystem and promote the transfer of knowledge and technology to society.
The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) today concluded the second edition of its Innovation Week, which brought together more than 700 people. The event once again demonstrated the university's commitment to innovation and its willingness to work with the business and social fabric. For five days, more than 300 researchers, 300 business people and 100 entrepreneurs and administrators gathered on campus to explore collaborations and learn about the different innovation projects on campus.
From Monday until today, various activities, lectures and workshops have been held, open to the entire UAB campus community and to companies and organisations in the region, and more than 300 meetings have been held between different institutional, business and academic actors, with the aim of creating synergies and exploring channels of collaboration.
UAB collaboration with the socio-economic sector
The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) actively collaborates with the socio-economic sector through various initiatives, programmes and agreements. This is what it wanted to show and promote during Innovation Week.
In this sense, it is worth highlighting some of the figures of the university's potential in terms of research, innovation and transfer: in 2023 it signed 8 patent licensing agreements, it has 21 active spin-offs created by university researchers and 626 research and service agreements were active, representing an income of 20 million euros. In addition, last year it developed 189 public-private projects, funded through European competitive calls (Horizone Europe programme), national calls (such as 'public-private collaboration projects', 'challenges' or 'proofs of concept') and regional calls (Industry of Knowledge programme of the Generalitat de Catalunya).
Matchmaking in innovation
The Innovation Fair, held on Tuesday at the Hotel Exe Campus, was one of the highlights of the week and brought together 300 people. Organised by the UAB Research Park, the event featured an exhibition of technologies and knowledge from 80 research groups and 20 companies that have emerged from the university.
The event was inaugurated by Javier Lafuente, Rector of the UAB, accompanied by Jaume Baró, Secretary for Enterprise and Competitiveness of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and Carlos Cordón, Mayor of Cerdanyola del Vallès. In his opening speech, Javier Lafuente pointed out that "UAB is a leader in research, as the world rankings show, and our challenge is to ensure that our knowledge and technologies reach society in the form of applications that help improve people's lives. We believe that public-private cooperation is essential to make the university a driving force for social change.
There was also a conference on innovation, trends and challenges, given by Alfons Cornella, founder and president of the innovation consultancy Infonomía and the Next Institute. Cornella stressed the importance of innovation in companies: "45% of CEOs say that they do not see their company being viable in 10 years' time if they continue to do things the same way". For this reason, he pointed out that science, technology and, above all, curiosity, an essential ingredient for innovation, will be indispensable.
There was also a session of bilateral meetings between research groups, start-ups and companies, and a round table on mobility and sustainability with Sílvia Martí, Corporate Vice-President, Internal and Institutional Communication at Moventia, Óscar Julià, Director of Innovation at Sener, Cristina Güell, Director of Corporate Services at TMB, Oliver Canosa, Corporate Strategy & Sustainability Manager at Tradebe, and Xavier Gabarrell, Vice-Rector of Campus and Sustainability at UAB.
Awards for social transformation projects
The eines 2024 awards ceremony was also held on Tuesday at the Antonio Díaz - El Mago Pop Municipal Auditorium in Bahía del Vallés, awarded by the UAB, Mollet del Vallès Town Council, the county councils of Vallès Occidental and Vallès Oriental and Barcelona Provincial Council, institutions that make up the Chair in Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation attached to the UAB's Centre for Studies and Research in Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation (CREIS).
Three Catalan, Vallès and local social transformation projects were awarded in the fourth edition of these prizes, which recognise social transformation activities within the framework of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The winners were the Bosque Occupational Centre's REVIVE, Retícula and Obrador de pastelería projects, which focus on the cognitive rehabilitation of the elderly through immersive virtual reality, inclusive visual representation and the integration of people with intellectual disabilities into the labour market through pastry-making.
New technologies for the cultural sector and live events
Innovation Week was also a space for reflection and debate. On Wednesday, a day dedicated to music, cultural events and new technologies was held at the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, where the possibilities of implementing new technologies in the cultural sector were discussed.
The event included the presentation of the ENIA UAB-Cruïlla Chair in Artificial Intelligence in Music and the Arts, a public-private initiative that will support research and experimentation in artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, with a strong desire to transfer them to the cultural industries ecosystem. At the award ceremony, Jordi Herreruela, director of the Cruïlla Festival and president of the Barcelona Music Lab, said: "The music industry is much more than just music; it includes, for example, all the logistics of a major music event, which allows us to test technological advances and bring together industry, university, technology and the arts.
The event also showcased various projects that apply artificial intelligence to the sector, such as: artificial intelligence models that generate artistic images, digital replicas for training autonomous cars, support tools for interpreting scores and systems for interacting with the public in real time. There was also a round table on sustainability and new technologies in the cultural industries, with Enrique Doblas, head of transfer at CREAF; Laia Mojica, researcher at the UAB's Department of Geography; Isaac Domínguez, director of Escena 4.0; Filippo Bistaffa, researcher at IIIA-CSIC; and David Rocasalbas, technology director at Cruïlla Barcelona.
The day ended with live concerts of musical projects related to artificial intelligence: Chameleon Project and Beyond Collpase.
Social impact of research closes this year's edition
The final event of the week took place on Friday, the Women in Science and Entrepreneurship session, this year under the theme 'Building paths of social impact', which explored the potential impact or benefits of research, knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship on society and the environment, with the aim of creating positive and tangible change.
The conference was attended by leading researchers, entrepreneurs and professionals who shared their knowledge, research and practical experience: Mireia Faucha, PhD in Social Psychology and Project Manager at Spora Sinergies and member of CREIS; Elena Rico, Managing Partner of IMPACT Partners Ibérica SL and Independent Expert of the European Commission; Irene Fernández, Sustainability and Impact Manager at COFIDES, a public-private company specialised in the management of public funds; Marta Soler, Professor of Sociology at the UB and Scientific Director of Social Impact; Toni Bassaganyas, Head of Impact and Innovation and Transfer Strategies in Social Sciences and Humanities at the CERCA Institution; Josep Biosca, head of the impact investor community at the Ship2B Foundation; Raquel García, co-founder and CEO of Ecomemb, a spin-off from the University of Girona and the Catalan Institute for Water Research; Naia Jiménez, business manager at NIMBLE Diagnostics; Estrella Malgosa, co-founder of INARI, a spin-off company from the Autonomous University of Barcelona; and Alba Hernández Bonilla, director of the Department of Genetics and Microbiology and the SAMut Technical Service of the UAB and head of the Mutagenesis Group.
UAB's Vice-Rector for Innovation, Transfer and Entrepreneurship and Director of the UAB Research Park, Rosa Maria Sebastian, gave the closing speech of the Innovation Week, highlighting the great reception of the event and emphasising "the importance of making visible the research and innovation done at the university and the multidisciplinarity that characterises us and allows us to respond to societal challenges from different disciplines".
The Innovation Week also included other activities related to entrepreneurship and new technologies.
This initiative, with El Pais as media partner, is subsidised by the Ministry of Enterprise and Employment and co-funded by the European Social Fund Plus and the European Union - Next Generation EU as part of the Spanish Government's Recovery and Resilience Plan, led by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism through the School of Industrial Organisation EOI.
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