To foment the teaching, research into and dissemination of knowledge in the field of public communication, including political and institutional communication, is the main objective of the enterprise chair created jointly by Ideograma and UPF, linked to the University’s Academic Coordination Unit (UCA) of Communication.

Today, 21 September, the Rectoral building hosted the signing of the enterprise cooperation agreement on activities of general interest between these two entities. The document was signed by Jaume Casals, UPF rector, and Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubi, CEO of the company.

The ceremony was also attended on behalf of UPF by Pelegrí Viader, vice-rector to the rector; Jaume Badia, manager; Josep Fernández Cavia, director of the Department of Communication, and lecturers Carles Pont and Reinald Besalú, director and coordinator of the Chair, respectively. Representing Ideograma were Belén Peris, managing director, and various company consultants.

Jaume Casals, UPF rector, stated that “this collaboration with Ideograma is an example of the effort that is being made by the Department of Communication to steer toward research and knowledge transfer, beyond the quality of the teaching for which it has always been noted”.

In addition, Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí affirmed that “we at Ideograma are convinced of the need to improve the relationship between the professional and the academic worlds. The creation of this Chair is a further step in the work we do in this regard”.

The director of Ideograma believes that without a commitment to research, professional excellence cannot be attained: “With UPF we have found the perfect partner to go even further. For us, this is a strategic agreement with which we can move forward along a shared path, whose aims are excellence and knowledge transfer”.

“The University can contribute knowledge, the theoretical framework and reflection on the future. Enterprise can provide practical applicability, trends and contact with reality”

Carles Pont emphasized the importance of this collaboration: “For us, this Chair is a priority because it helps us to connect two worlds that are far apart, university and enterprise, and we want them to come closer”. With regard to the contributions either party can make, he explained that “we can contribute knowledge, the theoretical framework and reflection on the future. Enterprise can provide practical applicability, trends and contact with reality”.

UPF will provide qualified teaching and research personnel to carry out the various proposed activities, as well as the technical, scientific and administrative infrastructure to develop them. For its part, Ideograma is committed each year for the duration of the agreement (three years, extendable), to contribute a total of 25,000 euros per year, to fund the activities of the Chair.

Research on new channels of communication and commitment to democratic quality

One of the main areas in which the Chair will carry out its activities is research, conducted by professors of the Department of Communication, many of whom are members of the Political Communication, Media and Democracy research group (POLCOM). Within this area, joint lines of research and doctoral theses will be undertaken, and there will be cooperation with Ideogram to attract new projects.

Carles Pont commented that “one of our main objectives will be to work on new communication channels to find out how politics and public institutions use channels like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, among others”.  “Some of our research will deal with the brand of the city of Barcelona, and how it is applied”.

Also, the director of the Chair stressed that the research will not only focus on political, but also institutional communication: “We want to link our work to democratic quality, to the core values of what could be a society fully identified with democratic values. We need to work towards social responsibility when communicating in politics and in the institutions”, he noted.

Transfer of knowledge and training

In addition to research, the Chair will also organize activities in the field of knowledge transfer: for example, in industrial exploitation; through symposia offering presentations and dissemination; or a public meeting focusing on current social and political issues in order to approach them from the point of view of communication. Finally, there will be training activities with the chance to establish two bachelor’s or master’s degree scholarships.

Ideograma is an organization that specializes in designing global communication strategies and performing strategic consultancy aimed at public authorities, not-for-profit and private organizations, based on a global and cross-cutting vision.

Santiago Castelo, a doctoral student on the Communication programme at UPF also present at the event, is linked to the company through an Industrial PhD with a project on autobiographical accounts in election campaigns.