A delegation from UPF, consisting of more than twenty people, attended the latest edition of EUTOPIA Week, held from 25 to 29 November at CY Cergy Paris University. Under the motto “Entrepreneurship for IMPACT”, this edition hinged around how to promote entrepreneurship from the university and its social impact.

EUTOPIA Week opened with presentations by the rector of Cergy University, Laurent Gatineau; the President of the EUTOPIA Board of Directors, Tiziana Lippiello; and the president of its Student Council, Paul-Adrien Viala. The event also featured a session on scientific diplomacy.

Participation of all groups of the UPF community in EUTOPIA Week

The rector of UPF, Laia de Nadal, headed the University delegation at this meeting, accompanied by the vice-rector for Internationalization, Helena Ramalhinho. Laia de Nadal took part in several meetings of the Board of Presidents, dealing with the future strategies of the EUTOPIA Alliance. Also in attendance was the vice-rector for Internationalization, Helena Ramalhinho, who was elected Chair of the EUTOPIA group of vice-presidents for the next two years. She was accompanied by the UPF commissioner for EUTOPIA and International Programmes, Josep Ibáñez, who spoke at sessions on the institutional objectives of the alliance.

Several UPF professors and researchers were involved in the various discussions. Vicente Ortún, an emeritus professor of the UPF Department of Economics and Business and one of the principal investigators of the University’s Centre for Research in Economics and Health (CRES), participated in the debates of the EUTOPIA Advisory Council. Jorge Luengo, a professor of Contemporary History at the UPF Department of Humanities, sat on the Quality Council. Finally, Josep Capdeferro, a professor at the Department of Law and International Mobility delegate, and Xavier Martínez, head of the Economics and Business Management and Administration Unit at UPF, took part in the meetings of the Faculty & Staff Council.

Inventory of the EUTOPIA More project, coordinated by UPF

The team of the UPF EUTOPIA Office, including Maite Viudes, Lucía Conte, Regina Arquimbau and Laia Cotet, played a prominent role coordinating the EUTOPIA More project, which sets out the lines of action for the alliance over the coming years. Next January, a report on the main progress made in the project’s first two years is scheduled to be presented and, during the meeting, an initial appraisal was made in this regard. The team of the UPF EUTOPIA Office participated in the technical meetings on the project and moderated several sessions on the subject. The session to assess the progress of the project was steered by Magali Gillain, project officer of the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).

Academic contributions by UPF during the meeting

The professor of the UPF Department of Engineering and leader of Connected Community on Entrepreneurship and Innovation at EUTOPIA, Miquel Oliver, highlighted the value of entrepreneurial culture at universities in a debate on entrepreneurship and innovation. The professor of Political Sciences and delegate for Knowledge Transfer in Social Sciences and Humanities at UPF, Toni Rodón, also participated in this edition of EUTOPIA Week. Indeed, Rodón presented transfer initiatives in this field of knowledge at the meeting. Meanwhile, Marco Madella, an ICREA professor at the UPF Department of Humanities, gave the presentation entitled “Mapping the past, protecting the future: Safeguarding heritage from growing threats” within the framework of EUTOPIA’s Research Days on cultural heritage.

Young UPF researchers also participated in the meeting. Laura Pérez and Ieva Stončikaitė, representatives of the third cohort of the Young Leaders Academy (YLA) presented their lines of research and participated in training activities. Nausikaä El Mecky, from the second cohort, collaborated in the preparation of a symposium that will bring the current edition of the programme to a close.

For their part, Nil Cassany, president of the UPF Student Council (Law), María Pérez (Global Studies), and Eudald Sanz (Journalism) represented the University in the EUTOPIA Student Council.

UPF shares its good practices of equality and inclusion

Carme Abelló and Sílvia Moreno, technical officers of the UPF Equality and Diversity Unit, participated in a workshop on equality and inclusion, sharing good practices with representatives of the other universities of the Alliance to promote a more open and inclusive university.

Thus, UPF was present in the different debates of this EUTOPIA Week to promote internationalization, innovation, entrepreneurship and inclusion from the world of academia and the university.