La UPC, the TECNIO Association for promoting technology transfer in Catalonia

10/11/2021

The UPC, along with the rest of the Catalan universities, the I-CERCA Foundation and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), formed a new association on 8 November to promote the transfer of technology and connection with the business world through its groups and research centres with the TECNIO seal.

The TECNIO Association, which was formed on 8 November, is comprised of 59 research groups that currently have TECNIO accreditation given by ACCIÓ. This seal identifies technology developers in Catalonia to facilitate connection with companies. The new association will have a grant of 300,000 euros for the next three years, to strengthen the market vision of these agents and bring them closer to companies. The grant will be awarded by ACCIÓ, the agency for business competitiveness of the Catalan Government’s Ministry of Business and Employment. 

The aim of the new entity is to group together and increase the visibility of the activities of research groups that have the TECNIO seal, to foster collaboration and promote them as an instrument of connection with the business fabric and the government. Participants include the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC), the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the University of Barcelona, the University of Girona, the University of Lleida, the Pompeu Fabra University, the Ramon Llull University, the Rovira i Virgili University, the University of Vic, the I-CERCA Foundation and CSIC . The aim is to accelerate knowledge transfer from the environment of research laboratories to society.

At the event to present the new association, which was held on 8 November at the UAB, participants included the Catalan minister for Business and Employment, Roger Torrent; the Catalan minister for Research and Universities, Gemma Geis; the director general of Industry  and managing director of ACCIÓ, Natàlia Mas; the director general of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Lluís Juncà; the rector of the UAB, Javier Lafuente; and the president of the  TECNIO Association, Nora Ventosa. On behalf of the UPC, the researcher Santi Royo, director of the Centre for Sensors, Instruments and Systems Development (CD6), will act as vice-president of the Association.

15 TECNIO groups at the UPC

Of the 59 groups with the TECNIO seal in Catalonia, 15 (20%) are from the UPC. All these groups are technology developers that are recognised by AGAUR and carry out applied research in differentiating technologies. They all have the capacity to transfer the results to the market through research and development projects with companies, patent licences, or the creation of emerging technology-based companies. These are research groups that are specialists in diverse topics, many located in Catalan universities and distributed throughout Catalonia, who work with SMEs and large companies in Catalonia and at European scale. 

This accreditation, which dates back to 1999 when the Xarxa IT was launched and is renewed periodically, identifies the research groups that are best qualified and have most experience in business projects so that companies can access them more easily and thus promote technology transfer in Catalonia.