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‘Networking & Innovation Day ‘ a benchmark for fostering open innovation at the UB Group

By 28 de November de 2013No Comments
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More than 200 participants from 160 public and private organisations met at the PCB to encourage the open innovation.
 28.11.2013

‘Networking & Innovation Day ‘ a benchmark for fostering open innovation at the UB Group

More than 200 participants from 160 public and private organisations met today at the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB) in the frame of the '', a workshop organized by University of Barcelona (UB), the PCB, the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG) and the Scientific and Technological Centers of the UB (CCiTUB) with the aim to create a benchmark for knowledge and technology transfer between universities and businesses and encourage public-private collaboration, partinership agreements and open innovation.


The workshop was opened by Didac Ramirez, rector of the UB; Antonio Castellà, Secretary of Universities and Research of the Department of Economy and Knowledge of the Generalidad de Cataluña; Gerard Ardanuy, counsellor of Education and Universities of the Barcelona City Hall; Salvador Alemany, president of the Social Council of the UB; and Salvador Maluquer , director of the PCB .

Next, Xavier Marcet, general director of the consulting firm in strategic innovation LTC Project, gave a conference which focused on open innovation as the opportunity for the university to attract talented individuals, but also as option for reverse transfer to promote alliances with businesses and social agents.

Knowledge and technology transfer amongst the stakeholders of the innovation system of the UB Group and the business community has been the backbone of the first roundtable titled “The UB as driver of innovation”, moderated by Xavier Testar, delegate of the UB rector for Strategic Actions for Innovation and vicepresident of the Spanish Association of Science and Technology Entrepreneurs.

The debate involved the collaboration of Josep Samitier, director of the IBEC and delegate of the UB rector for the Campus of International Excellence, University of Barcelon ; José Ramón Seoane, Director of the UB Science and Technology Centers; Marco Pugliese, director general of the biotechnology firm Neurotec Pharma, with headquarters at the PCB; Oriol Guixà, COE and vicepresident of Grupo La Farga and member of the Executive Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona; and Mercedes Segarra, director of the research group DIOPMA (TECNIO network) and professor at the Department of Science of Materials at the Department of Chemistry at UB.

Titled ‘Open Innovation: Exploring new collaboration parnetships between university-business’, the second roundtable – moderated by Albert Closas, program director of Value Added of TV3- has addressed the increasingly important role of the university in the field of ennovation ecosystems and entrepreneurship, and has involved the participation of Carlos Plata, scientific director of Steve; Manuel Cermerón, director general of Aqualogy S &T; Fidel Rodríguez-Batalla, former manager of Grupo Frial; Mariona Sanz, director of the Business Innovation Unit of ACCIÓ, and M. Carme Verdaguer, director general of the FGB.

Concurrently with the roundtables, the workshop has also made possible 400 previously arranged entreprenurship meetings, with the aimof promoting knowledge and technology transfer amongst the stakeholders of the innovation system of the UB Group and technology-based companies in various sectors such as health and biotechnology; materials and nanotechnology; agrofood industry; electronics; optics and ICT; chemistry and cosmetics; and energy and environment, among others.These one-to-one meetings have involved the participation of 165 representatives from different business, public and private research institutes and venture capital companies to explore new business opportunities and find partners for future collaborative and innovative R &D projects.

Jordi Alberch, vice rector of Research, Innovaction and Transference of the UB; M. Carme Verdaguer, directora general of the FBG; and Salvador Maluquer, director general of the PCB closed the event.

NID Video – Morning Session [+]
NID Video – Afternoon Session [+]