News archive

An industrial engineer by training, Soraya Hidalgo has spent two decades at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), where she currently leads the institutional strategy for alliances and philanthropy. In this conversation, she talks about the transformative value of company chairs and looks back on some of the special moments she has experienced at the UPC.

Susana Medina is a sponsorship and philanthropy officer in the UPC's Research and Transfer Area, where she works alongside Soraya Hidalgo. We look back at her career across the private and public sectors, the company chair model and her more personal side.

We interview researcher Marta Gangolells, co-director of the TÜV SÜD-UPC Chair, for the R&D&I Area's "Coffee Break" newsletter, which this issue focuses on the Philanthropy Unit. She talks about her research on sustainable and resilient buildings and the value of collaboration between universities and industry.

Behind every chair, sponsorship or donation there is a University project and a team supporting the academic staff who drive it, from the first conversation with the company or donor right through to reporting back.

The third session of Next Frontier Founders focused on how to protect innovation and turn it into a business asset. Carles Puente, patent strategy consultant and UPC professor, led the training, which was rounded off with the entrepreneurial experiences of Oriol Santiago (May One) and Jaume Pujol (Criboos and Visiometrics).

The UPC has reviewed the requirements and schedule for the AEI’s ‘Knowledge Generation Projects 2026’ call, featuring insights from an Agency reviewer on how proposals are assessed.

Netmentora Catalunya’s 6th Impact Night has recognised the simulators the company has developed to train healthcare professionals.

The University is exploring new opportunities in Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ calls related to water management and the marine and maritime sectors.

UPC remains the leading university in Catalonia for generating science- and technology-based companies, and the second in Spain, according to the report ‘El ecosistema de spin-off deep tech en España 2025’, produced by Mobile World Capital Barcelona. The BSC and CIMNE also stand out in the report, each accounting for 1% of the companies.

The start-up reached the final of the University category with a platform that automates the coordination of drone operations.

The Parc UPC has organised an event today at the RDIT Building on the Baix Llobregat Campus for the companies housed in the building to establish synergies with one another and connect with the UPC's research and technological potential. WaveMasters, SLIMOP Space, VITSOLC Technologies and TMRW Silicon Europe have presented their activity.

The University will take part from 3 to 5 November and will also host the Deep Tech Investment Readiness session, organised as part of the Fractus-UPC Deep Tech Hub’s Next Frontier Founders programme.

UPC is taking part in the 22nd edition of this international Banco Santander programme, which offers twelve weeks of free entrepreneurship training. Applications are open until 10 December.

We attended the seminar 'RM Framework: Adoption of the European framework for career development in research management in Catalonia', organised by the Department of Research and Universities and AGAUR, where the adoption in Catalonia of the European framework for research managers' careers was analysed.

ETSEIB hosted the 2026 Patent Day, focused on industrial property strategies and real-world experiences in the valorisation of research projects.

Eight start-ups and four spin-offs linked to the UPC community have been selected to participate in this year's edition of Next Frontier Founders (NFF), the programme that connects technology with capital to bring innovative projects from the lab to the market. Driven by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) with the support of Fractus, the programme provides practical training across various areas of business development, participation in networking events, and the opportunity to present the business idea at 4YFN 2027.

A delegation led by the Rector of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande recently visited UPC, with which it has already filed a joint patent application.

On 17 September, the Committee met at the Rectorate to review its work and set priorities for the new academic year, at a time when the number of assessment requests continues to grow and its remit is also expanding to include teaching innovation and training for the university community.

The State Research Agency (AEI) has presented, during a webinar, the grant call package for the second half of 2026, allocated with over €1.2 billion (an additional €100 million compared to the previous financial year).

The Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT), among other investors, has participated with €680,000. The transaction consolidates a company born from joint research by the UPC and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC).

The first of the training weeks of the eighth edition of From Science to Market gets underway, as part of a programme comprising 100 hours of training on knowledge transfer and company creation.

On 14 September, CIM UPC hosted the kick-off of the fifth edition of the Industrial Tech pre-acceleration programme, driven by UPC, CIM UPC and S2 Xpeed.

From 26 to 28 May, UPC hosted a Unite! Widening training course at the Vèrtex Building, aimed at PhD candidates and early career researchers from the universities associated with Unite! and the wider Unite! Widening network.

The 'The Spanish Tech Ecosystem Report 2026' highlights the UPC as one of the leading institutions in Spain for start-up creation and as a breeding ground for entrepreneurs. The University is one of the top three organisations with the highest concentration of AI talent in the city of Barcelona.

The UK Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs visited the Baix Llobregat Campus to learn about the UPC’s potential in agri-food technologies.

The UPC reaffirms its position as the top university in Spain for fund attraction and number of projects within the European Union's Horizon Europe framework programme. The University has secured €103.37 million and 211 projects since the programme’s launch in 2021.

he Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) had a prominent presence at 4YFN 2026 (Four Years From Now), the technology entrepreneurship event held as part of the Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona.

A day to share progress, enhance synergies, and strengthen collaboration between the UPC and Siemens Energy in the field of artificial intelligence applied to the energy transition.

A delegation from the Korea Association of Regional Development (KARDI) visited the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) yesterday to learn about research and innovation projects and explore possible collaborations.

The signing of the 'UPC-RMIT University and Europe laboratory access agreement' will allow reciprocal access for research staff from both institutions to each other's laboratories, opening the door to new joint projects and strengthening academic and scientific cooperation.