Seven new, innovative projects, which encourage internal interaction and the creation of synergies, will be able to enjoy a period of residence in the Tallers area, a space dedicated to knowledge management and cultural production on the UPF Poblenou campus. This initiative, under the framework of the transformation of the space pursuant to EDvolution, UPF’s new educational model, aims to provide participants with the tools and resources needed to develop their talents in collaboration with the university community.

The selected projects focus on sustainable infrastructures, the creation of video games and audiovisual content, job interviews in the working world, scientific and cultural dissemination, assistance with companies’ analytical processes, and guidance for the definition and the execution of institutions’ alumni strategy.

The decision of the recently published #EnResidènciaTallers 2021-2022 announcement, gives the green light to hosting these projects, driven by social agents, creators, researchers and entrepreneurs, of a marked innovative nature and with a potential for practical application. As a requirement to take part, some of the team members are or have been linked to UPF, either as current students, undergraduate, master’s or doctoral alumni, as well as other figures.

The selected projects, which are allocated 10¹/₂ months (with the possibility of a further 10¹/₂ months’ extension), focus on sustainable infrastructures, the creation of video games and audiovisual content, job interviews in the working world, scientific and cultural dissemination, assistance with companies’ analytical processes, and guidance for the definition and the execution of institutions’ alumni strategy.

Jordi Balló, director of the UPF Department of Communication, has been the chairman of the committee that selected the seven projects out of the seventeen proposals submitted (in the first edition of the call, six out of twelve applications were chosen), whose transversality, interdisciplinarity, viability and capacity to interact with other initiatives were valued above all.

In addition to disposing of a space in the Tallers area of the Poblenou campus, creators will be able to enjoy multiple benefits and services: contact with teachers and students; mentoring and support; the use of the facilities, technical spaces, the loan of equipment, and advice from the University, in an environment that seeks to encourage joint work, the exchange of experiences, and the building of bridges with the university community and society in general.

The seven multidisciplinary projects that will be carried out in the Tallers area

“Alumniverse. Building alumni communities”, has been presented by Paula Vives, a UPF graduate in International Business Economics, together with Enric Valls and José A. Ballester. Alumniverse is a digital platform that guides educational institutions in the definition and implementation of their alumni strategy and helps them strengthen their reputation. This tool can provide alumni with a broad range of services and features in a fully customizable and modular way.

“Economedia” has been presented by Esther Motjer, holder of a master’s degree in Scientific, Medical and Environmental Communication from BSM-UPF, together with Ricard Grèbol, Pol Guillaumes and Xavier Blanco. They will develop a transmedia project to produce informative audiovisual content in the fields of the economy and society.

“Expai” has been presented by Javier Rando, a graduate student on the bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Engineering in Data Science at UPF, together with Carles Soler, Pablo Vitoria and Daniel Hormigo. Expai is a recently created startup, focusing on helping data-driven companies to increase their profitability and user confidence. With the aim of making artificial intelligence explainable, fair and secure, it is developing a visual, graphic, easy-to-use tool that allows companies to better understand how their analytical processes work.

“GoGreen”, presented by Bruno Peral, alumni of ELISAVA, together with Philippe Engels, is a tokenized app (replaces sensitive data with a unique identification code) to encourage the use of sustainable infrastructures. It rewards good behaviour through a system of incentives to foment positive dynamics among the citizenry, promoting more sustainable urban mobility.

“Good Luck: Interview simulator”, presented by Aarón Menes, a student of the bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations at UPF, together with Pol Parets, an ADE alumni, is a simulator of online, professional, personalized interviews using artificial intelligence in video call or chat format. The Good Luck program will personally prepare and train recent graduates and the long-term unemployed for job interviews. 

“Nelumbo” is presented by Albert del Arco, UPF Audiovisual Communication alumni, together with other UPF alumni Erich Lerbs Bracamonte (Computer Engineering), Laura Sinici (Audiovisual Communication) and the student Marta Freixas Fernández (Audiovisual Communication). It is a project to develop an emerging narrative video game, the product of a final degree project in Audiovisual Communication, in collaboration with Computer Engineering. The premise places Nelumbo in a small solar system where, due to a strange disease (which gives the game its name), people are losing their memory.

 ”Weimar, the end of certainties. Comic”, is presented by Txuss Martin, a researcher at the Grammar and Cognition Laboratory of the UPF Department of Translation and Language Sciences, together with Rafael Morata, Bàrbara Soriano and Pau Pedragosa. It is a scientific-cultural dissemination project that uses art as a central element of communication, and includes a series of lectures, an exhibition, a comic and a television series.