Innovation Week is back with more cutting-edge technologies, start-ups, awards, entrepreneurship and female talent
From 14 to 18 October the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) will open up to the surrounding community and share its innovation ecosystem, to bring society closer to the technologies created and knowledge generated on campus. The second edition of Innovation Week will include different activities, such as an innovation fair, conferences on artificial intelligence and cultural events, awards to entrepreneurial projects, debates on the social impact of research and companies, and visits to research centres.
The UAB's Innovation Week (Setmana de la Innovació) will represent a meeting place for UAB research groups and centres with companies, investors and start-ups located all around Catalonia. The goal of this initiative is to give visibility to the University's innovative ecosystem, as well as join entrepreneurial projects and campus knowledge with the business fabric, public and private investors and other centres of knowledge.
Different activities, conferences and workshops will be held throughout the week, all open to the UAB community and companies and entities from the surrounding towns.
The institutional inauguration will take place on Tuesday 15 October at the Hotel Exe Campus as part of one of the central activities, the Innovation Fair. The fair will serve as a meeting point between the world of research and the business environment and aims to recognise the transfer of knowledge of UAB research groups and show the wide range of technologies, services and innovative ideas generated. The day, organised by the UAB Parc de Recerca, will feature an exhibition of technologies and knowledge from 80 research groups and 10 Unviersity start-ups; a conference on innovation, trends and challenges, by Alfons Cornella, founder and president of the innovation consultancy Infonomía and the Next Institute; bilateral meetings between research groups, startups and companies; a round table on mobility and sustainability, with representatives from Moventia, Sener, TMB and Tradebe; and a sample of the Vallès open labs network.
On that same afternoon, the Antonio Díaz - El Mago Pop Auditorium of Bahía del Vallés will play host to the gala awards ceremony of the eines 2024 awards for the best projects in social transformation, organised by the Chair in Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation, attached to the Centre for Studies and Research in Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation (CREIS) of the UAB.
The following day, Wednesday 16 October, will be dedicated to music, events and new technologies, in which the possibilities of implementing new technologies in the cultural sector will be discussed. It will feature dynamic content on generative artificial intelligence in the arts, technologies applied to the cultural industry, debates on sustainability in cultural events and finally, live concerts by musical projects linked to artificial intelligence. This event is organised by the UAB Parc de Recerca and the UAB Cruïlla Chair, in collaboration with the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA CSIC), the Computer Vision Centre and the Faculty of aRts & Humanities of the UAB.
On that same Wednesday, a business breakfast will also be held, organised by the Cerdanyola City Council and Cerdanyola Empresarial, where the topic of discussion will be the collaboration of companies with research and innovation agents.
On Thursday 17 October, at 12:30 p.m. at the Design Lab of the UAB School of Engineering, the UAB Parc de Recerca will organise a session of the Entrepreneur's Corner, in which Miguel Silva-Constenla, CEO of the company AllRead, will share with companies and entrepreneurs of the UAB campus his valuable experience in the fundraising stages to transform deep tech technology into a commercial and monetisable product. This will be followed by Connecta, an initiative to connect entrepreneurs, students, alumni and UAB community makers. This activity will present 6 entrepreneurial projects looking for potential partners and proactive collaborators to integrate them into their projects.
Also on Thursday at 1 p.m. the IurisLab Clínica Jurídica will be presented in the Aula Magna of the UAB Faculty of Law. This service aims to promote and channel the development of reports and legal opinions for legal professionals, as well as develop other activities related to dissemination, training and research in the legal field. And in the Espai Emprèn UAB there will be a workshop on Artificial Intelligence promoted by the UAB Employability Service.
Finally, Innovation Week will end on Friday 18 October with a conference on science and entrepreneurship in women and the social impact, at 10 a.m. in the UAB Sala Teatre. This edition will focus on the social impact of research, knowledge transfer and entrepreneurship, understood as the possible effects or benefits that research or commercial activities have on society and the environment, with the aim of generating a positive and tangible change. Leading researchers, entrepreneurs and professionals will share their knowledge, research and practical experiences.
That day at 11 a.m. there will also be an open day at the Scientific Information Port, a centre located on the UAB campus specialising in the development of advanced tools and methods for the analysis of scientific data.
In parallel, there will also be a visit to the ALBA Synchrotron and the company Onalabs, as part of the Innobus programme. This programme, promoted by Innobaix to help boost the careers of university students, includes visits to companies, training and mentoring with specialists in innovation and entrepreneurship.
Please click here to view the full Innovation Week programme.