Our initial focus is to gain a good understanding of the research and innovation taking place on UPF’s three main campuses. It is vital for us to establish an excellent relationship with the research groups. We trust that, with the help of the Innovation Unit-UPF Business Shuttle, they will see us as a tool to help them, because that is what we are. I think we are the perfect complement to all the innovation and knowledge generated at the University. We are pooling our efforts to get this knowledge out to society and have a positive impact.

The UPF Ventures team has a lot of experience in creating technology start-ups. Over the course of our careers, we have helped more than 150 tech start-ups in their creation and growth stages. This has allowed us to roll out the Investment Readiness programme, which focuses on supporting teams of entrepreneurs seeking to create spin-offs based on technologies developed at UPF. Currently, we are already talking with several researchers aiming to do just that and we hope to be approached by many more. We want to share all our experience with research groups looking to take this path. We work with them to define and implement a one- or two-year plan whereby we help them further enhance their technologies, finance that development, set up their own companies, and turn their project into an attractive start-up for industry.

‘The Investment Readiness and Industry Connect initiatives aim to facilitate the creation of new companies and promote business and industrial innovation at established ones.’

We have also launched the Industry Connect programme, which seeks to bridge the gap between established companies and the University’s research groups and teaching staff. Lots of successful companies know that, even if they are well-positioned in their market today, they have to innovate if they want to stay ahead of the competition. They see the University as an opportunity to achieve that innovation, to improve the products they already have in their portfolios or generate new lines of business.

Finally, we are organizing conferences to promote entrepreneurship. We plan to invite UPF entrepreneurs and researchers who are already working with companies to share their experiences and talk about how they do it and what it has meant for them.

The relationship between universities and industry is generally managed through transfer offices. There are several types of connections between the two worlds that range from partnerships on projects to the creation of spin-offs. And this pattern is found again and again around the world, in keeping with different private and public models.

Regardless of the country or model followed, I think everyone who works in this field would agree that both sides could learn from each other. There are a lot of synergies waiting to be discovered, and that is why we are here.

Of course, our environment still lags behind what is happening in other benchmark regions. The numbers are improving, but there is still a long way to go. Modern, 21^st-century universities will have to be able to feed the innovation industry, create high-value-added jobs through their inventions and spin-offs, and promote a modern society through knowledge. In short, the leading universities of this century will need to be, more than ever, engines for their communities. They will do this by turning their gaze outwards, by showing the world everything they have to offer, which is a lot, and by realizing that this offer consists not only of academic or research excellence, but also skills, knowledge and technologies that have an incomparable social impact.

‘It is vital to increase the channels of connection in order to achieve solid economic growth based on knowledge and innovation’

The highly innovative technologies created through research usually need certain things to be done before they can offer industry what it wants to see. In other words, in general, companies and investors need technologies to meet certain requirements before they agree to adopt or invest in them. They need to see what we call ‘proofs of concept’, that is, an experimental outcome or a preliminary version of the product that gives a good indication that the technology could work and be of interest to end users. Proofs of concept include things like experiments on relevant animal models, experimental prototypes or beta versions, depending on the target industry.

‘Companies and investors need to see what is known as a “proof of concept”’

Additionally, considerable prior work needs to be done to protect the intellectual property that is generated. Our innovations have to be very well protected for companies and investors to take an interest. All of these things help to boost the value of our knowledge and make it more attractive to industry.

Briefly, we could identify two types of innovation that universities generate that are very valuable to companies. First, there is technology, specific products that offer innovative solutions to real problems. This technology is sometimes sufficiently developed for companies to acquire. In those cases, it can be licensed directly. However, in other cases, it needs to be further developed to make it sufficiently mature. In those cases, the ideal way to continue to pursue that growth is the creation of a start-up, which can attract funding from public and private investors as well as other sources to finance that additional development.

Second, there is knowledge itself. We like to think that some of our researchers are genuine global experts on a given issue, and we let companies know it, because that is a very valuable asset for them. Industries seeking to innovate have to see the university as a source of knowledge that they can partner with on R&D projects or turn to for strategic advice from the teaching staff to tackle specific problems.

‘Industries seeking to innovate have to see the university as a source of knowledge’

Absolutely! First, we need to understand that this more industrial or applied approach is not at all at odds with a more academic one. The two approaches are complementary, two sides of the same coin. Even early-stage research can, in the long term, have an impact we cannot predict today. How can we tell what technologies might help society ten, fifteen or twenty years down the road? We can’t.

Furthermore, we need to rid ourselves of the notion that when we talk about returns we are referring only to economic returns. For instance, the technologies generated in research groups can be directly licensed to innovative, established companies, which can help to retain skilled jobs. What’s more, when researchers create spin-offs, they are creating new jobs, which inject innovation and talent into the industrial network.  More examples: what is the economic value of a drug that cures highly prevalent infectious diseases in the third world? How much is software that improves image resolution worth? Or a medical device to prevent infections during surgery? Or a virtual reality technology that enhances the museum experience or changes how our children play? These initiatives are not found only at MIT or in Silicon Valley. They are happening right here at UPF. Obviously, economic value matters, but it is not the most important thing, let alone the driving force compelling those researchers to transfer their knowledge. Like many researchers, what motivates people who are dedicated to knowledge transfer and innovation is getting these solutions out there to help real people.

‘When researchers create spin-offs, they are creating new jobs, which inject innovation and talent into the industrial network.’

Our aim is to help these researchers find the best way to impact society. If, along the way, it also happens to generate an economic return for the researchers and their group, the University and the companies, all the better, as it will help ensure that the experiences are repeated and make them sustainable over time. But that is hardly the main indicator we are looking for.

Improving knowledge transfer requires being truly committed to it. And being truly committed to knowledge transfer means allocating the necessary resources. Moving forward on high-impact initiatives requires investing money and putting together top-notch teams to lead that change. That is one of the next strategic changes our academic system has to tackle. We have already positioned ourselves in the top slots of international rankings in terms of academics and research. However, those same rankings place us in much more mediocre slots with regard to transfer-related aspects. We have to change that and we will, provided we are firmly committed and allocate the necessary economic resources and talent to make it happen.

‘We need to carry out a substantial communication effort to explain what transfer is and convince people of its benefits’

We also need to carry out a substantial communication effort to explain what transfer is and convince people of its benefits. This effort needs to be targeted at three main audiences: researchers, industry and governments. Suitable communication will help people understand that innovation is a natural step in research. It will also help them recognize the work of the people who manage that innovation, which is very important and necessary. People who work on transfer have a very specific profile. They are hard to find as, in general, it requires a dual profile, with both technical expertise and business experience. The right candidates are few and far between and hard to draw away from industry without an exciting project. And the success of our business largely depends on who is behind it.

For me, it means returning to a very satisfying academic environment. After completing my PhD and working in innovation management at UB, I left that world to take on a wide variety of positions in industry. That allowed me to learn how business mechanisms work. Now I can return and apply everything I have learnt in an engaging project, and I am sure it will have a significant impact on the UPF community. I am very proud to be part of this institution.