Connection, innovation and growth: the UAB Research Park in 2025
The year 2025 has seen a determined drive to promote collaboration between the UAB, the business community and regional stakeholders. The UAB Research Park has reinforced its position as a vital link between the university, businesses, and the region. Its mission is to transform research into impact and convert the knowledge generated on campus into tangible solutions.
Throughout the year, the Park has continued to act as a bridge between the UAB research community and the socio-economic environment. This involves identifying needs and opportunities in both areas, gaining first-hand knowledge of local council and business priorities, understanding UAB groups' capabilities and lines of research, and maintaining direct relationships with clusters, social agents, and organisations operating in strategic sectors.
Innovation with an impact on the region
A strong connection between research and the region is key to generating socially and economically valuable innovation. In 2025, the Park strengthened its ties with local councils and administrations by facilitating participatory processes, workshops, and initiatives that helped to identify regional challenges with the potential to become science- or technology-based projects.
One of the year's most notable initiatives was the ALBA Hackathon, organised in collaboration with the ALBA Synchrotron and the Cerdanyola del Vallès Town Council. This event brought together 70 researchers and students to address genuine challenges posed by companies using advanced synchrotron light techniques.
Similarly, Innovation Days, organised with the town councils of Molins de Rei and Castellar del Vallès, have enabled students and research staff to connect with local companies interested in finding innovative solutions in areas such as the circular economy and digitalisation.
Promoting university-business collaboration
Generating opportunities for collaboration has been one of our main activities in 2025. This work has led to over 40 specific collaborations between UAB research groups and public and private entities, based on the identification of over 200 collaboration opportunities throughout the year.
This has been achieved through visits to research groups in all fields of knowledge, active participation in six sectoral clusters, attendance at over 70 networking events, and the promotion of open innovation initiatives that connect researchers, companies, and administrations to solve real-world problems.
Support for research in attracting funding for public-private R&D projects has been particularly significant. Participation in the state call for public-private collaboration and European programmes such as EIC Pathfinder, EIC Transition and RETECH increased during 2025, strengthening the international profile of UAB research.
In terms of promotion and networking, UAB Innovation Week has firmly established itself as the science park's flagship event. With more than 1,140 attendees, the 2025 edition surpassed the results of previous years and reaffirmed its status as an essential meeting point for the research community, the business sector, and the general public.
Promoting university entrepreneurship
Transforming the knowledge generated at the UAB into new projects with social and economic impact is key to promoting entrepreneurship. As part of this strategy, the UAB Research Park, under the umbrella of Emprèn UAB, develops training and mentoring programmes specialising in the ideation and validation phases of projects.
In 2025 alone, we supported over 30 new entrepreneurial projects, with more than 80 people participating in our programmes. Against this backdrop, the launch of the new Polaris programme, which focuses on the personalised validation of entrepreneurial projects within the UAB community, is particularly significant.
Impactful and international communication
Communicating innovation has been another essential pillar in 2025. The Park's digital community has surpassed 16,333 followers on social media, reflecting growing interest in the innovation and research being conducted at UAB.
The Park has also supported the communication of several European projects, including CONFETI, EXPRESS2 and TOUCH, as well as new projects starting in 2026 such as PHYNEST and reWOW. This support has strengthened the international visibility of UAB's research and innovation ecosystem.
Looking ahead to 2026
The 2025 balance sheet consolidates a trajectory of sustained growth, enabling us to face the new challenges and opportunities of 2026. The UAB Research Park will continue to strengthen collaboration between the university and businesses, promote knowledge-based entrepreneurship, deepen its connection with the region, and raise the profile of UAB research. The aim is to generate an ever-greater impact on society.
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