“Being at 4YFN put us on the radar of investors and companies looking for interesting projects”. Gino Bollaert, technology director of the company LUCID Technology, thus summarizes the main advantage of having participated at the UPF stand of the entrepreneurship fair held in Barcelona between 28 June and 1 July.

At the UPF stand, those attending the meeting discovered a sample of the innovative projects developed in the UPF community, such as two spinoffs: LUCID Technology, in the area of image, and Integra Therapeutics, dedicated to gene editing. Various R&D initiatives also had spaces available to them: OrganAId, which focuses on neurodevelopmental diseases, and TELMI-SkyNote, which offers a system for learning music. Representatives of the surgical training project ASTRA were also present to showcase their proposal.

In addition, the UPF stand hosted six startups driven by members of the university ecosystem: the sustainable and ethical fashion community, Ethical Time; the company dedicated to transparent artificial intelligence, EXPAI; the online market for local products, LocalProductos; the transparent masks company, MASKIN; the healthy eating app, MyRealFood; and the company Onetap, offering interactive experiences for the cultural sector.

“It is crucial that knowledge reaches society”

“For UPF it is crucial that the large amount of knowledge we generate in the coming years reaches society”, said the rector of the University, Oriol Amat. For this reason, he adds, it is “essential” that the University should take part in events like 4YFN where innovative projects can “make themselves known to potential customers and investors”.

“For UPF it is crucial that the large amount of knowledge we generate in the coming years reaches society. It is essential that the University should take part in events like 4YFN where innovative projects can make themselves known to potential customers and investors”.

This was precisely the aim of the Barcelona Deep Tech Startup Demoday, a meeting organized within the framework of the fair by Barcelona Activa where different companies emerging from Catalan universities presented their projects. The spinoff LUCID Technology represented UPF at the conference, which turned into “a great opportunity to discover what is happening in the field of deep tech”, according to the company CTO, Gino Bollaert.

“Invaluable contacts”

Javier Rando, responsible for innovation at EXPAI, stresses that, in addition to making “invaluable contacts” at the fair, the team of the startup has found out “what is happening in the market” first hand. “We have spoken to many people who have helped us realize the needs of potential customers of our product and this will allow us to adjust our value proposition”, he explains.

Onetap’s marketing manager, Pol Daurella, also has positive feelings towards the event: “we have verified the interest in our proposal, we have contacted potential customers and technology partners that could help us to provide better solutions and, also, we have shared experiences and useful information with other startups”, he sums up.

4YFN, a meeting organized by the association of mobile phone companies GSMA within the framework of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), was held this year at the same venue as the MWC itself, which has facilitated contacts between participants and the major corporations.