Successful case

A new Technological Innovation Space in Molins de Rei

The UAB Open Labs, the Comunitats de Recerca Estratègica (CORES, Strategic Research Communities), the UAB Research Park, and EINA, the Design and Art University Centre attached to the UAB, have collaborated with the Molins de Rei Town Hall to define, in a participatory manner, the uses and services of the new Technological Innovation Space.

Located at the El Molí building, which currently hosts the local library, this new space will have a multipurpose space, one for training and one for fabrication, to test technological prototypes. Thus, the first floor at El Molí will become the Technological Innovation Space, a laboratory of ideas specialised in big data and robotics. 

According to the coordinator of the Unit of Entrepreneurship, Territory, and Business Traning at the UAB Research Park, Júlia Palma, “other space makers began as generalists but have specialized. The Molins de Rei Town Hall had in mind betting on the 4.0 industry, and we have seen that, according to the needs of different collectives, the best possible way would be to start with big data and robotics." To meet the needs of different audiences, the UAB has led a participatory process and done a study on similar studies located in nearby towns. EINA has also collaborated by collectively designing the new space, taking into account the needs of future users.

The Molins 4.0 Technology Councillor, Jordi Enseñat, has explained that the goal is to benefit three main groups from this new space: businesses, educational centres, and the general public. “It will be a meeting point to create synergies among them, pooling projects, training workers, and doing product showrooms,"  he said.

As for schools and institutes, the Technological Innovation Space will offer classrooms to prepare subjects and explain the syllabus using new technologies, such as 3D or virtual reality. The aim is also to encourage connections between students and companies. Enseñat said that, in addition, there will be workshops and courses for the general public, especially for people who are unemployed or elderly, with the aim of combating the digital divide.

Espai d'innovació Molins de Rei